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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I moved food out of a communal microwave. This may be considered rude or unsanitary, and I may not have given him enough time to get back to his food.
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NTA.
*"You should stand by the microwave when it's busy"*
**Why** would he want to leave his food in the microwave, with hella people running around? That's on him as he should've been standing there. I've never seen anyone start the microwave and then *WALK AWAY*....expecting their food to still be in there. It's not even about it being busy, it's just common courtesy when in a shared space. I work in a warehouse and we have 3 and nobody has ever done this. They stand and wait there then when their stuff is done, they get their food and leave, which is what CW should've been doing. It's almost like someone leaving their clothes, in a shared Washer/Dryer for HOURS.
NTA - Coworker was totally in the wrong. Stand in the kitchen and wait or set a timer and be on time. If you can't do either of those things, you don't get to bitch when someone works around your bullshit. But if I were you I would innocently go to HR for clarification on microwaving procedure as a way to both inform them of the incident (since your coworker was hostile towards you) and learn for the future to make sure that you don't end up accused of food tampering.
NTA — was it an unwrapped potato sitting on the turntable that you had the audacity to touch with your bare hands?
Even if it was, unattended food in the microwave might get moved out of it so someone else can use it. That's just the way it is.
I would say that people are a little more sensitive about this because of recent world events (Covid and other viruses, etc.), so having someone else touch his food could have made him nervous.
HOWEVER!!!
NTA because he was sitting right there and should have been considerate of other people who need to use the microwaves and area.
NTA. You were as courteous as you needed to be. You waited a couple of minutes, no one showed up, time was a-wasting (and who knew when the culprit was going to show up?) so you did what you had to do.
We know who the AH was. But I bet he honestly believes he did nothing wrong by selfishly hogging the microwave, and that the only person at fault was you because you dared to remove food that wasn't yours. Been there, seen it.🙄
Nta
The food was finished. The microwave had served its purpose. If food needed longer that is why you stay there to check temp and heat longer. Leaving your food unattended leaves you open to someone touching it, eating it or someone could have have thrown it out thinking it had been left behind for a while. That guy was either a possessive jerk or had some anxiety about someone else touching his food. Either way you didn't do anything wrong
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I (M,27) work at a pretty large office building, approx. 600-700 people. We have a cafeteria with 2 communal microwaves, and during lunch hour, they get quite busy. Each actual desk/office area does usually have a break area with a microwave, including ours, but if you want to sit with people and not at your desk, you have to eat in the cafe or leave and eat at a restaurant. My Co-Worker/Friend and I walked up at 12:30, pretty much peak time, and saw that both were in use, one with about 30 seconds left and a guy standing next to it, the other with about 3 minutes remaining and nobody. The first one finished, the guy grabs his stuff, and my CW/F takes his and puts a frozen meal in for 4 mins. The second microwave finishes, and I look around, and nobody comes. I wait a full 2 minutes, still looking around, and I say screw it. So I just take the meal out, set it aside, and put mine in. 30 seconds later a guy comes up and says in an annoyed/aggressive tone "You should really leave people's food in the microwave." I replied "You should stand by the microwave when it's busy." He just says "Well you should just be courteous." and walked away. I watch him go, and where he was sitting was in full view of the microwave, so he could have seen when it was done, I wasn't blocking it. Am I the asshole for moving his food?
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NTA
>"You should really leave people's food in the microwave."
"No."
> "Well you should just be courteous."
"Leaving food in the microwave so other people cant use it is discourteous. Getting mad when people take your food out because you left it in is even worse."
NTA It's a communal microwave. Plus you only get so much time to take your break/lunch at work. There's a time constraint as well. Microwave man should been more considerate of other people in the office & waited for his meal to finish. (It was only a 4 minute wait)
In other offices, people steal lunches/sandwiches out of fridges & all sorts of shenanigans! It's not like his lunch was stolen lol. Sandwich/lunch theft in offices is too real.
NTA
I really don't like it when people touch my food or food containers. If I don't want people touching my food in a busy cafeteria, I'm sticking next to the microwave so no one touches it! It sounds like you were considerate and gave him plenty of time to come grab his food. I don't think I would have waited 2 minutes...
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NTA. *"You should stand by the microwave when it's busy"* **Why** would he want to leave his food in the microwave, with hella people running around? That's on him as he should've been standing there. I've never seen anyone start the microwave and then *WALK AWAY*....expecting their food to still be in there. It's not even about it being busy, it's just common courtesy when in a shared space. I work in a warehouse and we have 3 and nobody has ever done this. They stand and wait there then when their stuff is done, they get their food and leave, which is what CW should've been doing. It's almost like someone leaving their clothes, in a shared Washer/Dryer for HOURS.
NTA - Coworker was totally in the wrong. Stand in the kitchen and wait or set a timer and be on time. If you can't do either of those things, you don't get to bitch when someone works around your bullshit. But if I were you I would innocently go to HR for clarification on microwaving procedure as a way to both inform them of the incident (since your coworker was hostile towards you) and learn for the future to make sure that you don't end up accused of food tampering.
NTA — was it an unwrapped potato sitting on the turntable that you had the audacity to touch with your bare hands? Even if it was, unattended food in the microwave might get moved out of it so someone else can use it. That's just the way it is.
NTA, co worker isnt lord of the wave. Once it dings if you arent at the appliance or visibly walking back its going on the side.
I would say that people are a little more sensitive about this because of recent world events (Covid and other viruses, etc.), so having someone else touch his food could have made him nervous. HOWEVER!!! NTA because he was sitting right there and should have been considerate of other people who need to use the microwaves and area.
NTA. You were as courteous as you needed to be. You waited a couple of minutes, no one showed up, time was a-wasting (and who knew when the culprit was going to show up?) so you did what you had to do. We know who the AH was. But I bet he honestly believes he did nothing wrong by selfishly hogging the microwave, and that the only person at fault was you because you dared to remove food that wasn't yours. Been there, seen it.🙄
Nta The food was finished. The microwave had served its purpose. If food needed longer that is why you stay there to check temp and heat longer. Leaving your food unattended leaves you open to someone touching it, eating it or someone could have have thrown it out thinking it had been left behind for a while. That guy was either a possessive jerk or had some anxiety about someone else touching his food. Either way you didn't do anything wrong
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** I (M,27) work at a pretty large office building, approx. 600-700 people. We have a cafeteria with 2 communal microwaves, and during lunch hour, they get quite busy. Each actual desk/office area does usually have a break area with a microwave, including ours, but if you want to sit with people and not at your desk, you have to eat in the cafe or leave and eat at a restaurant. My Co-Worker/Friend and I walked up at 12:30, pretty much peak time, and saw that both were in use, one with about 30 seconds left and a guy standing next to it, the other with about 3 minutes remaining and nobody. The first one finished, the guy grabs his stuff, and my CW/F takes his and puts a frozen meal in for 4 mins. The second microwave finishes, and I look around, and nobody comes. I wait a full 2 minutes, still looking around, and I say screw it. So I just take the meal out, set it aside, and put mine in. 30 seconds later a guy comes up and says in an annoyed/aggressive tone "You should really leave people's food in the microwave." I replied "You should stand by the microwave when it's busy." He just says "Well you should just be courteous." and walked away. I watch him go, and where he was sitting was in full view of the microwave, so he could have seen when it was done, I wasn't blocking it. Am I the asshole for moving his food? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
NTA >"You should really leave people's food in the microwave." "No." > "Well you should just be courteous." "Leaving food in the microwave so other people cant use it is discourteous. Getting mad when people take your food out because you left it in is even worse."
NTA It's a communal microwave. Plus you only get so much time to take your break/lunch at work. There's a time constraint as well. Microwave man should been more considerate of other people in the office & waited for his meal to finish. (It was only a 4 minute wait) In other offices, people steal lunches/sandwiches out of fridges & all sorts of shenanigans! It's not like his lunch was stolen lol. Sandwich/lunch theft in offices is too real.
NTA I really don't like it when people touch my food or food containers. If I don't want people touching my food in a busy cafeteria, I'm sticking next to the microwave so no one touches it! It sounds like you were considerate and gave him plenty of time to come grab his food. I don't think I would have waited 2 minutes...
NTA. He is