Work-related food doesn’t need thanks

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I work as a teacher in a nonpublic high school. Three or four times each semester, during the regular workweek, we are required to attend in-services that occupy the whole day (the students have a holiday).

On these occasions, we are given breakfast and lunch at the school’s expense. This is not, I assume, an obligation on the school’s part, since providing one’s own meals is usually an employee’s responsibility.

How often should I properly acknowledge my employer’s generosity? Should I write a note of thanks for each one, at the end of each semester or at the end of the academic year?

In addition, we have several prayer breakfasts during the school year at which attendance is expected – during regular school hours one morning a week when we are expected to be on campus and working. Does required attendance in this case also mandate an expression of thanks?

GENTLE READER: One properly expresses thanks for a present, raising the question of which work amenities rise to that level.

While Miss Manners may be grateful for free food, she does not consider such offerings a gift when given in recognition that an employee is working through what would otherwise be a meal. The same exemption applies to food supplied to ease the burden of long hours or late nights in the office.

But if there is no positive requirement that thanks be offered in such cases, an occasional expression of appreciation – for the policy, not for each meal – is gracious and may be useful if the school board suggests abandoning it.