The rules of office biscuit etiquette revealed

Do you dunk biscuits in meetings?

Rachel Hosie
Sunday 29 July 2018 06:21 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

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.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in