Food at Work

AshleyNicole1218 · October 2014

I'm sure this topic has been discussed many many times before...but I can't help myself.

I went into work today (cubicles in a corporate office, just to set the tone) to find that someone ate the box of Entenmann's apple cider donuts I had on my cabinet. Granted at this point, they had been on the cabinet all day, but there were about 6 donuts left when I went home for the day. A coworker found the empty box in the printer room across the hall. I know no one in my department ate them, because I was the last one out, even after the cleaning crew...which means it was one of the teams down the hall that was pulling a late-nighter.

It's not a huge deal; they're just donuts. But I'm kind of pissed that people decided food on my desk was up for grabs. Even more so because I don't even know these people at all, since our teams don't interact in the slightest. I also know stealing lunches from the pantry happens in most workplaces, but to steal food from someone's desk is crazy messed up.

TGI(almost)F. I'm still craving cider donuts. Anyone else have any pissy work stories?

theartistformerlyknownas · October 2014

That's bullshit. I think you should leave some food with spit in it.

Someone stole my homemade veggie quesadilla out of the work fridge before. I wanted to burn the place down.

I might have anger issues.

jenajjthr · October 2014

I teach high school and our department (science) has our own office and fridge, which is typical. Our door has a lock. We have keys to it, along with admin, cleaning crew, and hall monitors. We all put our food in the fridge and nobody steals even though there are 10 of us. Well I start bringing lunchmeat and sliced cheese and all of a sudden my food starts disappearing. I start keeping it in the plastic bag that they load groceries in at the store, it still goes missing. I have to keep it in the plastic bag, tie the bag up, AND put it in the crisper drawers on the bottom to stop the thievery. Really!? Yeah, not worth the trouble, I found something new and not so easy to steal for lunch. Nobody believed me until somebody else's food started getting stolen. Then our department chair went to the principal. The thievery stopped after that.

Jells2dot0 · October 2014

I label my diet coke cans in the fridge and even then, some people steal them. I find this extremely unnerving as I worked in a secure, closed area.

Side note- I miss work and can't wait to go back!!!!

JennyColada · October 2014

I go through this issue with DH. Even food with my name on it isn't safe!

theartistformerlyknownas · October 2014

This also happened at my office.

ShesSoCold · October 2014

Luckily my office is like seven people. If someone stole someone's food, everyone would know.

KytchynWitche · October 2014

I am ashamed to say that I was once involved in the pilfering of a lunch at work. It was all a misunderstanding, and it turned out okay, but still. Black spot on my career!

MOH and I used to work in the same office, we'd take lunch together, and I would often bring in homecooked lunches for both of us seeing as she doesn't cook. I also used to get in to work about an hour earlier than everyone else, because that's when FI had to leave for work (thank goodness for flexible hours!).

So on this particular day, I arrived with my two tubs of chicken soup, put them in the fridge and got on with my work. When MOH got in, I let her know that it was there, and that she should go ahead and have lunch whenever she was ready and not wait for me because I had a meeting that was probably going to run long. Around lunch, I get a message from MOH saying my soup was delicious. About an hour later, I go to get mine, and both my containers are still in the fridge. Turns out someone else had come in later and ALSO brought in homemade chicken soup.

It was a small-ish office (about 30 people) so I process of elimination'd it, found the other co-worker, and explained what happened. They ate my soup instead, and all was right with the world. They ended up liking mine better than theirs and wanted the recipe!

I know at one of my previous offices someone had half a loaf of bread go missing from the kitchen, but other than that, the weirdest thing that's ever happened in a work fridge was someone's car keys showing up next to the butter...

I just don't understand how people can take things they know they didn't buy (or make, whatever). We had free soda at one of the companies I worked for, and I couldn't bring myself to take any for like a week when I started, because I knew I hadn't bought them!

wrigleyville · October 2014

This really pisses me off because I can only eat certain kinds of food and take lots of care to assemble my lunch/snacks according to my plan. I'm pre-diabetic, so I can only have so many carbs per day, and since I'm losing weight, I'm restricted to so many calories per day. If my lunch is stolen, I have to go to the break room and choose from things like Carb Bars, Carb Packets, Sugar Sacks, and all sorts of crap I can't have. Plus, that means I have to spend money on that crap.

So.

Now, I put all of my stuff in a giant butter container. Like this:

I put it way in the back of the fridge. When people open the fridge to pillage and steal the first available food, a giant thing of fake butter isn't something they're going to grab.

larrygaga · October 2014

Yeahhhh I just put a salad in a lunch box with an icepack and keep it under my desk in my office. It never gets touched!

l9i · October 2014

Our office has a nice rule of thumb for food. 1: We have no fridges so if you bring in lunch it's at your cubicle automatically. 2: If you bring in food to share and you keep it at your desk then outside people will leave it alone. However, when you have extras and want to get rid of it the moment you put it in the hallway its free game to anyone.

I like this and have never heard of anyone taking from someone's desk. I've brought in treats before for certain occasions and I'll have them at my desk and send a note to my section and friends that they are there. If I still have treats left after noon I put them in the hallway and they are up for grabs because typically I don't want to cart the leftovers home.

jenna8984 · October 2014

That is super messed up! It's very common in the lunchroom/ fridge but at your own desk- that's so wrong. And ALL of them! Seriously, not just one donut they took all of them!

One time, someone wanted my spinach dip and took the entire "walmart" bag. I had an empty tupperware and fork in there with the dip and I was so mad. Like steal the damn dip but I want my tupperware and fork back! I kept hoping someone grabbed it by accident and would just put it back in the fridge but it never happened.

My friend had leftover salmon from Cheesecake factory that someone stole at her work and this was years ago but I'll always remember. She distributed a flyer in her office that was like a police report spoof about the case of the missing salmon. She never found out who it was but they must have felt like such a douche.

RebeccaFlower · October 2014

Maybe it psychological, but I always think its weird for people to gravitate so heavily to free food or stealing it. I have a gf who will shovel in food she doesn't even like because it's free and she has a full fridge at home and food availability has never been an issue. I assume the same for some of the professionals you guys are talking about.

emmaaa · October 2014

That would make me so mad. Even though I work for the Town with many employees, I'm the manager of a facility and it is only my assistant and me there. If she tole my food...i would know.

cupcait927 · October 2014

JennyColada said:

I go through this issue with DH. Even food with my name on it isn't safe!

Same. We have had more than one fight over H eating my food or eating all of the leftovers and leaving me with none. I can't count how many times I've bought ice cream, eaten a few bites, and when I go back to it a few days later, all that's left is a bite at the bottom. I rage.

emmaaa · October 2014

cupcait927 said:

JennyColada said:

I go through this issue with DH. Even food with my name on it isn't safe!

Same. We have had more than one fight over H eating my food or eating all of the leftovers and leaving me with none. I can't count how many times I've bought ice cream, eaten a few bites, and when I go back to it a few days later, all that's left is a bite at the bottom. I rage.

FI doesn't ever eat leftovers so I know he won't touch my food in the fridge. He also knows things I buy that are specifically for me. But, boy do I get angry when he decides he wants leftovers and eats something I was looking forward to!

climbingsingle · October 2014

This would be me.

WinstonsGirl · October 2014

My mini Coke Zeros used to go missing a lot. 2 fridges and 70+ staff. It sucked in the fridges. I now have a mini fridge in the PE Office and only me and the other PE teacher use. Nothing goes missing anymore.

Our rule of thumb is staff room fridge - don't touch. Staff room table - Free for all

mschristie123 · October 2014

Ummmmm. Fuck that noise. Entemann's apple cider donuts are one of the best things in life!! I bought a dozen last week and my brother (who was in town visiting) got the last one. I almost killed him. I was raging.

In terms of office food, we don't really have any communal spaces, so that doesn't happen here. I bring my food and leave it in my office until it's time to warm it up.

theartistformerlyknownas · October 2014

wrigleyville said:

This really pisses me off because I can only eat certain kinds of food and take lots of care to assemble my lunch/snacks according to my plan. I'm pre-diabetic, so I can only have so many carbs per day, and since I'm losing weight, I'm restricted to so many calories per day. If my lunch is stolen, I have to go to the break room and choose from things like Carb Bars, Carb Packets, Sugar Sacks, and all sorts of crap I can't have. Plus, that means I have to spend money on that crap.

So.

Now, I put all of my stuff in a giant butter container. Like this:

I put it way in the back of the fridge. When people open the fridge to pillage and steal the first available food, a giant thing of fake butter isn't something they're going to grab.

Some of my old coworkers kept their flavored coffee creamer in the bottles from their breast pumps. Brilliant.

loro929 · October 2014

In the fridge in my office, we have the opposite problem. People don't eat what they leave in the fridge. Every couple of months it gets to the point where the smell is unbearable and a brave soul will find some rotting tupperware in the back of who-knows-what, even though there is a note on it that says it will be emptied out every Monday morning. Yuck. Sometimes there will also be plates covered with a napkin sitting in there that people just "forget" about and they end up staying there because noone wants to throw someone else's food out.

I enjoy bringing lunch, but it has gotten to the point that I only bring things that don't need to be refrigerated between when I enter the office and lunch time because the fridge spooks me.

Couggal12 · October 2014

I would be so pissed if I were you.

Our fridges get cleaned out on Friday night, so anything you don't label usually gets thrown away by our cleaning crew. I had brought in Laughing Cow cheese wedges a week weeks ago and had 1 with crackers as a snack. Well, come Monday morning they were thrown out. Grrr, so much damn rage.

I also had someone eat my Lean Cuisine meal about a month ago. I had forgotten to write my name on it (I was going to eat it for lunch that day) and come 12:30 it was gone! It's not like someone could have mistaken it for their own. I had it in a bag with my snacks so the chances that someone brought in the same frozen meal with apple slices and yogurt is really slim. I was stabby the rest of the day. Mostly because they went through my lunch bag to steal it.

wandajune6 · October 2014

loro929 said:

In the fridge in my office, we have the opposite problem. People don't eat what they leave in the fridge. Every couple of months it gets to the point where the smell is unbearable and a brave soul will find some rotting tupperware in the back of who-knows-what, even though there is a note on it that says it will be emptied out every Monday morning. Yuck. Sometimes there will also be plates covered with a napkin sitting in there that people just "forget" about and they end up staying there because noone wants to throw someone else's food out.

I enjoy bringing lunch, but it has gotten to the point that I only bring things that don't need to be refrigerated between when I enter the office and lunch time because the fridge spooks me.

We have the same problem. It's hysterical with salad dressing too- there are probably 30 bottles because people would rather buy a new bottle than accidentally use someone else's.

Fortunately, our building keeps fridges of free soda, water (and beer) so there's no drama over drinks.

pumpkincreamcake15 · October 2014

This has never happened to me at work but it did in college all the time. There even where signs all over the fridge to not take other people's food and I remember we had floor meetings about it. I used to get so annoyed when people would take my labeled yogurt! The worst was when I bought ice cream and the next day went to go get some and all that was left was an empty carton! People have some nerve I swear! I remember being so mad I actually went to my RA (my friend) and ranted about it. Which is so unlike me but omg really eat the whole half gallon of labeled ice cream and put it back in the freezer???Ugh

APDSS22 · October 2014

I'm the person who specifically brings in decoy food. I'll bake cookies and leave them out on the table so the free-grabbers take those instead of my lunch in the fridge.

I do like the butter container idea though.

PrincessOfHavoc · October 2014

Yeah, work has the opposite issue - not touching anything that isn't theirs. It's a bottle of ketchup, we bought it for store use as we find any excuse to grill. You can use it whenever, just leave a note when it's almost empty. We don't need twelve bottles of it, eleven with initials. It's not even like it's eleven bottles of fancy pants no sugar heirloom tomato blah de blah ketchup. It's the same that we buy for the store.

I've had to have meetings over that. Seriously. I gave up, made a list of everyone's various bottles and if it's in the fridge when I clean it on Friday, I will throw it out. Now they mostly behave.

lulu0405 · October 2014

There's a guy in my office who microwaves lean cuisine fish everyday. I love fish, and I'm fine with some lean cuisine, but this smells exactly like what you're imagining, Meaning it stinks up the office... I sit right outside the kitchen, mad trust me, it's nasty.

AddieCake · October 2014

This is why I keep my food in my classroom in my insulated lunch bag with ice pack. In my previous school, we were allowed to have fridges and microwaves in our classrooms, which was great. I miss being able to do that!

Chipmunk415 · October 2014

I'm one of the few in my office with a little fridge.

My rules are simple- anyone can use it but 1)if it's home made/leftovers/ie, in tupperware, it must be consumed/used in 7 days or I toss the whole thing out. I don't want stuff rotting in there, and 2) if you ever get caught stealing someone else's food from that fridge, you are banned from using my fridge ever again.

I've posted this story recently on a thread on ehell, but it bears repeating...

When I was a law intern, I interned at a gov't agency, and routinely brought my lunch from home due to low student funds. I made delicious, healthy food at the beginning of the week, and parceled it out to myself. I routinely had a situation where an unknown someone was stealing my meals (good thing I had a back up stash of granola bars I could keep at my desk). I thought it was one particular person (let's call him Mooch) but wasn't sure.

Until the fateful day arrived, where Mooch came storming up to my desk to berate me. See, I'd brought homemade meatballs and pasta for my lunch. Mooch saw it, took it, and ate it. Unfortunately for him, my family meatball recipe is particularly spicy, and depending on the level of certain spices, has been known to clean out sinus infections. Mooch didn't know this, and had bowel troubles when it came to very spicy foods.

To his mind, I'd deliberately set out to "poison" him by making deceptively spicy meatballs (you couldn't taste the exceptional heat level, I blend stuff too well....plus I'd been experimenting with cooking with chili oil too).

My supervisor overheard this, intervened, and told him it was his own darn fault for stealing my food, how dare he hassle me, and if she got wind of him stealing from my food again, she'd refer for disciplinary actions (govt agency, so you have to work at it to get disciplined).

Evil Chipmunk was all for making him an apology cake with chocolate laxatives in it, but Chipmunk stuffed her back in her cage....

lc07 · October 2014

And to think, sometimes I wished I had coworkers.

levioosa · October 2014

Ugh, people take food in our office all the time. The worst is when our boss's wife comes in with her bratty children. She lets them run around (literally) screaming in circles, and then when they whine about being hungry, she takes them to our fridge and tells them to eat whatever they want. Lady, you make fucking millions. Leave my thoughtfully planned out food alone. Take your little assholes to lunch or order food in.

As my small measure of revenge, I put the food she takes on my expense report.

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