Office Food Thieves: Anybody ever caught one?

[Venus193]

Or witnessed one being caught in the act?  Most of us have experienced this as victims, so it would be very satisfying to know that some of these miscreants were caught.

If so, how did you handle it and what happened to them?

[dragonflies]

While I was pregnant I had to take liquid iron supplements.  I would put them in my brownies.  Iron supplements tend to constipate you.  I would bring in a batch on Monday.  I labeled them with my name.  One guy ate he whole batch in one day and had to go to the hospital due to stomach pains.

It wasn't food tampering.  My doctor suggested that I put the supplements in a baked good.  A few people asked me for one and I told them it had an iron supplement in them.  They decided not to take one.  If the guy would have asked, I would have told him.

[Sophia]

I had no idea you could bake liquid iron?  I had to take it as a teenager because my monthly bleeding was out of control.  I had to just swallow a tablespoon of it. (Not pleasant)

[That Anime Chick]

I've never caught one, though I do have a few suspects for some of my food that's gone missing. Especially my Hotpockets and Red Baron Pizzas. Interestingly enough, there hasn't been much in the way of food thefts since a few people were let go in the past few months. Hmmmm.....

[twinkletoes]

When I worked at my first big-girl job in an office, we had a food thief who would steal Lean Cuisines, Hot Pockets, and other frozen foods that have to be heated up to eat.  What would usually happen is that someone would arrive in the morning, put their frozen entree in the freezer, and find out at lunchtime that someone had eaten it.  The kitchen was in the basement and didn't get a lot of foot traffic beyond lunchtime.  In addition, there was a little room underneath the stairs, where you could kind of hide.  It would have been very, very easy to sneak downstairs well before lunch, heat something up, eat it on the sly, and head back upstairs.

Well, one day, one of my coworkers had had enough.  The boss was out of town, so my coworker decided to stake out the kitchen by hiding under the stairs.  He had placed a Lean Cuisine in the freezer as a booby trap (by this point, most of us had stopped bringing frozen food), clearly labeled with his name.  He went down around 10.  About 30 minutes later, the thief came downstairs and popped a Lean Cuisine in the microwave.  Coworker came out and caught the guy eating coworker's clearly labeled LC.  Turned out it was a higher-up, who was always condescending to the underlings.  I think he got a sick sort of satisfaction in eating our food.  Nothing really happened, as he was in with the boss, but people avoided him like the plague after that.

What I NEVER understood was why the frozen foods?  There were always plenty of leftover meals in the 'fridge that he could have eaten without heating up at all; why go through the time of standing by the microwave and eating a frozen food?

[caranfin]

What I NEVER understood was why the frozen foods?  There were always plenty of leftover meals in the 'fridge that he could have eaten without heating up at all; why go through the time of standing by the microwave and eating a frozen food?

Frozen food is prepackaged and safe. Even if I were a food thief, I wouldn't steal someone else's leftovers. 

[nina09]

One time , I ask him " does it taste good?" to what he answer "yes" and I told him "Thanks , I knew I was  a good cook"

[Shoo]

I used to take a quart of non-fat milk to the office to use with my cereal and tea. It always seemed to disappear too soon.  One day I was standing in the kitchen and one of the VP's walked in, opened up the refrigerator, and took my milk out (right in front of me!) and poured it into his coffee. 

I stood there blinking and slack jawed!

From that point on, I transferred my non-fat milk to a clear tupperware type jug and labeled it "breastmilk."

I happened to be pumping at work during that time, so it was completely feasible that I could have a small container of it.  Not surprisingly, my non-fat milk stopped disappearing. 

[Bibliophile]

I used to take a quart of non-fat milk to the office to use with my cereal and tea. It always seemed to disappear too soon.  One day I was standing in the kitchen and one of the VP's walked in, opened up the refrigerator, and took my milk out (right in front of me!) and poured it into his coffee. 

I stood there blinking and slack jawed!

From that point on, I transferred my non-fat milk to a clear tupperware type jug and labeled it "breastmilk."

I happened to be pumping at work during that time, so it was completely feasible that I could have a small container of it.  Not surprisingly, my non-fat milk stopped disappearing. 

I love it!!!

[high dudgeon]

These stories do my heart good. The food theft at my office is so bad that most people don't bring in anything that needs to be refrigerated any more. You put something in the fridge or freezer, and by lunchtime it's gone, tupperware, silverware and all. And we don't have a microwave, so lunch has to be something shelf stable that doesn't have to be heated. The company is on an environmental kick, trying to encourage people to bring their lunches and use reusable containers and silverware, and they don't understand why no one wants to. Of course, they all have their own mini-fridges they don't have to share with any one else.

[Venus193]

I love these stories, especially when someone gets his comeuppance.  These should be in a sitcom.

[Marguette]

These stories do my heart good. The food theft at my office is so bad that most people don't bring in anything that needs to be refrigerated any more. You put something in the fridge or freezer, and by lunchtime it's gone, tupperware, silverware and all. And we don't have a microwave, so lunch has to be something shelf stable that doesn't have to be heated. The company is on an environmental kick, trying to encourage people to bring their lunches and use reusable containers and silverware, and they don't understand why no one wants to. Of course, they all have their own mini-fridges they don't have to share with any one else.

Has anyone tried to tell them?

[Sabbyfrog2]

When I worked retail in NYC, I used to pack a lunch of either a sandwhich and some snacks, or leftovers from the night before. I used to label both my bag, and the containers my food was in as the breakroom only had one fridge and it got pretty hard to tell one container from the next. This particular day, I had packed some leftover pasta that I had made. I packed it as usual and put it in the fridge. I placed it where I always do, (so I knew where to look) on the right side in the far right corner. 

After about 5 hours of gruleing work, I go to lunch. I. am. starving. I walked into the break room on my and saw a girl (that I had just heard complaining very loudly in a previous shift about how much she hates when people touch her Sh*t) EATING my lunch. Yes. She was sitting right there. At the table. Blatantly eating MY lunch. Not only that, she tried to lie about it! How did I know it was mine? The bag had my name on it. So did the tupperware.

I checked the fridge anyway, just to be 100% certain that I wasn't halucinating. I mean, no one is that rude right? Right? I open the fridge... check the corner...No lunch. So, in a fit of anger, I approached her. Right in the middle of the big break room. That was full of other employees. Right next to the managers office. (this was waaaay before my ehell days)

Me: Is that my lunch your eating?
Her: Uh, no. I brought this from home
Me: Really? Do you always label your bags with my name on them?
Her: So. This is mine.
Me: No. It isn't. I packed that this morning. You are either going to fork over some money, or I am going to go talk to Manager right now.
Her: What is the big deal? You can just go buy lunch.
Me: Excuse me?! Did you seriously just tell me to go buy lunch when you STOLE MINE!? You've got a lot of nerve! If I had that kind of money, I wouldn't have taken the time to MAKE my lunch today! You are going to pay me back or I am turning you in. I want at LEAST $10 for it. NOW!
Her: Fine. (slams $10 bill on table.) Here!
Me: Let me ask you something. If you HAD this money the whole time, why in the HE** did you steal my lunch?! 
Her: I was too tired to walk to the deli. What's the big deal?! YOU can go to the deli now! Stop your bit**in' already! Da*n!
The whole break room:   
Me: Wow. You really are a bit**! (takes money and walks into managers office to tell anyway)   


She was a *big* girl with a very bad temper and serious entitlement issues. Not a good combo IMO. I can't even imagine why she was still working there in the first place with her track record. I did get her fired as stealing is a fireable offense. Of course, it only works when it is reported...  Apparently this was not the first time she had done this, only no one else had the guts to call her out before.

(I know what I said was not ehell approved at all but I was young, angry, and I had not yet learned how to handle things like an adult.)

[TootsNYC]

I don't think that what you did and said was actually rude.

[nalapuppy]

Working in a corporate environment with a lot of employees, this is a problem with my company.  Almost everyday someone complains about their lunch being missing.  I personally haven't had it happen, but do know people that have.

Anyway... I just wanted to comment in this thread so I can quickly get others stories....