A Study in Human Psychology: The Candy Dish

A Study in Human Psychology: The Candy Dish

In an effort to appear somewhat sociable as the new hire, sometime early last year I decided I would be my team’s “Candy Dish Lady”.

Being of somewhat modest means, one of my “Chilly Willy” character-decorated cereal bowls served the purpose nicely, as does whatever candy is on sale. (Usually Hershey’s Kisses)

This humble offering of confectioneries has brought the higher-ups of our department stopping by occasionally, thus my excuse of the candy dish as a “networking device” is well established if needed. Being good, I rarely partake of the sweets myself, and have been more than repaid by the antics that have occurred around this spontaneous gathering point.




Later in the spring this year, perhaps after I announced that Hershey’s did not deliver the snow-globe promotion as promised (7 UPC symbols dutifully collected, the reward long anticipated as being a group-earned decoration for my cube) and I bitterly closed the candy dish for a couple weeks, my team mates picked up where I left off. Suddenly just about every person had a little dish of candy at his or her desk, and the excuse of Easter brought much sugar to our afternoons. I enjoyed watching their candy dishes degenerate over the next couple weeks from expensive Easter chocolates (including Lindt candies) into the seldom-taken Life Savers mints or some such “treat”. Occasionally someone feels very generous and brings in a bag of “real” candy like Reese’s Cups and in the space of about two hours that $5 is gone with the full dish nothing but a sweet memory.


Finally, the imitators all but died off, leaving a barren, candy-free environment for the summer months. Last month, I brought out my Chilly Willy dish, and reminded the team that 2-for-1 Hershey’s candy bags are the way to go. Sweet-tooths rejoicing, people stop by looking for treats every afternoon. Some stop, and feeling rather embarrassed to be “just there for candy” will have some kind of small talk ready. I enjoy these little conversations and bask in the residual warmth of people getting free candy. It’s a happy place, and even though the Candy Dish Lady talks too much about her dog, most kindly endure the chatter and laugh kindly. After all, Free Candy!, folks. Some, however; make no pretenses, and avoid eye contact while they silently choose their treats. I’m secretly amused when these individuals try to “stealthily” procure the sweets and fumble at the last second, banging their rings or watches into the dish, or dropping a piece onto the desk, blowing their cover. I always just smile. ;)

Sometime last week I encountered Starburst candy on sale, and decided to switch it up. I made them finish all the Kisses first, but then put a modest offering into the Chilly Willy bowl of the fruit candy. Day one is not to be judged, as the shock of the new variety always leads to over- or under-consumption. By day three of the new candy, I noticed a clear pattern emerging in consumption. For those unfamiliar with Starburst, the standard assortment has four flavors: Cherry, Strawberry, Orange, and Lemon. The “pinks” (aka Strawberry) and “reds” (Cherry) were always the first to go. Then Orange and Lemon stayed together in the dish undisturbed for a couple afternoons. Not rewarding flavor discrimination, I did not refill the bowl, thus forcing people to resort to their 3rd and 4th favorite varieties. Once nearly empty, I refilled again, and over the next couple days, the pattern repeated itself.


Suddenly, mid-week I was struck by a particular mood and took away the candy dish for about 48 hours after it had been emptied by coworkers. After this lull, I decided to place a test candy “dish”. Instead of the familiar Chilly Willy bowl, I made a stack of Starburst, a tower, of alternating flavors, withholding only Cherry for no particular reason (Strawberry being the clear favorite in conversation regarding my candies). I stacked the least popular flavors at the top, Lemon, Orange, then the favored Strawberry, back to Lemon, Orange, Strawberry, going downward.

The unfamiliar method of distributing candy had the anticipated effect on some individuals. Scared of disturbing the tower, they avoided the candy entirely. Suddenly a bold soul appears and before a small group of us gathered for some official business purpose, lifts the stack up to retrieve a precious Strawberry, replacing the unwanted Orange and Lemon afterwards. Shock seemed to resonate among those gathered, but the gate had been opened, and others immediately felt the responsibility of putting the disordered tower to rights, and the topmost Orange and Lemons vanished.

I tend to leave a bit earlier than some of the team, because I start my day about an hour to nearly two hours earlier than some. It seems that after my absence was noted, the remaining couple candies were mostly consumed. I was the first to arrive in my little area this morning, and found one little Lemon candy sitting forlornly on the desk, the others long-gone. As the lunch hour nears, I patiently wait to see if the candy will find a taker, but the instinctive embarrassment of “taking the last one” is strong and may not occur while I occupy my chair.

My bets are on a sudden disappearance of the candy while I’m in an afternoon meeting today. Ah, predictability. Next week I may try more intricate stacking to see how this affects the consumption rate. As you can see, I get my money’s worth when I offer free candy!