Would Admiral Ackbar Take One?

So, last night, as promised, I threw together a batch of brownies. This was in part as a special treat because mommy is still out of town, and in part because I wanted to continue experimenting with the recipe (mwaa hah hah). I forgot that we cut the ingredients in half typically, however, so I ended up with an epic pan of brownies and decided to take the extras into work.

So I come in, put the plate in the usual food location (I suspect every office has one of these) and send out an email telling the team that they are there and contain walnuts (that way if someone eats one and goes all puffy I'm pretty sure I can't be sued). As expected, the plate has been nearly cleared by now, with only a couple of brownies remaining. My question is this: what is it about baked goods that causes us to lower our defenses completely?

Seriously, think about it. These people don't really know me that well outside of my work. Sure I'm a fine programmer, but I could be a lousy cook. I'm not, but I could be. I could also be one of those guys who goes to the bathroom and doesn't wash his hands, not even after a major transaction. Seriously, they don't know. Well, okay some of them might, but not the girls. I also could be cooking these brownies in the same kitchen where I mix up my meth. Again, I don't (make meth, that is), but how would they know that?

Those are just the items that fall under negligence, too. What about intentional shenanigans with the offered foodstuffs? After all, two considerations come to mind immediately when dealing with brownies. The first is the famed "magic brownie", which would probably be pricey for an office gag (I've been out of the market for a decade or so, so this is just a guess). The other is the obvious ExLax chocolate chunks, which, for someone with my juvenile sense of humor would be far more tempting, especially given the fact that the restrooms here carry sound like there were microphones in the toilet paper dispensers. Of course either one would most likely lead to some form of litigation, but I'm not exactly a criminal mastermind either. All I'm saying is that it's possible.

Now obviously, I tend towards the sanitary, especially in cooking situations, and I did not put forth any practical jokes here either. I'm just wondering why cookies, cakes and brownies will be devoured in these settings without question, even without being explicitly offered. If I were to walk by the area where the cookies are set and there was a bowl of potato salad there, I would not immediately assume that some benevolent salad maker had put it there for me to sample, but if it's cookies, I'm in, and that seems to be the norm.

Either way the brownies were good and didn't make anyone sick that I'm aware of. I'm just afraid that we as a country have a weakness here, a weakness that our enemies could exploit. So be careful out there people, and don't eat it if you don't know where it came from. It may look like a delicious cookie or a moist brownie, but for all you know, there could be unsifted terror inside. Or, you know, the ExLax thing.