Office Food Thieves: Anybody ever caught one?

[wolfie]

I once heard of someone catching a food thief by putting wasabi and hot peppers in their sandwhich. 

Food tampering is never acceptable.  We\'ve discussed that ad nauseum here before.  I\'m enjoying this thread, so let\'s not go there and get it locked

I don\'t think Emerald\'s suggestion counts as food tampering.  Wasabi & hot peppers might cause someone indigestion, but it\'s not in the same caliber as laxatives or something someone is allergic to.  And if someone didn\'t want to eat wasabi & peppers, they shouldn\'t eat their coworker\'s sandwhich.  If someone put something in someone else\'s sandwhich, that\'d be different.

I think the line is what you would eat vs what you wouldn\'t. So if you would eat a sandwich with Wasabi and hot peppers that is fine. But if you wouldn\'t then it crosses the line because you are doing is specifically to hurt someone else.

[snowball's chance]

I once heard of someone catching a food thief by putting wasabi and hot peppers in their sandwhich. 

Food tampering is never acceptable.  We\'ve discussed that ad nauseum here before.  I\'m enjoying this thread, so let\'s not go there and get it locked

I don\'t think Emerald\'s suggestion counts as food tampering.  Wasabi & hot peppers might cause someone indigestion, but it\'s not in the same caliber as laxatives or something someone is allergic to.  And if someone didn\'t want to eat wasabi & peppers, they shouldn\'t eat their coworker\'s sandwhich.  If someone put something in someone else\'s sandwhich, that\'d be different.

I think the line is what you would eat vs what you wouldn\'t. So if you would eat a sandwich with Wasabi and hot peppers that is fine. But if you wouldn\'t then it crosses the line because you are doing is specifically to hurt someone else.

But if I make myself a sandwich with something gross, and someone else takes it, I'm tampering with my OWN food, meant for me. No one else should be eating it anyway.  Yeah, I might suspect someone will steal it, but I have no idea if they actually will, nor did I ever give permission for someone to eat it.

[wolfie]

I once heard of someone catching a food thief by putting wasabi and hot peppers in their sandwhich. 

Food tampering is never acceptable.  We\\\'ve discussed that ad nauseum here before.  I\\\'m enjoying this thread, so let\\\'s not go there and get it locked

I don\\\'t think Emerald\\\'s suggestion counts as food tampering.  Wasabi & hot peppers might cause someone indigestion, but it\\\'s not in the same caliber as laxatives or something someone is allergic to.  And if someone didn\\\'t want to eat wasabi & peppers, they shouldn\\\'t eat their coworker\\\'s sandwhich.  If someone put something in someone else\\\'s sandwhich, that\\\'d be different.

I think the line is what you would eat vs what you wouldn\\\'t. So if you would eat a sandwich with Wasabi and hot peppers that is fine. But if you wouldn\\\'t then it crosses the line because you are doing is specifically to hurt someone else.

But if I make myself a sandwich with something gross, and someone else takes it, I\'m tampering with my OWN food, meant for me. No one else should be eating it anyway.  Yeah, I might suspect someone will steal it, but I have no idea if they actually will, nor did I ever give permission for someone to eat it.

If someone didn\'t steal it would you eat it? If the answer is yes then you are fine because someone stole something meant for you. If you wouldn\'t then you are setting a booby trap and that is crossing the line.

[VorFemme]

My husband would love a sandwich with peppers, hot mustard, onion, pickles, and I don't know what else - but not everyone goes to Thai restaurants and stirs the hot peppers into whatever already spicy dish that they ordered.  If I get peppers (on the side) he will be happy to add them to his plate (the only reason that I got them).  Nobody steals his lunch......twice.

It's not tampering if that is how *you* eat the dish (like the poster who mentioned baking brownies with liquid iron supplement while pregnant due to being anemic).  It is tampering if you have done something to the food purely as a trap.

Although the boss mentioned earlier who had EXTRA onions piled on his sandwich and kept sniffing for a whiff of onions to see if the bag had been opened was brilliant.  If there are too many slices of onions - you can either pull them off or take some breath mints with you.  Either way, the food is edible - just distinctive!

[caranfin]

I once heard of someone catching a food thief by putting wasabi and hot peppers in their sandwhich. 

Food tampering is never acceptable.  We\'ve discussed that ad nauseum here before.  I\'m enjoying this thread, so let\'s not go there and get it locked

I don\'t think Emerald\'s suggestion counts as food tampering.  Wasabi & hot peppers might cause someone indigestion, but it\'s not in the same caliber as laxatives or something someone is allergic to.  And if someone didn\'t want to eat wasabi & peppers, they shouldn\'t eat their coworker\'s sandwhich.  If someone put something in someone else\'s sandwhich, that\'d be different.

I think the line is what you would eat vs what you wouldn\'t. So if you would eat a sandwich with Wasabi and hot peppers that is fine. But if you wouldn\'t then it crosses the line because you are doing is specifically to hurt someone else.

Whether or not I would eat a wasabi and hot pepper sandwich is irrelevant. The important thing is that a reasonable person could, and therefore it's not food tampering. A reasonable person would not eat Exlax brownies.

[snowball's chance]

I once heard of someone catching a food thief by putting wasabi and hot peppers in their sandwhich. 

Food tampering is never acceptable.  We\\\'ve discussed that ad nauseum here before.  I\\\'m enjoying this thread, so let\\\'s not go there and get it locked

I don\\\'t think Emerald\\\'s suggestion counts as food tampering.  Wasabi & hot peppers might cause someone indigestion, but it\\\'s not in the same caliber as laxatives or something someone is allergic to.  And if someone didn\\\'t want to eat wasabi & peppers, they shouldn\\\'t eat their coworker\\\'s sandwhich.  If someone put something in someone else\\\'s sandwhich, that\\\'d be different.

I think the line is what you would eat vs what you wouldn\\\'t. So if you would eat a sandwich with Wasabi and hot peppers that is fine. But if you wouldn\\\'t then it crosses the line because you are doing is specifically to hurt someone else.

But if I make myself a sandwich with something gross, and someone else takes it, I\'m tampering with my OWN food, meant for me. No one else should be eating it anyway.  Yeah, I might suspect someone will steal it, but I have no idea if they actually will, nor did I ever give permission for someone to eat it.

If someone didn\'t steal it would you eat it? If the answer is yes then you are fine because someone stole something meant for you. If you wouldn\'t then you are setting a booby trap and that is crossing the line.

I disagree.  The line being crossed is taking someone else's sandwich w/o permission.  It would be *my* sandwich.  I can eat it or throw it out; no one else gets to take it whether I would eat it or not.  Even if I am hoping someone steals the sandwich & gets grossed out, the other person is still a thief.

[pierrotlunaire0]

I once heard of someone catching a food thief by putting wasabi and hot peppers in their sandwhich. 

Food tampering is never acceptable.  We\'ve discussed that ad nauseum here before.  I\'m enjoying this thread, so let\'s not go there and get it locked

I don\'t think Emerald\'s suggestion counts as food tampering.  Wasabi & hot peppers might cause someone indigestion, but it\'s not in the same caliber as laxatives or something someone is allergic to.  And if someone didn\'t want to eat wasabi & peppers, they shouldn\'t eat their coworker\'s sandwhich.  If someone put something in someone else\'s sandwhich, that\'d be different.

I think the line is what you would eat vs what you wouldn\'t. So if you would eat a sandwich with Wasabi and hot peppers that is fine. But if you wouldn\'t then it crosses the line because you are doing is specifically to hurt someone else.

Whether or not I would eat a wasabi and hot pepper sandwich is irrelevant. The important thing is that a reasonable person could, and therefore it's not food tampering. A reasonable person would not eat Exlax brownies.

That is why the brownies with the iron supplement were okay.  She WAS eating them, and in fact would have been willing to share once she had warned the person who asked.  I believe that it does become a legal issue once the food is laced with something that the person themself would not eat.  And I have heard of cases where it did become a legal matter, in that the person was accused of creating "an attractive nuisance."

[JD5351]

I've never had food stolen, but the cleaning staff at my office used to steal change out of my desk drawer.  Until I left a post it on top saying I knew someone was stealing my money, and if it happened one more time, they were getting reported.

Never took nickels or dimes, either.  Just my quarters.   

I had someone steal $5 in dollar coins out of my desk one day.  I didn't say anything to anyone. Then the next day they were replaced by a $5 bill.  LOL  At least they paid me back, but did they think I wouldn't notice that my coins were changed into a bill?  Like the magic money fairy visited? LOL

[wolfie]

I disagree.  The line being crossed is taking someone else\'s sandwich w/o permission.  It would be *my* sandwich.  I can eat it or throw it out; no one else gets to take it whether I would eat it or not.  Even if I am hoping someone steals the sandwich & gets grossed out, the other person is still a thief.

That is where the law disagrees with you. While I think the Theif is still the problem - if he didn\'t steal he wouldn\'t have gotten hurt - the law says that setting up a booby trap like this is illegal and you are liable for any harm that comes to the other person. So go ahead and put out that liver and onion sandwich if you like liver and onions, but don\'t do something that\'s only purpose is to hurt someone else.

[Lynn]

I was once an inadvertent food thief and ended up 'gaslighting' someone in the process.

I worked for a small college where we had a refrigerator in the faculty lounge.  I ordered pizza to be delivered for a department meeting but brought in two half gallons of soda (and paper cups) to save money.  Unbeknownst to me, another department chairman had a similar idea and had also brought two containers of the same type of soda for her meeting.  Shortly before my meeting was scheduled, I took the soda from the fridge to the room where we were meeting.  However, so did a member of my department, thinking she would save me a trip to the lounge which was in another building from the meeting room.  I got to the meeting, saw that the soda was already there and excused myself to return it the 'extras' which obviously belonged to someone else. 

I thought nothing of it but I later found out that in that short time period, the other department chairman had gone into the fridge and thought her soda had been stolen.  When she told her department, someone said, I am sure I just saw the soda in the fridge and went back and got it.  "I can't believe you didn't see it, it was right up front."  "I'm telling you that there was no soda in that fridge ten minutes ago."  "Well it's cold!" 

[sbtier]

I thought of another one.  When I was a work-study student, I saw a fellow student putting rolls of toilet paper into her bag, from the office restroom.  She explained it was her turn to 'buy' paper goods for the apartment she shared.

[Black Delphinium]

I once heard of someone catching a food thief by putting wasabi and hot peppers in their sandwhich. 

Food tampering is never acceptable.  We've discussed that ad nauseum here before.  I'm enjoying this thread, so let's not go there and get it locked

What if it was a sandwich the person who made it would actually eat? Is it food tampering then?

[familyfun]

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.

I work at a place with a fridge that is way too cold & can't be adjusted.  I bought a lunch pack with a reusable ice pack.  It keeps my food cold but not icy.  That might work and you don't have to worry about theft since you can keep it below/in your desk..

[extranormal]

We never knew who did it, but karma did.

Our firm specialized in trademark law, so we had a lot of packages of things (food, small electronics, etc.) lying around the office. One morning, we noticed that a package of pecan cookies was missing.

Unfortunately for the thief, those cookies had been around for at least two years. We were working on litigation involving the package design and the shape of the cookie itself, so every cookie in the box had probably been handled by several people.

The dumb thing was, the firm very generously provided free cookies and other snacks in the breakroom. There was no need to swipe our trial exhibit.

[cocacola35]

What if it was a sandwich the person who made it would actually eat? Is it food tampering then?

I don't think so.  For example I love peanut butter sandwiches.  If I bring it for lunch and the person that steals it happens to be allergic to peanuts, I hardly see how I'm liable.  First of all, I had no way of knowing that the thief had a peanut allergy and I brought the sandwich with every intention of eating it myself.