I was a "contractor" from an in practice body shop consult agency, not an actual contractor. I did every day office work for three years, being part of a normal work group going to every day meetings etc.

But I don't think that matters. If you have an actual consultant in the office, being there once a month, you give him strawberries too, if you hand out strawberries.

Also, the pay was somewhat lower. I was fresh out of uni so I didn't know better.

Notably, only bosses two layers up thought it was a good idea to skimp on the strawberries etc. The bosses that had to deal with the ensuing bad mood ensured there was no such distinction between FTEs and "contractors".

Not being on the Google health or retirement plan is one thing. That's something you can do maths to, see if your alternative arrangements make sense.

But witholding food is something that feels anti-human. Like it hits some primal parts of me. Eating a meal with people you work alongside is, depending on your interpretation, between a few hundred thousand and a few hundred million years old as a social act.

Denying that is... something else.

Also most of the time these people are not receiving more money, more like the same or less.