Person Exposes Office Food Thief With A Planted Lunch Burrito: “He Immediately Threw Up”
The fact that even at a smaller company, people will straight up steal your food is an unfortunate revelation many of us make at our first job. Folks will simply lift your snacks and even entire meals out of the communal fridge and eat it like there is no tomorrow. So people have to start getting craft with revenge.
One office worker was plagued by a frequent food thief, so they decided to set up a spicy, habanero trap. Readers thought the capsium-ladden revenge was hilarious and others shared their own stories in the comments section.
Some folks treat an office fridge as a free for all
Image credits: The Marmot (not the actual photo)
So one employee decided to lay a trap for whoever was taking their food
Image credits: Tony Alter (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Altruistic_Proof4838
Office thieves are more common than we might like to think
Image credits: Joe Hall (not the actual photo)
While the vast majority of us would likely never even shoplift a candy bar, there is something about a communal fridge that unlocks some sort of inner bandit behavior. For example, one study found that around 18% of office workers admit to taking someone’s lunch from the fridge. While this is not a huge number, it’s worth noting that some thieves will simply never admit to it, even in anonymous surveys.
Remember that’s still roughly one in five. If you are in your office, you might be able to see five people around you just by looking. Statistically, at least one of them will, at some point, decide to help themselves to your lunch. Perhaps, even worse, you are the culprit. In which case, c’mon, bring your own lunch.
This particular crime relies on the thief knowing that, without clear, tangible evidence, most people will simply not risk making an accusation. After all, raising a fuss without proof is a surefire way to end up losing all credibility. So just by being careful, an office fridge thief can get pretty far, as long as they don’t get too greedy.
While it might seem minor, this sort of behavior can have large consequences
Image credits: Kristina Cortez (not the actual photo)
It’s actually surprising that companies don’t do more to combat this. After all, employees losing all faith in their coworkers will have repercussions beyond just the lunchroom. Once you add in bullying and discrimination, you can have a truly dangerous situation brewing. On a similar note, while OP’s revenge was pretty relaxed, all things considered, it’s not hard to imagine someone taking revenge a bit too far.
While it’s best to not be too sympathetic to thieves, there is also the workplace risk of someone with a food allergy eating the wrong thing. One would think, if you are deathly allergic, you would avoid random food, but one would think that one in five office workers aren’t thieves either. Yet here we are.
This is why many HR managers suggest raising a complaint early and not taking things into your own hands. At the very least, a company-wide email can be sent out telling employees to be careful to not “accidentally ” take someone else’s food. This way, the thief can’t use the “it was an accident” argument if confronted.
Broadly speaking, there are two anti-theft strategies
Image credits: Keegan Evans (not the actual photo)
However, as many of us might know, HR and management might take a bit too long to resolve this, so OP’s example is a classic strategy. Broadly speaking, workers who are the victims of this kind of theft take two strategies. First, they might try to hide or obfuscate their lunch to make it a less valuable target.
Others, including OP, will instead set a trap to give the thief second thoughts in the future. Spicy food is a classic example of this since it comes with built-in plausible deniability. After all, some people like their food to taste like an open inferno. This method comes with the added benefit of very possibly revealing who the thief is.
Readers thought OP’s approach was clever
Other’s shared their own strategies in similar situations
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Getting lunch stolen is terrible for those without food security. Some people are struggling and even have medical conditions that need special diet or evening out blood sugar. Or they need food to take with vital medication.
Especially since people in such situations often try to keep up appearances and often the work lunch is all they get to eat all day.
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i cannot fathom thinking it's a safe or good idea to take food that's not yours from a fridge. what if it's molded? what if they eat things you're allergic to? what if they have a VERY different standard of cleanliness or food temperature safety? there's such a huge minefield of conditions that make food safe when you prepare it yourself let alone rely on someone else to do it. outside of being so financially unstable there is no other food you have access to, i can't see why it'd be worth the risk. and everyone talking about them coming out of work fridges are at least employed. howwwwww? how do you feel safe doing that even if you have no consideration for others? how do you feel safe for you?
It’s not the risk to health I’m concerned about. I just can’t understand the entitlement to steal somebody’s food. How is that any different than going into their wallet and stealing money? The food would have cost the owner and when they get there at lunchtime to no food they either have to go hungry for the day or pay more money to buy another lunch. You have no idea how much financial pressure your coworkers are under - if they’re bringing food from home it’s could well be to save money or for dietary reasons.
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As a public service message for the male readers, if you've been slicing habanero peppers don't forget to wash your hands before going to the restroom. There will be unpleasant consequences . . . or so I've been told.
Can painfully confirm. No matter your gender; woman, man, trans woman, trans men, what not or wtf. Play safe and wear food approved gloves because it doesn't matter how many times you wash your hands, pepper juice will still be inside your fingers skin and it burns like hell if you touch something "sensitive"
Load More Replies... Getting lunch stolen is terrible for those without food security. Some people are struggling and even have medical conditions that need special diet or evening out blood sugar. Or they need food to take with vital medication.
Especially since people in such situations often try to keep up appearances and often the work lunch is all they get to eat all day.
Load More Replies... i cannot fathom thinking it's a safe or good idea to take food that's not yours from a fridge. what if it's molded? what if they eat things you're allergic to? what if they have a VERY different standard of cleanliness or food temperature safety? there's such a huge minefield of conditions that make food safe when you prepare it yourself let alone rely on someone else to do it. outside of being so financially unstable there is no other food you have access to, i can't see why it'd be worth the risk. and everyone talking about them coming out of work fridges are at least employed. howwwwww? how do you feel safe doing that even if you have no consideration for others? how do you feel safe for you?
It’s not the risk to health I’m concerned about. I just can’t understand the entitlement to steal somebody’s food. How is that any different than going into their wallet and stealing money? The food would have cost the owner and when they get there at lunchtime to no food they either have to go hungry for the day or pay more money to buy another lunch. You have no idea how much financial pressure your coworkers are under - if they’re bringing food from home it’s could well be to save money or for dietary reasons.
Load More Replies... As a public service message for the male readers, if you've been slicing habanero peppers don't forget to wash your hands before going to the restroom. There will be unpleasant consequences . . . or so I've been told.
Can painfully confirm. No matter your gender; woman, man, trans woman, trans men, what not or wtf. Play safe and wear food approved gloves because it doesn't matter how many times you wash your hands, pepper juice will still be inside your fingers skin and it burns like hell if you touch something "sensitive"
Load More Replies...
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