Just wanted to update the whole Janice and the potluck salad debacle. Sorry I deleted the post. It got bigger than I ever expected and one of my other coworkers saw it. She thinks Janice is an asshole, too, but I don't want to chance losing my job over a potluck. 😅

Anyway, I responded to the email that I would be bringing the Mediterranean salad and didn't say another word about it to Janice, but I did bring it up to other coworkers that I'm comfortable with. Most said they used to enjoy the potluck, but feel it's no longer fun because Janice is a jerk. I am also not the only person she has made "suggestions" to about what to bring.

Knowing that I'm not alone, I also talked to my boss on Friday. He was awesome about everything and over the weekend he came to the decision that we're no longer going to do a potluck at all and the one for this month is cancelled. Moving forward it's either going to be cooked by management or catered by different local businesses and food trucks (he even asked for suggestions from ALL employees to make sure it's not being controlled by just one of us...). I didn't expect that to happen, but I'm actually really excited at the prospect of NEVER having to make anything again. He cited health concerns because of us not being certified in food safety and handling rather than telling Janice we all think she's an asshole (I just wanted the annoying behavior to stop, not crush her soul completely). He also told me that if she continues to make remarks about anything that makes me or anyone else uncomfortable, we need to come to him right away. He said just because she's been there for 35 years doesn't mean she runs the place. He is seriously the best.

Janice has been grumbling all day about the changes but the response from everyone else was positive. The way I see it is that she did it to herself by being a pushy, control freak fun sucker.

So thank you everyone for your responses. It helped me get over my aversion to workplace conflict and I feel like this is possibly the best outcome for everyone (well, everyone except Janice).