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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Rachel Hosie

The rules of office biscuit etiquette revealed

Eating in the office can be a minefield.

We all know the cardinal sins of warming up fish in the microwave and stealing someone’s food from the fridge, but how much thought have you given to your biscuit eating?

According to a new study, Brits place a lot more emphasis on biscuit consumption than previously thought.

Research by McVitie’s found that dunking a digestive biscuit in a cup of tea is not to be done - it’s particularly frowned upon when in a meeting, with one in five Brits admitting they’d disapprove of someone doing so.

This is despite the fact that 71 per cent of people admit to being “dunkers”.

Earlier this year, a study concluded that the best biscuit to dunk into a hot beverage is the the chocolate bourbon - it’s thought the filling helps keep the biscuit together and prevent it crumbling.

The holes in bourbons also help - they allow steam to escape which prevents the biscuits from breaking or cracking.

In second and third place were shortbread and Jammie Dodgers respectively. And at the other end of the scale, the worst biscuits for dunking were found to be Hob Nobs.

The new study of office habits also found that office workers do not look kindly upon colleagues who open a packet of custard creams belonging to someone else. 

But the biggest no-no was revealed to be leaving crumbs on someone’s desk, with 38 per cent of people considering doing so to be a faux-pas. 

Sure, sometimes that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t then clean up those crumbs from someone else’s desk.

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