I Don't Understand People's Thinking Sometimes

Yesterday someone on one of the other crews here baked cookies, then set them out on the table in the common area. They looked very tasty, but sadly, there was a sign next to them asking people to not eat them. Because they were for someone's birthday.

OK, I can appreciate the desire not to have your gift devoured by the horde. In that case, I might suggest putting them somewhere else. Like your room. Or leave them in the kitchen. I find people tend to have fewer expectations for food they see sitting in there. But the table in the common area is one people use specifically for when they want to share things they made. This happens all the time. So why leave something there that is specifically not to be shared?

If I get brownies from home, and I don't want to share, I leave them in my room. I don't bring them to the common room, set them out for all to see, then affix a sign telling everyone to keep their grubby paws off. Because that would be rude. Also, I wouldn't trust people not to go ahead and eat them anyway. As far as I know, no one touched the cookies, but I wouldn't count on that level of restraint to hold.