A lad I know was off on the sick with an injury for a while on full pay, played the game, turned up to his welfare interviews with his employer, complained that his injury was getting slowly better but still keeping him at home... and only got busted because he appeared in a photo in the paper having come second in a local half marathon.
Another boy I know who was on light work duties in the office because of a supposed back issue, got pulled in for a "meeting without biscuits" because he was spotted refereeing an ice hockey game one weekend by someone from the office.
Yes, your logic is pretty much spot on. Meetings that people are welcome at generally attract little sweeteners to make the meeting or conference more bearable - whether it's sandwiches, cakes, teas, coffees, or biscuits.
Generally, if you walk in to a room and nobody offers you a tea, coffee, or a biscuit - there's a reasonable chance that you're going to get your arse kicked for something.
If you don't mind me asking - have you not heard the phrase before because it's an expression you've not come across before, or is English a second language and it's meaning is implied rather than explicit? To me, your logical approach suggests the latter, and I'm asking out of sheer interest :)
Maybe I have not heard the phrase because I live in USA and you seem to live in United Kingdom. then maybe that phrase is something that you guys use, but we don't.
also as a USA person, when I think of biscuit, this is a biscuit to us:
I think when you say "biscuit," you are talking about the sweet treats that we call cookies.
My friend, I can write my entire knowledge of baking on the back of a postage stamp in black marker, but judging by the pictures, I'd call them scones - the pronunciation of which is a matter of controversy even in the UK.
They would be small cakes though, speaking generically!
You'd probably like the video series where British guys try American fast food for the first time. Specifically the one where they go to Popeyes, they called the biscuit a scone but loved it.
This is my first time hearing this saying as well being a yank and all. Anyways, I currently work for a company that had a meeting with biscuits (doughnuts) and pretty much everyone that showed up was let go. Those that by chance had something else to do, dodged the shady way to fire people. Legal issues insu no. Needless to say doughnuts are not common around here and when they do get brought in this event always gets brought up.
Leave it to corporate America to pervert something that is supposed to be nice.