This is some office drama.

mrsconn23

Dear Prudence,

Our office is in an obscure part of an office park, isn’t close to any restaurants, and has no cafeteria. Unless you bring your lunch, you are left with one crappy vending machine. I came up with an office “pantry.” Essentially, a basket of fruits, granola bars, and other non-perishables with a money jar to repay it. Everyone will drop some money in or take a turn bringing food in. We worked on the honor system. It worked for about nine months, until we got the new hires—then the basket would be cleared out in a day. Everyone was upset and no one admitted to it until our supervisor checked the cameras. The two new hires, “Jane and Joan,” would come in mid-shift and clean out the basket into their huge purses. When confronted, they got selfish and claimed it was “free” and they had kids at home. So yeah, they feel they can lie, steal, and screw over their coworkers because they have kids.

Since the food pantry wasn’t official, there is nothing to be done. It went away. My resentment isn’t. I have a hard time interacting with Joan and Jane, especially if they need help or want to “borrow” my office supplies. I find myself counting when they don’t return my pens or thinking they should have taken notes during training rather than bothering me. How do I move forward now? I have been locking the big boxes of energy bars in my desk in case someone misses packing their lunch (or I do). If Jane or Joan comes up asking for one, I might snap at them.

—No System for Honor

charlotte989875

Wow they’re terrible. I’d fire them, but for the stealing but for their response. 

Steer clear of them. Don’t be rude but you don’t have to go out of your way to help either. With attitudes like theirs I doubt they’ll be there long. 

banana468

charlotte989875 said:

Wow they’re terrible. I’d fire them, but for the stealing but for their response. 

Steer clear of them. Don’t be rude but you don’t have to go out of your way to help either. With attitudes like theirs I doubt they’ll be there long. 

All of this.  

I'd be very by the letter with them with the attitude they had and also think they won't be long for the company.  That said, don't do anything that digs your grave. They clearly appear to think they deserve more than they get so make sure your actions are all in line with the rules. 

short+sassy

I'm reminded of the phrase "this is why we can't have nice things".

I'd have a hard line with this.  Those two employees should have been fired.  They knew those items weren't free.  They are thieves and have a poor character.  Neither of those traits make a good employee.  Especially since it wasn't like they took ONE item on a day where they might have been hungry and didn't have cash.  They completely emptied the snacks to take back home.

The LW is already doing what one should do with horrible coworkers.  Stay polite and professional.  Avoid them as much as possible.

If they come begging for food, tell them "no".  If they ask "why", that answer would depend on how far the LW can go without getting HR on their back.  But if they can, they should be blunt about exactly why they won't give them a snack.

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Interestingly enough, I used to work somewhere with exactly this kind of set-up.  Fortunately for me and my coworkers, the honor system worked.  Or at least worked well enough that it was never taken away and I also never heard rumors of people stealing.

It also wasn't just snacks.  The office buildings were rented out by the Navy.  But it was a whole bunch of different defense contracting company employees who worked there.  Which meant even coffee and water wasn't provided.  But some people who worked there put together a "water and coffee club".  It was $3/month for water or $5/month for water and coffee.  The organizers would use that money to have water cooler and coffee services take care of all the breakrooms.

The organizers would also go to Sam's Club on their own time and buy various snacks.  Cookies, popcorn, chips, granola bars.  All kinds of stuff.  There was a big box set up with the snacks and a makeshift payment box, with a slot on the top.  The items were sold at just a bit more than cost in order to cover any occasional shortage.  SO convenient and way cheaper than a vending machine.

MyNameIsNot

So this is work related enough that you can use company surveillance cameras to find out who the thief is, but it's not work related enough to fire someone for blatantly stealing and then trying to justify it? 

Obviously these people suck, but so does management.