this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2024
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Seriously I see these posts all the time about people who have a co-worker who steals food so they make gross food to 'get back at them' cause HR doesn't do anything.

Legit question but how do you not just freak out and yell at the person? If a co-worker stole my food the 1st time I'd yell at them and curse them out, the 2nd time I'd threaten to shove the food in their fat face next time I see it happen. If HR didn't do anything I'd threaten to quit and sue if they claimed I don't get EI because it's a toxic work environment.

I just don't get how people are so passive when co-workers literally steal from them? I'd be fucking livid.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago

How else are they going to identify middle management prospects?

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 7 hours ago

I agree. It's theft.

HR should absolutely get involved because it's going to really affect the working environment. And if you're hungry as a result, you're really not going to be doing your best work.

[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

A guy I worked with had his lunch stolen from the freezer one day. He walked around and found the empty container in the trash of a new guy. He was canned that day.

[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 7 hours ago

Be wary of such proof.

As a young kid in the 80s, I went to stay for three days at an adventure centre. One barn was converted to house bunk beds and there were about 20 kids of about 11 years old. Everyone else was there for a week and I joined midway, and found it difficult to integrate.

One kid, the only one who had shown me any welcome, had his woolly hat stolen. Another kid suggested searching everyone's bags for it. There was general resistance, most kids thought he'd lost it somewhere and that never happened.

When I got home the following day and unpacked, I found the hat in my bag. Someone had planted it there, probably the kid who suggested searching bags. Taught me a lot about people, that did.

[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 16 hours ago

Never ever been in a place where people take food that isn't theirs. I cannot even comprehend it. And if it happened more than once I'd keep my food in a backpack at my desk.

Is it yours? If no don't touch. Simple as that.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago

I'm with you. They're literally taking your sustenance. This is way serious.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)
  1. The average person wants peace in their life.

  2. These are the fringes that the malicious operate best.


  1. Because it's not really worth the hassle to you.

Most actually don't want to yell and scream at someone, to escalate a situation, to involve themselves with "authority figures" that do nothing but work preserve the hierarchy around them.

It's exhausting just to exist while we suffer this way of life. People just gotta pick their battles because we are losing the class war.

  1. Because they feel safe to antagonize relentlessly.

these malicious actors know the average person wants this peace. They pick and poke ceaselessly like the vultures they are. What are you gonna do about it? Nothing.

Even if you do stand your ground, you will be vilified for putting the front of their face into the back of their skull.

Or if you yell and scream, others will think you're crazy/dramatic/unreasonable regardless of the circumstances.

Or perhaps you plead uselessly to your indifferent "authority figures" who only exist to exploit you in the most efficient way possible. Utterly toothless. Can you be surprised? We are not free while living like this.

[โ€“] [email protected] 14 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Happened to me too. Didn't know who it was. I ended up keeping my lunch in my backpack (thermally insulated container), and no one stole my lunch after that.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Sounds like the thief won. Made you change your habits.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 minute ago

As opposed to continuing to bring the thief food?

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 16 hours ago

Because they don't know what i put in there.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago

I always keep Lunch in my backpack at my desk or eat in a cafeteria. The best way to be chill about a problem is to avoid having the problem.

[โ€“] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I empathize with your outrage. I once worked at a place with 100+ employees and high turnover, and people would steal lunches there. When I first heard about it I was horrified. The reality is that the company doesn't care, and unless you're the person whose lunch is being stolen, most co-workers won't care either -- they wouldn't even know how to help you.

A solution could be as simple as a camera pointed at the fridge, along with firing any thieves. IMO the fact that most places don't take it seriously is evidence of how little they care about the employees.

[โ€“] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago

I mean the real answer to your question is that those posts are all fake because the internet loves stories about revenge on such a small scale they can't be disproven.

But I want to know what kind of job keeps you by the fridge 24/7 so you can always witness food theft. Most people don't work in the break room, so they have no way of knowing who to yell at when their food disappears.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Where I work HR put a big sign on the refrigerator door about not stealing food

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago

Can't have shit in Detroit

[โ€“] [email protected] 42 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm guessing that they don't know who stole the food

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I would still make a big deal about it, and demand a solution

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 17 hours ago

So say 100 people work at this company, the other 98 not involved don't want to listen to you rant and rave either. They might understand, but the more you escalate the less they want to deal with your shit either.

[โ€“] [email protected] 48 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yall dealing with people stealing food? Ive worked in an office setting for almost 20 years and ive not once ever heard of someone taking someone elses food

[โ€“] [email protected] 22 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

Where I work there was a night guard who would go around at night and steal food from alle the office break rooms. They installed combination locks on them ans gave the code only to people in the department. When they found the culprit, they fired him. Which is the only sensible thing to do when someone is stealing on the job.

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 20 hours ago

Steal from the company, not from the employees.

[โ€“] [email protected] 67 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

Because that's not how the corporate world works. You want to freak out and yell at them? Go ahead. Maybe they don't eat someone else's food for a week. Meanwhile you'll be hunting for a new job. You threaten another employee? You'll be lucky to be employed at the end of the day.

Life is a series of tradeoffs. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Tim may steal food, but that doesn't mean it's throwing off the status quo. You yell at Tim, you're upsetting the status quo. So go ahead, and have fun with your pink slip. Hope it was worth it.

Or you can keep your lunch at your desk.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 41 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Maybe because the only co-worker food theft stories that get upvoted and therefore seen are the dramatic ones about passive-aggressively making gross food for the food thief. And who knows how many of them are true stories and how many are creative writing projects for internet points.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 23 hours ago

Making inedible or spicy food to catch a food thief is a trick as old as time and I have even done it myself. There is no other way to catch them out usually.

[โ€“] [email protected] 35 points 1 day ago (2 children)

My cop relative said everyone working in police stations keeps their stuff in lockers because cops constantly steal from each other. Not just food.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 11 hours ago

What do you expect when most cops are criminals

[โ€“] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago

This is the least surprising thing I have learned today.

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 14 hours ago

When you find out the person stealing food is skipping meals to feed their family.

[โ€“] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If they're any good at it, you won't know who stole your food. If I did know who the thief was, yelling/cursing/threatening would get me fired. It's easier to keep my food at my desk in an insulated lunchbox with an ice pack.

And finally, HR doesn't give a flying fuck about your lunch. They would laugh in your face if you threatened to sue them.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I would only use them if they denied me EI after leaving the company and claiming I left due to the toxic environment. In Canada that's how EI works, you can get it if you quit if the working environment is illegal or toxic etc

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Not familiar with the acronym "EI"

Employment insurance?

Idk, if they fired you for screaming and threatening someone, seems like they'd have an argument that you were the toxic one. The company didn't steal your lunch. Even if you could prove you made every possible effort to report the thief and handle it through official channels, falling back on screams and threats would really detract from any argument, IMO.

I'm not Canadian though so I can only say I personally wouldn't intentionally burn bridges like that over leftovers. To answer your original disbelief that anyone could be so passive about accepting lunch thefts, I've not had it happen with any frequency that would make me put my employment at risk by acting out.

[โ€“] [email protected] -4 points 15 hours ago

Because here it's not normal to leave food at work.

That's why I can be so chill at it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Stealing food is theft - it may be petty theft but it's still theft. If you report it to HR and nothing is done then you can sue the company for a hostile work environment.

If you use laxatives, excessive spice, whatever and injure a coworker then you can be fired with cause and possibly be civilly or criminally liable if the damages are significant enough.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 22 hours ago

If you report it to HR and nothing is done then you can sue the company for a hostile work environment.

Good luck

Filing a lawsuit over a sandwich (or threatening someone, as OP mentions) is a comical overreaction anyway. There are a dozen simpler ways to solve the problem.

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