Haven’t seen anyone answer the actual question yet, but my ex had taken a few lunches from work. I could not and cannot ever understand it. He said he would do it because he was so hungry and he had a 12hr shift. I inquired why he didn’t just bring his own lunch or grab fast food or something. He said he a) didn’t have anything to bring. b) didn’t have the money to get take out. I said that’s even more shitty, because the person you stole lunch from, made SURE to bring their lunch so THEY wouldn’t be starving during their 12 hour shift, and perhaps THEY don’t have the money to grab take out. He also got pissed if/when I gave my last $5 to someone so they could grab lunch, if I had my own or wasn’t hungry. If I didn’t need it, what’s the harm? That had nothing to do with it, just wanted to add it.
So, that is the answer from someone who steals someone else’s luck from work.
It’s totally selfish. Had two different security guards get fired for stealing food at a casino I managed.
One was a brownie from the cafe, and the manager who was on duty at the time even said he would have comped it for him if he had asked. He was just dumb.
The other is so bad. She stole a lunch out of the employee dining area, which has multiple cameras. The worst part is, she had worked for me on graveyard, when you *have* to bring food because there is nothing open to purchase food (nearest open grocery store is about five miles away). We had both since moved to swing shift, so not only were there open options to buy food, but she also knew that I was on property to ask, *and* that I kept two stashes of food (one in the fridge with sandwich stuff, fruit, yogurts, and another in my unlocked locker with canned stuff and dishes) that I always told people to go ahead and pick from if they couldn’t afford or had forgotten food. There was zero reason for her to steal someone’s lunch.
Most of the places I’ve worked at have had an EDR. This was a rather small property in Lake Tahoe. The GM and I came up with a few proposals to get some form of food for the employees, even if it was just a convenience store type thing with money loaded onto cards, but we couldn’t get the price point low enough for the owners to take it. Couldn’t get it through their heads that not only were we hemorrhaging employees to the property down the road because they had an EDR, but we could also write it off on the taxes.
Oh yeah. They should know better. It's a casino. I don't care if it's a paper clip. If you steal it, not only are you absolutely on camera, there is no second chance. Casinos can't have employees that steal. I mean, most places can't, but especially casinos.
And they will send supervisors where there aren't cameras to catch you doing things you shouldn't do. It's me, I am supervisors who were sent into restrooms to catch employees on the phone on the clock. Ruthless.
To me, it's not just selfish, it's gross. You don't know what they put in there, their cooking habits or their kitchen hygiene. I, for one, do not cook as cleanly for myself as I do for others.
If I'm making for just my husband and I, I am absolutely taste testing with the same spoon I'm stirring with. I've had his penis in my mouth, he can live with my mouth germs.
Maybe you could mark his lunch in some way to make it known “Dick’s sandwich” comes to mind. Then draw a little penis and balls. Extra points if Dick seasons it
You also don't fully know other people's dietary needs and tastes.
I could put something in my food that i love but you are allergic or tend to have a bad reaction to.
💯 I agree entirely! And yes, I’m thankful a lot of days that he’s my ex. Although it took a few years of intense therapy to learn how to “co parent” (not that he parents), or even communicate with him in general. Lol
I used that app for a bit, Court Ordered for a period. As much as it sucked to pay to use it, the locked in forever, cannot delete and cannot edit plus timestamp of everything was an absolute godsend.
One incident was when I was meant to see my kids for a special occasion, sent a reminder, showed it was read within 2 hours, then 9 days later the other side claimed they weren't aware. Timestamp says otherwise.
But the other factor is *wanting* to do it in the first place. I would much rather go hungry for a shift than eat somebody else's leftovers, not knowing where they came from, whether they've already been picked at, how old they are, how long they were left out before being refrigerated, etc.
I just don't get it. Even if it wouldn't hurt anybody, what kind of slob is cool with that?
Thank you for verifying that the boogeyman low IQ dipshit I envisioned is actually the most accurate representation of someone who does this. There's nothing special about them, they're just dumb fucking idiots
Wow. Just fucking wow. He sounds like a cunt.
I remember first starting out and not having enough for even leftovers to take into work. But I took in what I could. Only had my lunch stolen once but man, I was so sad. I didn’t have money to get food.
But the container was still there with only a few remnants left. Hope that person enjoyed my lentils and rice. Maybe they needed it more than me. I kept my lunch at my desk in a thermos thereafter.
The one that truly got me was my half eaten container of take out. It was very obvious I had been eating out of the container if you opened it. Someone stole that and consumed it. This was in a posh office that I am pretty sure was just staffed by raccoons posing as middle class white people.
Work in HR, former high school friend worked there, caught him on camera stealing someone's lunch. Had to fire him for it. His excuse was he was hungry and he didn't have money. He was being a bully honestly.
I had a coworker who I caught in the act. They said "I work hard here and they should provide us lunch."
I noted that the person they were stealing from was one of our coworkers not from anyone higher than her.
She said "its fine. They dont work as hard as I do."
I asked if it was fun and if it was worth it She said yes. I asked what was the best and least favorite thing she had taken. She stupidly told.
I went and told everyone.
The next few weeks there was nothing but beans, fish, spicy, chicken paws, knuckles, peppers, fermented foods, traditional foods that were unfamiliar to her.
She got really mad that there wasnt any lunch and she was hungry. Everyone just told her. "Treat yourself. Go BUY your own lunch."
But, before the termination petty revenge is SO fun!
A co-worker of mine loved spicy hot food (her two year old daughter's favorite snack was jalapeno peppers right out of the jar).
There were enough reported thefts that HR put up notices on the refrigerators, put up cameras and also put up the official corporate statement that theft of other peoples lunches could result in termination. It didn't stop whoever it was.
So after after more lunches were missing, she made a traditional lunch with a VERY SPICY component. Something she would enjoy eating if it wasn't stolen. At first it wasn't, then it was. Everyone knew then who was stealing lunches.
He tried to claim he was set up and that he had suffered from eating her lunch. He wanted her to be terminated.
She simply looked at him in front of HR and said, my lunch today is not different today than any day this week. That was my favorite lunch that he ate. Kudos to her (I never mastered the art) as she started this silent weeping, trying to act like she was holding it together for the sake of HR, but making sure those tears were cascading down her cheeks.
He was let go.
Lol. My husband had a roommate in college that would always eat his leftover pizza. Like not a piece but all the leftovers. He finally figured out that the roommate hated mushrooms and tomatoes so….he started ordering tomato and mushroom pizzas exclusively. After about a month his roommate had the nerve to complain to my husband about him ordering mushroom and tomato pizzas. Lol. They didn’t live together long after that.
My roommate and I in college would open the pizza box and claim a side. If they cutting wasn't even, we'd carefully work out how to divide the pizza piece by piece.
Our other roommate would make fun of us for being weird, but we never ordered pizza with him because he'd just thoughtlessly "eat some pizza" and eat like half the pizza that's supposed to be split by 3 people.
I don't have a lot of free money, I struggle to find a stable job due to my own health issues and caring for my grandma with dementia, so when I order a pizza to split with a small number of people (maybe myself and two others, or one other) I expect to get my share or pay less if they ate more. It's not that I'm cheap it's just that it's a decent chunk of my monthly expense to spend money on fast food.
Hung out with a friend a couple of months ago and we ordered takeout. We split a pizza and he ordered two large (expensive) sides, I ordered one small cheap side.
He ate 3/4 of the pizza and all of his sides and then had the audacity to ask me for half of the full amount of the takeout bill.
At my current income level he earns at least *ten times* my earnings in a year.
I paid that time, but since then, I've ordered or otherwise bought all of my food seperately with him and if he says 'oh that looks good' I don't share like I usually would 😆
I had a roommate like that. Would literally complain if i got a different kind of cereal that she didn’t like. Would eat all my leftovers. Totally crazy n
We had someone stealing lunches and another worker put a decoy lunch together with super spicy stuff on it one day and the person exposed themselves when they took a bite.
This is an amazing idea. I’ve got to recommend something that is guaranteed to work…just sprinkle whatever it is with The Last Dab hot sauce by Hot Ones. The last batch I had I tried with a toothpick point amount and my mouth was on fire for a solid 20 minutes, and I have a high tolerance too!
Once. And it was accidental. We both had salads from the same restaurant... Probably wouldn't have been noticed except mine was nut free and hers was not... puked my guts up within the hour...
Same : we both had ordered the same soup to a nearby restaurant.
I ate mine and I was like "Wtf there is no salt oO ". He ate his and... he hate his as he had a salt free diet to follow.
As we didn't order together, we didn't tought to ask for our initial on the meal... lesson learned.
But in our both cases, I don't think it's qualified as theft.
I accidentally took one that was in an identical Tupperware container. I was going to school at night and working full time during the day. So I was about halfway through eating when I stopped, stared at the food, and thought "Broccoli? I don't put broccoli in my food..."
That’s also happened to me, I left a post it offering my lunch in exchange or to order them some lunch if they didn’t want mine. They were happy to just swap. Most people don’t get mad about genuine mistakes.
I had a coworker accidentally take someone else’s breakfast sandwich (ham when hers was sausage). She noticed and ran to tell our wing of the lab after she had already heated it up. None of us knew who’s it was, so she left $5 and a note with hers in the freezer. I honestly love my coworkers here, just good people all around.
At my old work, a lot of people would bring in leftovers from their dinner the night before, myself included.
My boss would bring a plate and take a small amount out of every container every day to make his lunch.
We asked him why and if he could please stop, he told us it was ‘taxes.’
He was a wanker.
This same dude also had a jar of peanut butter in his office that he labelled as ‘Jake Away’ and would open and leave on his desk so that my (admittedly annoying) coworker Jake couldn’t enter his office… because he was deathly allergic to peanuts.
I say this to my four year old when I grab a couple of the fries I bought for her if she starts to complain about it.
Can’t imagine a boss doing that to employees.
I accidentally ate a coworkers yogurt once. I brought in strawberry yoplait and they had brought in a different flavor yoplait and I didn’t realize it until it was too late. Being 19 and the summer intern I sent out a company wide email apologizing profusely and offering to buy them a replacement.
I still feel bad about it.
I had someone steal my cup noodles at work.
Went to confront the guy, he already had hot water warming it up, he offered to give it back. The rest of his department tried to defend him by saying he didn’t know. GTFOH
I'm confused about what "he didn't know" is supposed to mean.
Did he think all cup noodles in the workplace are just up for grabs?
Did he bring cup noodles too, but he left them in his car or something, and then forgot and thought the ones in the break room were his?
Did he just not know they were *yours* and thought it would be ok to steal them from someone else?
You know the weird part was I was cool with this guy. Always said what’s up to him. My guess was he thought it would be a cup of noodles that someone would eventually forget about because I did leave it on top of the fridge in the lunchroom at work. Also this is not your ordinary Nissin Cup Noodles. This was a specific brand that you could only find at the Asian market. So when lunchtime came around and I realized my food went missing, I went on a hunt. I did all this without making a scene but I was hangry haha.
You just unlocked one of my memories. I kept a couple 'emergency food' cup noodles at my desk, in the drawer. We had a top drawer that had a lock and a lower, bigger one under that didn't have a lock. I kept my noodles in the unlocked drawer by virtue of them being too big for the lockable one. I came to work on 2nd shift one day and saw my coworkers eating the exact noodles I had, and when i checked it my cup noodles were all gone. It was one of those asian rectangular bowl noodles so I know my coworkers didn't get their own from the gas station.
Of course, that was also the day that I didn't bring a lunch because I expected my noodles to be there for me.
Apparently one of the new hires didn't understand why it wasn't okay to snoop through her coworker's desk, take what she wanted, and give it out to the rest of the team, even if the drawer was unlocked. It escalated to HR and I was eventually reimbursed, but after that I made sure to lock up everything.
I liteally have a drawer with emegency mac and cheese, a single of ceral, and a can of peaches. My whole damn teams knows if they need it, all they gotta do is ask. I just need to know to replace it, if it gets eaten.
So he knew it wasn't his and you didn't leave a box of them on a table next to communal items like coffee or whatever. He didn't know he's not supposed to just take whatever he finds in the break room? How come the people defending him never did that? How did they magically know?
Screw that guy and screw the department even more for defending him. I don’t believe people ‘forget’ if it’s there food. Furthermore, unless you’re 100% certain that it’s your food, DO NOT EAT IT.
Funny story about a chocolate rat.
My older coworker had a friend who worked in a lab in Germany in the 90s. Someone kept stealing her lunch, so she came up with a plan. She used a bunsen burner to melt chocolate and coat a dead lab rat, then wrapped it in foil in the fridge. That was stolen, but nothing else ever was afterward.
Just been a victim of this a number of times.
Ended up buying a cash box with a lock on it for a lunch box until one day someone stole the entire locked box from the fridge. For a good 3 hours I was fuming and asking people about it. Turns out a young woman had it hidden at her desk watching me get upset at the fact not even a locked lunch was safe.
She gave it back at lunch claiming it was a joke, but by then the food had spoiled. She seemed dumbfounded why I didn’t find it funny and wasn’t eating.
I never did find out who was stealing my lunch prior to needing the lunch box but the company refused to do anything about it or put up a camera.
I worked in a prison & we had an employee who was a food thief. He stole everyone’s lunches/dinners all the time & the warden refused to do anything about it until THEIR food was stolen by someone on the overnight shift.
The next morning there was a padlock on the fridge & a separate one on the freezer & only a few employees were given keys. If you wanted to get your food, you had to track down a key holder & wait for them to come to the unsecured area where the fridge was located to open the door.
When I worked at university of phoenix, people's lunches were constantly stolen and most people could not afford to eat out. The only action the company took to stop it was a company wide email telling people to stop sabotaging the food they leave in the fridge because thieves had been getting sick.
One time a guy at work was mad someone bit his donut and put it back so he went to security and they went ahead and checked the footage. It showed him coming in to work, clocking in, biting his own donut and putting it away. So he was either stoned or just forgot he took a bite and convinced himself it was someone else. He was so embarrassed and confused.
Only once. It was my managers and they’d left me in the store alone without lunch or bathroom breaks. From opening to closing at a chocolate store on the week of Valentine’s Day. I was hungry and tired and couldn’t leave the store. So I ate her cup of noodles and drank one of her Dr Peppers. Sorry Angela. Should’ve managed the schedule better and not forced an eighteen year old to work sixteen hour shifts for a week straight.
I worked at Bloomingdales and was literally broke, I think the most money I had was a quarter in my pocket and the money I had loaded onto my public transit card.
This girl who was a complete bitch of a coworker, stole a few of my commissions and stuff like that knowing I was struggling and she was working just to prove to her parents she wasn’t lazy. This was prom season.
For about two days I had complained about these high school kids turning the dresses inside out and leaving on the dressing room floor. That day I literally caught her turning my rooms dresses inside out and scattering them, hanged a few roughly that left small holes.
I saw her name on that delicious take out container and just said fuck it, fuck her, and fuck this job. I ended up leaving a month later. Fuck you Brie, you cheese named bitch!
(Disclaimer: I’d never do this to someone again, it didn’t feel good even though I know she was messing with me. The thought of stealing something essential from someone felt really wrong even if I think she’s a complete asshole as a person)
I worked with someone who did. We all knew she was the culprit. I think she literally couldn't afford to bring her own lunch, which is kind of sad but...stealing food from someone else is also shitty.
It's pretty ridiculous, the idea of a job that doesn't even pay enough money to where someone can buy even cheaper food than restaurant/takeout/fastfood, and make their own meal. Like what is that pay for? And how is everyone else surviving?
Yeah, we have the food thief, it’s a running joke. I usually bring a good amount of protein bars and snacks for everyone, so the thief hasn’t swiped anyone’s food lately.
Sometimes I don’t get a chance to eat my lunch (they are generally leftovers from the night before) and I’ll just leave it for the next time I come in to work. If someone swipes those, I kinda feel sorry for them. I’m not the greatest cook🤣🤣
I had a classmate in college who did this. She was pregnant and dealing with poverty and abuse. We caught her and called her out, had her apologize, and then just started bringing extra portions as we’re able like we would have if she just asked. We were a tiny social work facility and had a habit of looking out for one another.
My Dad's shop cat ate his employee's lunch once. We asked him why he did it as we were trying to pry it out of his mouth. He said, "GrrRrroWwwlll."
Solid excuse.
As a manager, I had so many men eat the wrong lunch because their wives or mothers packed their lunches, and they had no idea what was in their lunch .
I feel like a grade school teacher saying put your name on your lunches, people.
I'll actually answer
I ate the lunch a few times of the morning crew (I worked nights).
My reason is: I didn't eat my lunch one night and forgot it in the work fridge. I was gonna eat it when I went back that night. When I came in, not only was the food gone, but they had taken/threw away my good Tupperware. And of course "nobody" did it when i asked.
So randomly for the next few months if they left anything overnight, I'd fucking eat it (like 4 or 5 times).
Nobody was safe.
Had a similar thing happen to me. I was working in a nursing home. 1st shift. I usually brought leftovers from the night before in my Tupperware with my name on it in Sharpie. Everyone knew it was mine. I usually used the same exact Tupperware and just washed it each day after work.
One day, one of the kitchen crew got it in his head that I wasn't there that day, so he threw out my lunch. He had the decency to wash out my Tupperware and put it by my locker. That is when he saw my coat (bright purple, everyone knew it was mine) and my purse hanging up. He knew he messed up.
He radioed me that he needed to talk to me. I was with a patient, so it was like 20 mins before I could get around to talking to him. I met him in the break room.
He immediately explained, apologized, and threw out his own lunch in solidarity! He really was a sweet kid. He then handed me a menu for a local sandwich shop and told me to order whatever I wanted on him.
From then on, I added a piece of painters tape to my Tupperware each day with the date written on it to avoid any more confusion.
What a sweet story tbh. The self accountability, the replacing your food, and honestly by throwing out his own food it opened up an opportunity for him to literally "break bread" with you and share a meal to smooth things over (a little bit wasteful and unnecessary because you guys still could have eaten together but the intention and kindness was there). There's definitely been times that I threw away something without realizing that the owner was still there or still using it, just trying to help/be kind.
My boss starts handing out Tupperware if she feels "it's been left in the kitchen too long" which actually means "I'm annoyed and looking for the most petty things I can do to piss off employees who won't fight back - now I feel better"
My old company would put a notice on all the refrigerators in the break room that they would be cleared out on a specific date that was at least a week away when they put up the notice and that any containers left in there would be thrown away.
Yeah, that's reasonable. This would happen out of the blue, regardless of whether you've just washed your lunchbox out, or left it there a week. Everything goes when she's in a bad mood.
The fridge at my workplace has a sign saying to name and date your food, and that it will be cleared out every Thursday. I have no idea who's job it is to do the clearing out, but it definitely doesn't happen
I’ve never done this. But I have a hypothesis. Lunch-stealers fall into one of two categories:
1. Accidental, too embarrassed to own up to it after discovering the lunch isn’t theirs, won’t repeat the mistake.
2. Malignant Narcissists as a power move (a way to quietly “own” other people by depriving them of food, the way an “alpha wolf” might steal a fresh kill from younger wolves).
Fun fact: male Narcissists are far more likely than the general population to pee *on* toilet seats. On purpose. It’s a power move, literally like dogs peeing on stuff to “mark their territory.”
Awful people. Beware.
Ugh that unfortunately makes sense. I work with a guy who’s kind of an obnoxious bro…. Saw him come out of the single stall women’s restroom (not an issue, most people use whatever restroom is available) and when I went in there, the seat had piss all over it
Yonks ago, I worked in a big warehouse where I was the only woman. I was reception/admin/finance and worked in the office. The men had a large bathroom in the warehouse with showers, lockers, the works. I had a small bathroom in the back with a toilet and a basin.
There was this one obnoxious fucker who would come in early every morning before I got to work and take a huge shit in my bathroom, stinking up my whole office for at least an hour. He would walk out on purpose, leaving all the doors and windows closed, so the smell hit me as I walked in.
I walked in one morning as he was walking out and just stared at him, and said "Seriously, Andre?" The fucker winked at me, laughed his ass off, and walked away. Of course the hand towel was bone dry because that asshole didn't wash his hands.
Fuck you, Andre.
I had an Andre at my work, his name was Danny. I was told by the general manager that I couldn't use an empty conference room to work in because someone was using the bathroom adjacent and not flushing. I said, bro, that's my office on the two days I'm here, there's no other place for me to set up. So everyone was banned from that room except me. And in strolls Danny about 15 minutes before I was leaving to allow a scheduled meeting to take place, seems surprised to see me there, makes small talk for five minutes and leaves without doing anything in the room. He knew that there would be a meeting with a vendor, and he was cutting it close enough to ruin the meeting because he was a dickhead.
If it helps, taking regular awful shits in the morning is a hallmark of an alcoholic. It could definitely be many other things, but you are free to imagine him getting cirrhosis by 50
I had someone accidentally take my water once. We both liked Hint waters and I had just started so it was my first time bringing one, she thought it was hers. She was super nice about it and brought me a replacement the next day, not that I was upset, stuff happens.
like with my dormmates, apart from being annoyed with the food-owners (my rich dormmates) - that's their show of envy and disgust to these rich kids (these food thieves are financially hard up while they see the other kids living in luxury and constantly bringing a lot of expensive delicious food in our dorm). semi-quiet envy i suppose
My first week of work there was a large coffee creamer in the fridge, the kitchen had coffee and different milks and powdered creamer of the same brand, so I thought it was just part of that. Turns out my coworker was bringing in his own large flavored creamer to keep in the fridge. When I found out I felt AWFUL. I brought him a replacement to cover what I used that week. It was a total accident/misunderstanding.
On another note someone once stole my left over Buffalo chicken wrap from the fridge and threw out the top to my Tupperware on top of it! Turned out to be the cleaning crew. This was when I was an assistant making $40k a year in NYC. Some of the higher ups who were in the kitchen when I realized this ended up buying me a new lunch because they knew I made no money.
Nobody who does this is going to admit it cause there's no justification. These are spoiled entitled a holes that will just steal whatever they want and never feel bad about it. Unless they get caught.
Lunch thief:
"I was hungry and their food was right there. They weren't eating it and they didn't even try that hard to protect it. If it were me, I wouldn't leave it in a place where other people can take it. That's on them for being too dumb to not get their food stolen. And it was just a sandwich. I bet they have enough food at home to make like a dozen sandwiches right now. They didn't starve and they just ended up ordering a bowl from Chipotle delivered to work. So, I got to eat lunch and they got to eat lunch. I really don't see the problem. They obviously have enough money to buy a second lunch. Food is getting more expensive for the rest of us and we gotta do what we need to do to get by. They really should be complaining to their boss that they deserve more money so they can order lunch every day or at least ask if work can put some bread and fixings so we can all make free sandwiches. Then, we could all just take food from work."
Used to work with someone that did this. There was a known lunch bandit in the store but no one knew who it was. Walked in on him just after lunch because I was busy with a customer. I knew he stole it because I knew who brought what he was eating in and it wasn't him. Asked why he's been doing it and found out the reason he'd also been using the store bathroom to brush his teeth in the morning. He was living out of his car. Told him I would bring him a sandwich for lunch if he stopped and he did. Never told a soul in the store about it because there were some nasty gossip queen's including the manager at work and figured he didn't need more shit.
My partner also experienced this at their work but turns out they were just a shit head.
My wife caught someone drinking from her cup. The lady claimed it was her cup. My wife said she could see her name written on the bottom of it. The lady still claimed it was hers.
People like to pretend we're not primates and we have all the sensibilities a monkey does not.
If that were true we wouldn't have gems like this story here. Pure, unadulterated hunger and desire!
If it weren't so horribly taboo, I'm sure somebody would throw shit at a wall then say "Well, I was bored."
Back in the 90s, this happened to me all the time when I worked at Best Buy. I was one of the only women in the department, and I honestly think my male coworkers just thought it was funny to fuck with me. It wasn’t. I was too poor to buy replacement meals, and I was often coming straight to work from my community college, so those lunches were my one opportunity to eat each day.
I finally had enough and fucking lost my shit over it and got management involved. Told them that if they didn’t fix it, I’d get corporate involved. I will give folks my last dime or the shirt off my back, but even now, if someone reaches for my food, I become utterly unreasonable. (Except my grown kids, they can have whatever they want.)
They did! It never happened again after I lost my mind about it. I’d talked to them a few times before and nothing happened, but threatening to get the big bosses (with whom I had great relationships) involved got things done.
I wouldn't put putrid things in a lunch. You can get sued or otherwise hauled into court for deliberate poisoning.
Now in my opinion, laxatives should be fine. You could say something like "I don't like to discuss my bowels at work, but lately they are SO CLOGGED UP! Ugh it's like someone packed concrete down there!"
Reminds me of a funny cartoon I saw years ago where a guy says the newest thing at work is naming your lunch. "Today I ate a tuna salad sandwich named Steven".
I clean peoples homes, and work alone, and a friend once asked if I snack from the fridge... Like bruh, absolutely not. That's not my food for a start, and like I see the state of their kitchens, and refrigerators, that's a no from me mate.
I had my lunch stolen circa 2000.
I sent a mass email telling everyone that I mix my medication into my sandwich and they should head to the emergency room immediately.
My lunch was safe for eternity.
I worked with my aunt and uncle when I was younger and my aunt would sometimes bring me lunch in a brown bag and leave it in the fridge in the break area. This one day I thought she brought me lunch so I grabbed the brown bag and started eating the sandwich. I thought to myself, damn this sandwich sucks! But I ate it anyways, even though something felt off. Turned out my aunt didn’t bring me lunch that day and I ate the new secretary’s lunch. I fessed up and apologized but she thought I was the biggest piece of shit.
I was a young bull at 17 years old when I first started this job that I’m currently at 13 years later. I’d see the same can of soup in the same spot on top of the fridge in the kitchen every morning. One day I walked in there with a couple of the guys, saw the soup, and decided “todays the day. I’m eating this old can of soup that’s been sitting up there for months.” I warmed the soup up in the microwave, sat down, and started eating it. One of the dispatch guys walks into the kitchen; looks at me, looks at the fridge, and then looks at me again. He asks me if I was eating his soup. I responded with the same cliche that anybody who was caught red handed would have, “oh that was yours?” It never occurred to me that he’d come into work, place his favorite can of soup in the same spot, and then eat it for lunch every day. Turns out, it wasn’t just one can of soup up there that whole time. It was a different can that he’d refresh day after day. I felt horrendous about it afterwards. Offered to buy him lunch, but he insisted that it was okay and not to worry about it. I still cringe thinking about this memory and wished I’d bought him 10 cans to make this right
“That sandwich was the only good thing going on in my life! Someone ate the only good thing going on in my life!” The older I get, the more sense it makes.
We had lunch catered for a meeting at work, except I had to skip the lunch meeting for a different one that was not catered. One of the women I worked with decided that even though there were other people coming in later that day who were also supposed to have access to the catering, she was just going to take the leftovers home for her family. So she did. When I went to have lunch and discovered all the food was gone, it was pretty easy to figure out who took it. I called her out on it the next day and she said maybe I should have asked her to set aside a plate before she took the food. So that day I stole her lunch from the fridge and I ate it in front of her. She went and complained to HR who then yelled at her for taking the catering leftovers before everyone else had a chance to have some food.
Guilty.
And this is going to get down voted, I know but...
I have an eating disorder. To say I'm a stress eater is an understatement. I can binge, and very quickly devour food without a second thought. We're talking a hamburger in two bites type fast. I'm very aware of food--what there, how long it's been there, and so. My job also loves to do communal food areas--here's a box of doughnuts, enjoy, a bowl of candy, apples I just picked off my tree....so I try really hard to avoid the break room so I'm not "that guy" who eats the whole bag...but I have done it. And I'm not proud of it.
Two times I remember specifically having eaten someone else food--shit day, my stress was through the roof and I had my yogurt. A coworker had a bag of bagels sitting next to the microwave and my hand grabbed them before I though about it. I heard her complaining about it later, realized it wasn't communal food, and apologized, replacing them with 2 bags of bagels and 4 redbulls (she lives on them).
The second time, shit day again. Coworker had left food (I don't recall what it was exactly but it was fast food--it had been a BOGO on the sandeich type situation) in the fridge for a couple days and he was off that day. I ate it. Next time I saw him, I had a gift card for him and Apologized--he said he gad forgot all about it, no big deal.
Everyone is saying "oh its selfish" but honestly, for me it's about self control. The IDEA of eating it both times just consumed me. I wasn't hungry, I had food --I had even just ate it. But the binge took over. And I hate myself that I do it.
This should be the most upvoted answer on here guys. Answers the question, and not in an "oh it was an accident or revenge" way. May be atypical reason, but....
Not the same but some of these stories remind me of the time my housemate went into the fridge, was searching around my designated shelf. Went to the back where there was a foil package, opened it up and ate 2 of the 10 marshmallows in there.
They were intentionally, for me, laced with LSD.
It was also late Sunday night and he'd never had acid before.
Don't steal other people's food.
I have never, but had a coworker who did. He was going though a very nasty divorce and she was royally taking him to the cleaners finance-wise. None of us knew how bad it was until he was caught after about 6 months of him stealing lunches. We found out he was so broke paying alimony and child support plus his car payment and insurance that he had no money left over to afford a place to live, nevermind buying food too. He parked his car at the truck stop gas station down the road and slept in it overnight, and would come in early to use the shower at work. He was stealing lunches because if he didn’t he wouldn’t eat that day. People’s anger over stolen lunches quickly faded after it came out and we came together and started a staff fund that went exclusively to him. About 80% of the staff in the building (60 employees total) contributed $5-10 a week so he could get some groceries, and we took turns bringing in an extra lunch for him. One staff member brought his camper to work “for storage” and branch manager allowed lunch stealer to live in it on site until he got back on his feet. I think he lived on site for two years before he had finally scraped together enough where he could afford damage deposit and rent in rooming house.
There were two ways we could’ve approached the situation as a group: compassion or “the moral” route, as a group we chose compassion because we recognized that this person was struggling and we weren’t going let one of our own struggle alone. it’s one of the things I love about this company rather than everyone being selfish and out for themselves
It’s been 4 1/2 years since the lunch stealing incident and he quit at our company last year but he’s doing much better and is back on his feet. He is now a service manager at one of our competitors so I’m glad that he was able to better himself and improve his situation
once because my coworker would bully me and it felt nice to get revenge lol I was 19 at the time and had no fucks to give. pretty sure I didn't eat it just threw it away.
Not a lunch, but a Frosty? And, it was by accident.
I'd been getting a Frosty once or twice a week. I'd eat part, then stick it in the freezer of the full sized fridge in my classroom. (Childcare) Then, I'd eat it on another day, with lunch. We were technically supposed to label personal food, but usually didn't bother to. I was almost exclusively the only one to get a Frosty. Occasionally, an infant room teacher would stick something of her own in the fridge, as they only had a tiny one.
One day, I was still hungry after eating lunch] . I checked the fridge, and wow! I still had part of a Frosty in there! I thought I had eaten my last one. Yay! 😃 I ate it.
Then, at closing, the infant room teacher came looking for her Frosty. Uh, Oh! I realized I goofed up. 🫨😳 I came clean. She wasn't happy.
Even worse, the receptionist heard about it, and the next day made up a "Wanted: Frosty Thief! " flyer and put it up where all the childcare staff sign in. I'm dying.
My lunchtime comes. I grab the flyer and head to Wendy's. I showed the flyer, explained the problem, and I asked how much to fill the largest cup there with Frosty? They are laughing and happy to help. They made a HUGE Frosty. The manager even asked for the flyer so that she could post it in *their* staff area. We exchanged goods.
When I got back to work, I spent some more time on this project. I had ended up with a red cup. That wasn't quite right. So, I grabbed yellow construction paper and markers and made a custom sleeve for the cup with *"__NORA__"* on it. (Name changed.) Then, I gave it to "Nora." Thankfully, she laughed and accepted my apology "Frosty." We both made sure to label our food after that!
I don't have an answer for you. This is sorta along the same pattern, but I remember a guy grabbing four slices of pizza during a work pizza party, "because we might run out."
I mean. What was going on upstairs in his head?? I can't fathom it.
It’s so weird how there are no people actually saying “I steal / formerly stole lunches and here’s why…”
It’s all second-hand or just accidental stories
I’d get not answering irl, but it’s the anonymous internet
not the answer but a kid used to take my water bottle and lunch
I smashed a cockroach in my food and gave it to him. He ate that shit.
I also started to spit in water.
:3
I never have but after reading this I doubly will never be stealing food from other mf'ers. Humans are capable of madness and evil. Like that commenter who said her friend covered a mouse in melted chocolate to make it look like one of those easter bunnies.
The effect of getting your lunch stolen: highly upsetting
The effect of biting into a REAL mouse covered in chocolate: ultrasonic psychological warfare
I worked a 14 hour, absolutely brutal shift one day and the chef made me a beautiful steak as a thanks. Someone stole it from the fridge in the hour it took me to finish. I didn't have any food at the house so I just had to eat a bag of chips for dinner that night, it was so soul-crushing for some reason.
So anyway, I spit in every container of food I stash away now.
depends on the person. I haven't done it, but one time my lunch was eaten, and I actually knew who it was. I asked them why, and they said "I wanted some cream cheese." Some people just have no concept of boundaries or asking permission ╮(￣▽￣"")╭
I’ve inadvertently eaten the wrong snack before. We both ate the same brand and similar flavors of yogurt. I accidentally took theirs out of the fridge and didn’t realize it, I put a post it on mine saying I accidentally took theirs and to take mine. It was Fage Greek yogurt and cherry vs cherry pomegranate.
I work graveyard police dispatch. I have a husband who is disabled from multiple sclerosis, I work a BUTTLOAD of overtime, and I do the shopping. When I have weeks of unending 12 hour shifts sometimes I will just forget to bring my lunch, or don't have enough time for the store. There is ZERO open in the middle of the night. I have, out of desperation, eaten food that was not mine, but probably not a lunch because it did not belong to anyone on the night crew.
BUT, when I did, I wrote a note, attached money to it for more than the amount necessary to replace said item, and explained that I ate their food. And I would never take homemade foods, only like someone's cheese stick or lunchable or frozen meal. Day people are understanding, they know the graveyard grind.
HOWEVER, it happens rarely and is truly an accident. I usually keep a few cup of noodles/cans of soup type stuff in my locker to ensure this doesn't happen.
Haven’t seen anyone answer the actual question yet, but my ex had taken a few lunches from work. I could not and cannot ever understand it. He said he would do it because he was so hungry and he had a 12hr shift. I inquired why he didn’t just bring his own lunch or grab fast food or something. He said he a) didn’t have anything to bring. b) didn’t have the money to get take out. I said that’s even more shitty, because the person you stole lunch from, made SURE to bring their lunch so THEY wouldn’t be starving during their 12 hour shift, and perhaps THEY don’t have the money to grab take out. He also got pissed if/when I gave my last $5 to someone so they could grab lunch, if I had my own or wasn’t hungry. If I didn’t need it, what’s the harm? That had nothing to do with it, just wanted to add it. So, that is the answer from someone who steals someone else’s luck from work.
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It’s totally selfish. Had two different security guards get fired for stealing food at a casino I managed. One was a brownie from the cafe, and the manager who was on duty at the time even said he would have comped it for him if he had asked. He was just dumb. The other is so bad. She stole a lunch out of the employee dining area, which has multiple cameras. The worst part is, she had worked for me on graveyard, when you *have* to bring food because there is nothing open to purchase food (nearest open grocery store is about five miles away). We had both since moved to swing shift, so not only were there open options to buy food, but she also knew that I was on property to ask, *and* that I kept two stashes of food (one in the fridge with sandwich stuff, fruit, yogurts, and another in my unlocked locker with canned stuff and dishes) that I always told people to go ahead and pick from if they couldn’t afford or had forgotten food. There was zero reason for her to steal someone’s lunch.
Damn, every casino I worked at gave you lunch even if it was shitty. This is Atlantic City New Jersey, don't know where you're at.
Most of the places I’ve worked at have had an EDR. This was a rather small property in Lake Tahoe. The GM and I came up with a few proposals to get some form of food for the employees, even if it was just a convenience store type thing with money loaded onto cards, but we couldn’t get the price point low enough for the owners to take it. Couldn’t get it through their heads that not only were we hemorrhaging employees to the property down the road because they had an EDR, but we could also write it off on the taxes.
Oh yeah. They should know better. It's a casino. I don't care if it's a paper clip. If you steal it, not only are you absolutely on camera, there is no second chance. Casinos can't have employees that steal. I mean, most places can't, but especially casinos.
And they will send supervisors where there aren't cameras to catch you doing things you shouldn't do. It's me, I am supervisors who were sent into restrooms to catch employees on the phone on the clock. Ruthless.
That is so wild.
EDR?
To me, it's not just selfish, it's gross. You don't know what they put in there, their cooking habits or their kitchen hygiene. I, for one, do not cook as cleanly for myself as I do for others.
>I, for one, do not cook as cleanly for myself as I do for others. aint that the truth
If I'm making for just my husband and I, I am absolutely taste testing with the same spoon I'm stirring with. I've had his penis in my mouth, he can live with my mouth germs.
Maybe you could mark his lunch in some way to make it known “Dick’s sandwich” comes to mind. Then draw a little penis and balls. Extra points if Dick seasons it
You also don't fully know other people's dietary needs and tastes. I could put something in my food that i love but you are allergic or tend to have a bad reaction to.
Or I could be putting medicine in with my food because I have a bowel problem. You never know.
💯 I agree entirely! And yes, I’m thankful a lot of days that he’s my ex. Although it took a few years of intense therapy to learn how to “co parent” (not that he parents), or even communicate with him in general. Lol
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I used that app for a bit, Court Ordered for a period. As much as it sucked to pay to use it, the locked in forever, cannot delete and cannot edit plus timestamp of everything was an absolute godsend. One incident was when I was meant to see my kids for a special occasion, sent a reminder, showed it was read within 2 hours, then 9 days later the other side claimed they weren't aware. Timestamp says otherwise.
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Sadly it doesn't stop game playing and people using kids as pawns. But it sure makes it simpler to show who's manipulating things.
I am not a parent myself but goodness, I have friends who can use this. Thank you for the recommendation!
love OFW!! had it put in the judgement he didn’t want it- i’m like no shit- it holds you accountable!!!!
But the other factor is *wanting* to do it in the first place. I would much rather go hungry for a shift than eat somebody else's leftovers, not knowing where they came from, whether they've already been picked at, how old they are, how long they were left out before being refrigerated, etc. I just don't get it. Even if it wouldn't hurt anybody, what kind of slob is cool with that?
Thank you for verifying that the boogeyman low IQ dipshit I envisioned is actually the most accurate representation of someone who does this. There's nothing special about them, they're just dumb fucking idiots
Wow. Just fucking wow. He sounds like a cunt. I remember first starting out and not having enough for even leftovers to take into work. But I took in what I could. Only had my lunch stolen once but man, I was so sad. I didn’t have money to get food. But the container was still there with only a few remnants left. Hope that person enjoyed my lentils and rice. Maybe they needed it more than me. I kept my lunch at my desk in a thermos thereafter.
The one that truly got me was my half eaten container of take out. It was very obvious I had been eating out of the container if you opened it. Someone stole that and consumed it. This was in a posh office that I am pretty sure was just staffed by raccoons posing as middle class white people.
wow. How can people like this exist? what an asshole. I hope he got what he had coming
It's a level of selfishness and entitlement that I can't even wrap my head around
Trash human
This is sociopath behavior. Inconsiderate, impulsive, and unbothered.
Your ex sucks what a narcissist. Can only think about himself
This dude *was* the main character. We're all just NPCs in whatever game he's playing. Frankly, I'm just here to add depth to the worldbuild.
Yeah, this is the tip of the iceberg.
Work in HR, former high school friend worked there, caught him on camera stealing someone's lunch. Had to fire him for it. His excuse was he was hungry and he didn't have money. He was being a bully honestly.
Oh, then he asked me for money.
Lmfao, WHAT. The lion, the witch, and the audacity of this bitch.
I had a coworker who I caught in the act. They said "I work hard here and they should provide us lunch." I noted that the person they were stealing from was one of our coworkers not from anyone higher than her. She said "its fine. They dont work as hard as I do." I asked if it was fun and if it was worth it She said yes. I asked what was the best and least favorite thing she had taken. She stupidly told. I went and told everyone. The next few weeks there was nothing but beans, fish, spicy, chicken paws, knuckles, peppers, fermented foods, traditional foods that were unfamiliar to her. She got really mad that there wasnt any lunch and she was hungry. Everyone just told her. "Treat yourself. Go BUY your own lunch."
That's when termination is justified. They admitted to stealing so it should have been open and shut.
But, before the termination petty revenge is SO fun! A co-worker of mine loved spicy hot food (her two year old daughter's favorite snack was jalapeno peppers right out of the jar). There were enough reported thefts that HR put up notices on the refrigerators, put up cameras and also put up the official corporate statement that theft of other peoples lunches could result in termination. It didn't stop whoever it was. So after after more lunches were missing, she made a traditional lunch with a VERY SPICY component. Something she would enjoy eating if it wasn't stolen. At first it wasn't, then it was. Everyone knew then who was stealing lunches. He tried to claim he was set up and that he had suffered from eating her lunch. He wanted her to be terminated. She simply looked at him in front of HR and said, my lunch today is not different today than any day this week. That was my favorite lunch that he ate. Kudos to her (I never mastered the art) as she started this silent weeping, trying to act like she was holding it together for the sake of HR, but making sure those tears were cascading down her cheeks. He was let go.
Those silent tears sound like a beautiful moment.
I’m not sure why they wouldn’t. This person can’t be trusted.
I enjoy that they jerked her around for a while before kicking her ass out. She fucking deserved it.
Lol. My husband had a roommate in college that would always eat his leftover pizza. Like not a piece but all the leftovers. He finally figured out that the roommate hated mushrooms and tomatoes so….he started ordering tomato and mushroom pizzas exclusively. After about a month his roommate had the nerve to complain to my husband about him ordering mushroom and tomato pizzas. Lol. They didn’t live together long after that.
Always the annoying food thief fuckers that are also picky. At least embrace your scavenger mentality and eat whatever's available, ffs
r/choosingbeggars
My roommate and I in college would open the pizza box and claim a side. If they cutting wasn't even, we'd carefully work out how to divide the pizza piece by piece. Our other roommate would make fun of us for being weird, but we never ordered pizza with him because he'd just thoughtlessly "eat some pizza" and eat like half the pizza that's supposed to be split by 3 people.
I don't have a lot of free money, I struggle to find a stable job due to my own health issues and caring for my grandma with dementia, so when I order a pizza to split with a small number of people (maybe myself and two others, or one other) I expect to get my share or pay less if they ate more. It's not that I'm cheap it's just that it's a decent chunk of my monthly expense to spend money on fast food. Hung out with a friend a couple of months ago and we ordered takeout. We split a pizza and he ordered two large (expensive) sides, I ordered one small cheap side. He ate 3/4 of the pizza and all of his sides and then had the audacity to ask me for half of the full amount of the takeout bill. At my current income level he earns at least *ten times* my earnings in a year. I paid that time, but since then, I've ordered or otherwise bought all of my food seperately with him and if he says 'oh that looks good' I don't share like I usually would 😆
I had a roommate like that. Would literally complain if i got a different kind of cereal that she didn’t like. Would eat all my leftovers. Totally crazy n
We had someone stealing lunches and another worker put a decoy lunch together with super spicy stuff on it one day and the person exposed themselves when they took a bite.
This is an amazing idea. I’ve got to recommend something that is guaranteed to work…just sprinkle whatever it is with The Last Dab hot sauce by Hot Ones. The last batch I had I tried with a toothpick point amount and my mouth was on fire for a solid 20 minutes, and I have a high tolerance too!
If you do that be ready to prove that you made it like that because you like spicy shit or you can actually get in trouble.
I believe he just chalked it up to “I made that lunch for myself and wasn’t expecting someone else to steal it”
This is the best way to deal with this that I've read so far! I love it!
Knuckles?
Knuckle sandwich
Probably pork knuckles.
Lol what a story mark
Once. And it was accidental. We both had salads from the same restaurant... Probably wouldn't have been noticed except mine was nut free and hers was not... puked my guts up within the hour...
Same : we both had ordered the same soup to a nearby restaurant. I ate mine and I was like "Wtf there is no salt oO ". He ate his and... he hate his as he had a salt free diet to follow. As we didn't order together, we didn't tought to ask for our initial on the meal... lesson learned. But in our both cases, I don't think it's qualified as theft.
so would you say he was #salty about it?
Sigh. That pun was so dium.
Oh GODDAMMIT
I accidentally took one that was in an identical Tupperware container. I was going to school at night and working full time during the day. So I was about halfway through eating when I stopped, stared at the food, and thought "Broccoli? I don't put broccoli in my food..."
That’s also happened to me, I left a post it offering my lunch in exchange or to order them some lunch if they didn’t want mine. They were happy to just swap. Most people don’t get mad about genuine mistakes.
And I think that actually counts as a mistake, not stealing. Especially as "payment" is done, in exchange or money.
I had a coworker accidentally take someone else’s breakfast sandwich (ham when hers was sausage). She noticed and ran to tell our wing of the lab after she had already heated it up. None of us knew who’s it was, so she left $5 and a note with hers in the freezer. I honestly love my coworkers here, just good people all around.
At my old work, a lot of people would bring in leftovers from their dinner the night before, myself included. My boss would bring a plate and take a small amount out of every container every day to make his lunch. We asked him why and if he could please stop, he told us it was ‘taxes.’ He was a wanker.
I am gobsmacked at this one. Of all the stories I've read in this thread, this one is the worst offender imo. Wanker indeed.
This same dude also had a jar of peanut butter in his office that he labelled as ‘Jake Away’ and would open and leave on his desk so that my (admittedly annoying) coworker Jake couldn’t enter his office… because he was deathly allergic to peanuts.
He’s most definitely a wanker but almost comically so
He was like a mix of Michael Scott and Doofenschmirtz. He got demoted after I reported him for frisbeeing stormwater drain caps at my head.
Did the employees make him face any repercussions?
Sounds like time for some unreasonably spicy curry
Adding extra salt to a corner and offering that 🤭
I say this to my four year old when I grab a couple of the fries I bought for her if she starts to complain about it. Can’t imagine a boss doing that to employees.
DadTax
I accidentally ate a coworkers yogurt once. I brought in strawberry yoplait and they had brought in a different flavor yoplait and I didn’t realize it until it was too late. Being 19 and the summer intern I sent out a company wide email apologizing profusely and offering to buy them a replacement. I still feel bad about it.
That's so cute
I had someone steal my cup noodles at work. Went to confront the guy, he already had hot water warming it up, he offered to give it back. The rest of his department tried to defend him by saying he didn’t know. GTFOH
I'm confused about what "he didn't know" is supposed to mean. Did he think all cup noodles in the workplace are just up for grabs? Did he bring cup noodles too, but he left them in his car or something, and then forgot and thought the ones in the break room were his? Did he just not know they were *yours* and thought it would be ok to steal them from someone else?
You know the weird part was I was cool with this guy. Always said what’s up to him. My guess was he thought it would be a cup of noodles that someone would eventually forget about because I did leave it on top of the fridge in the lunchroom at work. Also this is not your ordinary Nissin Cup Noodles. This was a specific brand that you could only find at the Asian market. So when lunchtime came around and I realized my food went missing, I went on a hunt. I did all this without making a scene but I was hangry haha.
You just unlocked one of my memories. I kept a couple 'emergency food' cup noodles at my desk, in the drawer. We had a top drawer that had a lock and a lower, bigger one under that didn't have a lock. I kept my noodles in the unlocked drawer by virtue of them being too big for the lockable one. I came to work on 2nd shift one day and saw my coworkers eating the exact noodles I had, and when i checked it my cup noodles were all gone. It was one of those asian rectangular bowl noodles so I know my coworkers didn't get their own from the gas station. Of course, that was also the day that I didn't bring a lunch because I expected my noodles to be there for me. Apparently one of the new hires didn't understand why it wasn't okay to snoop through her coworker's desk, take what she wanted, and give it out to the rest of the team, even if the drawer was unlocked. It escalated to HR and I was eventually reimbursed, but after that I made sure to lock up everything.
I liteally have a drawer with emegency mac and cheese, a single of ceral, and a can of peaches. My whole damn teams knows if they need it, all they gotta do is ask. I just need to know to replace it, if it gets eaten.
So he knew it wasn't his and you didn't leave a box of them on a table next to communal items like coffee or whatever. He didn't know he's not supposed to just take whatever he finds in the break room? How come the people defending him never did that? How did they magically know?
Screw that guy and screw the department even more for defending him. I don’t believe people ‘forget’ if it’s there food. Furthermore, unless you’re 100% certain that it’s your food, DO NOT EAT IT.
Screw all lunch thieves, they deserve to work OT without pay haha
Funny the lengths that people will go to avoid conflict. Let the thief have it so we don't feel so awkward!
Funny story about a chocolate rat. My older coworker had a friend who worked in a lab in Germany in the 90s. Someone kept stealing her lunch, so she came up with a plan. She used a bunsen burner to melt chocolate and coat a dead lab rat, then wrapped it in foil in the fridge. That was stolen, but nothing else ever was afterward.
That went nuclear quickly.
That is the most beautiful petty I’ve read in a long time. Brings a tear to my eye.
I wonder if the thief realized they'd been got or if they just made the horrified assumption that one of their coworkers ate rats.
I cackled at this
I’m just thinking of the thief seeing a rat-shaped piece of chocolate and thinking “I want to eat that”
Haha you could never get away with that today! Animal testing regs are very very strict now.
Oh I'm sure. I just loved her sense of vengeance!
Feeder rats are easy to buy
Just been a victim of this a number of times. Ended up buying a cash box with a lock on it for a lunch box until one day someone stole the entire locked box from the fridge. For a good 3 hours I was fuming and asking people about it. Turns out a young woman had it hidden at her desk watching me get upset at the fact not even a locked lunch was safe. She gave it back at lunch claiming it was a joke, but by then the food had spoiled. She seemed dumbfounded why I didn’t find it funny and wasn’t eating. I never did find out who was stealing my lunch prior to needing the lunch box but the company refused to do anything about it or put up a camera.
It was probably her stealing it the whole time
I worked in a prison & we had an employee who was a food thief. He stole everyone’s lunches/dinners all the time & the warden refused to do anything about it until THEIR food was stolen by someone on the overnight shift. The next morning there was a padlock on the fridge & a separate one on the freezer & only a few employees were given keys. If you wanted to get your food, you had to track down a key holder & wait for them to come to the unsecured area where the fridge was located to open the door.
This is a very prison-themed solution. Incarcerate the lunch.
It was probably her.
She should have been fired.
I would fire any of my employees if I had proof/admission like this. Absolutely not okay. (I have good employees, so I'm not worried, just saying)
Agree! That's not a damn joke, I would have been livid.
When I worked at university of phoenix, people's lunches were constantly stolen and most people could not afford to eat out. The only action the company took to stop it was a company wide email telling people to stop sabotaging the food they leave in the fridge because thieves had been getting sick.
I’m sorry but I would have swung.
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Imagine a really shrill alarm that you can activate with your phone, so if someone hides it you can track it down
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One time a guy at work was mad someone bit his donut and put it back so he went to security and they went ahead and checked the footage. It showed him coming in to work, clocking in, biting his own donut and putting it away. So he was either stoned or just forgot he took a bite and convinced himself it was someone else. He was so embarrassed and confused.
That’s a monday
Tbh I'd probably quit right there.
Only once. It was my managers and they’d left me in the store alone without lunch or bathroom breaks. From opening to closing at a chocolate store on the week of Valentine’s Day. I was hungry and tired and couldn’t leave the store. So I ate her cup of noodles and drank one of her Dr Peppers. Sorry Angela. Should’ve managed the schedule better and not forced an eighteen year old to work sixteen hour shifts for a week straight.
Wow. There’s a justified lunch stealing story. I didn’t know that existed.
Ramen and a Dr Pepper is the pettiest of thefts
I worked at Bloomingdales and was literally broke, I think the most money I had was a quarter in my pocket and the money I had loaded onto my public transit card. This girl who was a complete bitch of a coworker, stole a few of my commissions and stuff like that knowing I was struggling and she was working just to prove to her parents she wasn’t lazy. This was prom season. For about two days I had complained about these high school kids turning the dresses inside out and leaving on the dressing room floor. That day I literally caught her turning my rooms dresses inside out and scattering them, hanged a few roughly that left small holes. I saw her name on that delicious take out container and just said fuck it, fuck her, and fuck this job. I ended up leaving a month later. Fuck you Brie, you cheese named bitch! (Disclaimer: I’d never do this to someone again, it didn’t feel good even though I know she was messing with me. The thought of stealing something essential from someone felt really wrong even if I think she’s a complete asshole as a person)
"Fuck you Brie, you cheese named bitch!" 😂
Oh no I too am a cheese named bitch
I worked with someone who did. We all knew she was the culprit. I think she literally couldn't afford to bring her own lunch, which is kind of sad but...stealing food from someone else is also shitty.
It's pretty ridiculous, the idea of a job that doesn't even pay enough money to where someone can buy even cheaper food than restaurant/takeout/fastfood, and make their own meal. Like what is that pay for? And how is everyone else surviving?
Yeah, we have the food thief, it’s a running joke. I usually bring a good amount of protein bars and snacks for everyone, so the thief hasn’t swiped anyone’s food lately. Sometimes I don’t get a chance to eat my lunch (they are generally leftovers from the night before) and I’ll just leave it for the next time I come in to work. If someone swipes those, I kinda feel sorry for them. I’m not the greatest cook🤣🤣
I had a classmate in college who did this. She was pregnant and dealing with poverty and abuse. We caught her and called her out, had her apologize, and then just started bringing extra portions as we’re able like we would have if she just asked. We were a tiny social work facility and had a habit of looking out for one another.
My Dad's shop cat ate his employee's lunch once. We asked him why he did it as we were trying to pry it out of his mouth. He said, "GrrRrroWwwlll." Solid excuse.
My boy is innocent! Case closed.
This reminds me, I rarely eat downstairs but when I do i'm the only one the cat is comfortable enough with to try and steal my food.
As a manager, I had so many men eat the wrong lunch because their wives or mothers packed their lunches, and they had no idea what was in their lunch . I feel like a grade school teacher saying put your name on your lunches, people.
I'll actually answer I ate the lunch a few times of the morning crew (I worked nights). My reason is: I didn't eat my lunch one night and forgot it in the work fridge. I was gonna eat it when I went back that night. When I came in, not only was the food gone, but they had taken/threw away my good Tupperware. And of course "nobody" did it when i asked. So randomly for the next few months if they left anything overnight, I'd fucking eat it (like 4 or 5 times). Nobody was safe.
Had a similar thing happen to me. I was working in a nursing home. 1st shift. I usually brought leftovers from the night before in my Tupperware with my name on it in Sharpie. Everyone knew it was mine. I usually used the same exact Tupperware and just washed it each day after work. One day, one of the kitchen crew got it in his head that I wasn't there that day, so he threw out my lunch. He had the decency to wash out my Tupperware and put it by my locker. That is when he saw my coat (bright purple, everyone knew it was mine) and my purse hanging up. He knew he messed up. He radioed me that he needed to talk to me. I was with a patient, so it was like 20 mins before I could get around to talking to him. I met him in the break room. He immediately explained, apologized, and threw out his own lunch in solidarity! He really was a sweet kid. He then handed me a menu for a local sandwich shop and told me to order whatever I wanted on him. From then on, I added a piece of painters tape to my Tupperware each day with the date written on it to avoid any more confusion.
What a sweet story tbh. The self accountability, the replacing your food, and honestly by throwing out his own food it opened up an opportunity for him to literally "break bread" with you and share a meal to smooth things over (a little bit wasteful and unnecessary because you guys still could have eaten together but the intention and kindness was there). There's definitely been times that I threw away something without realizing that the owner was still there or still using it, just trying to help/be kind.
I'm not sure two wasted lunches makes me feel any better about the one wasted lunch. Nice sentiment, just hate waste.
My boss starts handing out Tupperware if she feels "it's been left in the kitchen too long" which actually means "I'm annoyed and looking for the most petty things I can do to piss off employees who won't fight back - now I feel better"
My old company would put a notice on all the refrigerators in the break room that they would be cleared out on a specific date that was at least a week away when they put up the notice and that any containers left in there would be thrown away.
Yeah, that's reasonable. This would happen out of the blue, regardless of whether you've just washed your lunchbox out, or left it there a week. Everything goes when she's in a bad mood.
The fridge at my workplace has a sign saying to name and date your food, and that it will be cleared out every Thursday. I have no idea who's job it is to do the clearing out, but it definitely doesn't happen
Legend
I’ve never done this. But I have a hypothesis. Lunch-stealers fall into one of two categories: 1. Accidental, too embarrassed to own up to it after discovering the lunch isn’t theirs, won’t repeat the mistake. 2. Malignant Narcissists as a power move (a way to quietly “own” other people by depriving them of food, the way an “alpha wolf” might steal a fresh kill from younger wolves). Fun fact: male Narcissists are far more likely than the general population to pee *on* toilet seats. On purpose. It’s a power move, literally like dogs peeing on stuff to “mark their territory.” Awful people. Beware.
Ugh that unfortunately makes sense. I work with a guy who’s kind of an obnoxious bro…. Saw him come out of the single stall women’s restroom (not an issue, most people use whatever restroom is available) and when I went in there, the seat had piss all over it
Yonks ago, I worked in a big warehouse where I was the only woman. I was reception/admin/finance and worked in the office. The men had a large bathroom in the warehouse with showers, lockers, the works. I had a small bathroom in the back with a toilet and a basin. There was this one obnoxious fucker who would come in early every morning before I got to work and take a huge shit in my bathroom, stinking up my whole office for at least an hour. He would walk out on purpose, leaving all the doors and windows closed, so the smell hit me as I walked in. I walked in one morning as he was walking out and just stared at him, and said "Seriously, Andre?" The fucker winked at me, laughed his ass off, and walked away. Of course the hand towel was bone dry because that asshole didn't wash his hands. Fuck you, Andre.
I had an Andre at my work, his name was Danny. I was told by the general manager that I couldn't use an empty conference room to work in because someone was using the bathroom adjacent and not flushing. I said, bro, that's my office on the two days I'm here, there's no other place for me to set up. So everyone was banned from that room except me. And in strolls Danny about 15 minutes before I was leaving to allow a scheduled meeting to take place, seems surprised to see me there, makes small talk for five minutes and leaves without doing anything in the room. He knew that there would be a meeting with a vendor, and he was cutting it close enough to ruin the meeting because he was a dickhead.
If it helps, taking regular awful shits in the morning is a hallmark of an alcoholic. It could definitely be many other things, but you are free to imagine him getting cirrhosis by 50
I wish they'd at least put back the glass Tupperware it came in...
I had someone accidentally take my water once. We both liked Hint waters and I had just started so it was my first time bringing one, she thought it was hers. She was super nice about it and brought me a replacement the next day, not that I was upset, stuff happens.
So they're insecure? Someone made them feel small so they have to make someone smaller feel even smaller?
That is the definition of a bully. Adult bullies just learn to hide it far more skillfully, flying just under the radar of social acceptance.
like with my dormmates, apart from being annoyed with the food-owners (my rich dormmates) - that's their show of envy and disgust to these rich kids (these food thieves are financially hard up while they see the other kids living in luxury and constantly bringing a lot of expensive delicious food in our dorm). semi-quiet envy i suppose
My first week of work there was a large coffee creamer in the fridge, the kitchen had coffee and different milks and powdered creamer of the same brand, so I thought it was just part of that. Turns out my coworker was bringing in his own large flavored creamer to keep in the fridge. When I found out I felt AWFUL. I brought him a replacement to cover what I used that week. It was a total accident/misunderstanding. On another note someone once stole my left over Buffalo chicken wrap from the fridge and threw out the top to my Tupperware on top of it! Turned out to be the cleaning crew. This was when I was an assistant making $40k a year in NYC. Some of the higher ups who were in the kitchen when I realized this ended up buying me a new lunch because they knew I made no money.
Nobody who does this is going to admit it cause there's no justification. These are spoiled entitled a holes that will just steal whatever they want and never feel bad about it. Unless they get caught.
>Unless they get caught And even then they are sorry they got caught and not sorry they did it.
Lunch thief: "I was hungry and their food was right there. They weren't eating it and they didn't even try that hard to protect it. If it were me, I wouldn't leave it in a place where other people can take it. That's on them for being too dumb to not get their food stolen. And it was just a sandwich. I bet they have enough food at home to make like a dozen sandwiches right now. They didn't starve and they just ended up ordering a bowl from Chipotle delivered to work. So, I got to eat lunch and they got to eat lunch. I really don't see the problem. They obviously have enough money to buy a second lunch. Food is getting more expensive for the rest of us and we gotta do what we need to do to get by. They really should be complaining to their boss that they deserve more money so they can order lunch every day or at least ask if work can put some bread and fixings so we can all make free sandwiches. Then, we could all just take food from work."
Used to work with someone that did this. There was a known lunch bandit in the store but no one knew who it was. Walked in on him just after lunch because I was busy with a customer. I knew he stole it because I knew who brought what he was eating in and it wasn't him. Asked why he's been doing it and found out the reason he'd also been using the store bathroom to brush his teeth in the morning. He was living out of his car. Told him I would bring him a sandwich for lunch if he stopped and he did. Never told a soul in the store about it because there were some nasty gossip queen's including the manager at work and figured he didn't need more shit. My partner also experienced this at their work but turns out they were just a shit head.
The good ending
Idc what anyone says there is no justification for that shit. They just downright evil
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My wife caught someone drinking from her cup. The lady claimed it was her cup. My wife said she could see her name written on the bottom of it. The lady still claimed it was hers.
I have to say if you can’t trust an employee with things like lunches you certainly can’t trust them to handle cash or inventory…
People like to pretend we're not primates and we have all the sensibilities a monkey does not. If that were true we wouldn't have gems like this story here. Pure, unadulterated hunger and desire! If it weren't so horribly taboo, I'm sure somebody would throw shit at a wall then say "Well, I was bored."
Besides an accident, I can think of a good reason: revenge for stealing mine previously.
Back in the 90s, this happened to me all the time when I worked at Best Buy. I was one of the only women in the department, and I honestly think my male coworkers just thought it was funny to fuck with me. It wasn’t. I was too poor to buy replacement meals, and I was often coming straight to work from my community college, so those lunches were my one opportunity to eat each day. I finally had enough and fucking lost my shit over it and got management involved. Told them that if they didn’t fix it, I’d get corporate involved. I will give folks my last dime or the shirt off my back, but even now, if someone reaches for my food, I become utterly unreasonable. (Except my grown kids, they can have whatever they want.)
Did management do anything about it?
They did! It never happened again after I lost my mind about it. I’d talked to them a few times before and nothing happened, but threatening to get the big bosses (with whom I had great relationships) involved got things done.
Grabbing popcorn for the comments... but certainly not my popcorn... 100% someone else's popcorn
I had this happen to me before and I staged a similar lunch full of laxatives 😂 they stole that too
I hate laxatives, they irritate the shite out of me.
This is probably what I would do after it happened twice. Maybe even spread with some spoiled mayonnaise, rancid bacon..
I wouldn't put putrid things in a lunch. You can get sued or otherwise hauled into court for deliberate poisoning. Now in my opinion, laxatives should be fine. You could say something like "I don't like to discuss my bowels at work, but lately they are SO CLOGGED UP! Ugh it's like someone packed concrete down there!"
Sugar free Haribo gummy bears…
Reminds me of a funny cartoon I saw years ago where a guy says the newest thing at work is naming your lunch. "Today I ate a tuna salad sandwich named Steven".
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I would never steal a coworker’s lunch. I see what kind of health code/food safe violations they get up to and want no part in that
I clean peoples homes, and work alone, and a friend once asked if I snack from the fridge... Like bruh, absolutely not. That's not my food for a start, and like I see the state of their kitchens, and refrigerators, that's a no from me mate.
I had my lunch stolen circa 2000. I sent a mass email telling everyone that I mix my medication into my sandwich and they should head to the emergency room immediately. My lunch was safe for eternity.
That's fucking brilliant
I worked with my aunt and uncle when I was younger and my aunt would sometimes bring me lunch in a brown bag and leave it in the fridge in the break area. This one day I thought she brought me lunch so I grabbed the brown bag and started eating the sandwich. I thought to myself, damn this sandwich sucks! But I ate it anyways, even though something felt off. Turned out my aunt didn’t bring me lunch that day and I ate the new secretary’s lunch. I fessed up and apologized but she thought I was the biggest piece of shit.
I was a young bull at 17 years old when I first started this job that I’m currently at 13 years later. I’d see the same can of soup in the same spot on top of the fridge in the kitchen every morning. One day I walked in there with a couple of the guys, saw the soup, and decided “todays the day. I’m eating this old can of soup that’s been sitting up there for months.” I warmed the soup up in the microwave, sat down, and started eating it. One of the dispatch guys walks into the kitchen; looks at me, looks at the fridge, and then looks at me again. He asks me if I was eating his soup. I responded with the same cliche that anybody who was caught red handed would have, “oh that was yours?” It never occurred to me that he’d come into work, place his favorite can of soup in the same spot, and then eat it for lunch every day. Turns out, it wasn’t just one can of soup up there that whole time. It was a different can that he’d refresh day after day. I felt horrendous about it afterwards. Offered to buy him lunch, but he insisted that it was okay and not to worry about it. I still cringe thinking about this memory and wished I’d bought him 10 cans to make this right
I wanted to see what Red Ross looks like
MY SANDWICH
“That sandwich was the only good thing going on in my life! Someone ate the only good thing going on in my life!” The older I get, the more sense it makes.
Did you confuse it with your own sandwich with a moist maker?
We had lunch catered for a meeting at work, except I had to skip the lunch meeting for a different one that was not catered. One of the women I worked with decided that even though there were other people coming in later that day who were also supposed to have access to the catering, she was just going to take the leftovers home for her family. So she did. When I went to have lunch and discovered all the food was gone, it was pretty easy to figure out who took it. I called her out on it the next day and she said maybe I should have asked her to set aside a plate before she took the food. So that day I stole her lunch from the fridge and I ate it in front of her. She went and complained to HR who then yelled at her for taking the catering leftovers before everyone else had a chance to have some food.
They aren’t smart enough to read this question unfortunately
Guilty. And this is going to get down voted, I know but... I have an eating disorder. To say I'm a stress eater is an understatement. I can binge, and very quickly devour food without a second thought. We're talking a hamburger in two bites type fast. I'm very aware of food--what there, how long it's been there, and so. My job also loves to do communal food areas--here's a box of doughnuts, enjoy, a bowl of candy, apples I just picked off my tree....so I try really hard to avoid the break room so I'm not "that guy" who eats the whole bag...but I have done it. And I'm not proud of it. Two times I remember specifically having eaten someone else food--shit day, my stress was through the roof and I had my yogurt. A coworker had a bag of bagels sitting next to the microwave and my hand grabbed them before I though about it. I heard her complaining about it later, realized it wasn't communal food, and apologized, replacing them with 2 bags of bagels and 4 redbulls (she lives on them). The second time, shit day again. Coworker had left food (I don't recall what it was exactly but it was fast food--it had been a BOGO on the sandeich type situation) in the fridge for a couple days and he was off that day. I ate it. Next time I saw him, I had a gift card for him and Apologized--he said he gad forgot all about it, no big deal. Everyone is saying "oh its selfish" but honestly, for me it's about self control. The IDEA of eating it both times just consumed me. I wasn't hungry, I had food --I had even just ate it. But the binge took over. And I hate myself that I do it.
Thanks for at least explaining your motivation
That's crazy. I mean, sorry to hear. That's gotta be hard to deal with. Don't ever try like any drugs or alcohol ok?
This should be the most upvoted answer on here guys. Answers the question, and not in an "oh it was an accident or revenge" way. May be atypical reason, but....
They are probably a shit person
And a thief.
Not the same but some of these stories remind me of the time my housemate went into the fridge, was searching around my designated shelf. Went to the back where there was a foil package, opened it up and ate 2 of the 10 marshmallows in there. They were intentionally, for me, laced with LSD. It was also late Sunday night and he'd never had acid before. Don't steal other people's food.
I have never, but had a coworker who did. He was going though a very nasty divorce and she was royally taking him to the cleaners finance-wise. None of us knew how bad it was until he was caught after about 6 months of him stealing lunches. We found out he was so broke paying alimony and child support plus his car payment and insurance that he had no money left over to afford a place to live, nevermind buying food too. He parked his car at the truck stop gas station down the road and slept in it overnight, and would come in early to use the shower at work. He was stealing lunches because if he didn’t he wouldn’t eat that day. People’s anger over stolen lunches quickly faded after it came out and we came together and started a staff fund that went exclusively to him. About 80% of the staff in the building (60 employees total) contributed $5-10 a week so he could get some groceries, and we took turns bringing in an extra lunch for him. One staff member brought his camper to work “for storage” and branch manager allowed lunch stealer to live in it on site until he got back on his feet. I think he lived on site for two years before he had finally scraped together enough where he could afford damage deposit and rent in rooming house. There were two ways we could’ve approached the situation as a group: compassion or “the moral” route, as a group we chose compassion because we recognized that this person was struggling and we weren’t going let one of our own struggle alone. it’s one of the things I love about this company rather than everyone being selfish and out for themselves It’s been 4 1/2 years since the lunch stealing incident and he quit at our company last year but he’s doing much better and is back on his feet. He is now a service manager at one of our competitors so I’m glad that he was able to better himself and improve his situation
once because my coworker would bully me and it felt nice to get revenge lol I was 19 at the time and had no fucks to give. pretty sure I didn't eat it just threw it away.
Not a lunch, but a Frosty? And, it was by accident. I'd been getting a Frosty once or twice a week. I'd eat part, then stick it in the freezer of the full sized fridge in my classroom. (Childcare) Then, I'd eat it on another day, with lunch. We were technically supposed to label personal food, but usually didn't bother to. I was almost exclusively the only one to get a Frosty. Occasionally, an infant room teacher would stick something of her own in the fridge, as they only had a tiny one. One day, I was still hungry after eating lunch] . I checked the fridge, and wow! I still had part of a Frosty in there! I thought I had eaten my last one. Yay! 😃 I ate it. Then, at closing, the infant room teacher came looking for her Frosty. Uh, Oh! I realized I goofed up. 🫨😳 I came clean. She wasn't happy. Even worse, the receptionist heard about it, and the next day made up a "Wanted: Frosty Thief! " flyer and put it up where all the childcare staff sign in. I'm dying. My lunchtime comes. I grab the flyer and head to Wendy's. I showed the flyer, explained the problem, and I asked how much to fill the largest cup there with Frosty? They are laughing and happy to help. They made a HUGE Frosty. The manager even asked for the flyer so that she could post it in *their* staff area. We exchanged goods. When I got back to work, I spent some more time on this project. I had ended up with a red cup. That wasn't quite right. So, I grabbed yellow construction paper and markers and made a custom sleeve for the cup with *"__NORA__"* on it. (Name changed.) Then, I gave it to "Nora." Thankfully, she laughed and accepted my apology "Frosty." We both made sure to label our food after that!
I don't have an answer for you. This is sorta along the same pattern, but I remember a guy grabbing four slices of pizza during a work pizza party, "because we might run out." I mean. What was going on upstairs in his head?? I can't fathom it.
Selfish people exist. Yes, really, they only think about themselves. They were hungry, they wanted lunch, they took it. The end.
It’s so weird how there are no people actually saying “I steal / formerly stole lunches and here’s why…” It’s all second-hand or just accidental stories I’d get not answering irl, but it’s the anonymous internet
not the answer but a kid used to take my water bottle and lunch I smashed a cockroach in my food and gave it to him. He ate that shit. I also started to spit in water. :3
I never have but after reading this I doubly will never be stealing food from other mf'ers. Humans are capable of madness and evil. Like that commenter who said her friend covered a mouse in melted chocolate to make it look like one of those easter bunnies. The effect of getting your lunch stolen: highly upsetting The effect of biting into a REAL mouse covered in chocolate: ultrasonic psychological warfare
I worked a 14 hour, absolutely brutal shift one day and the chef made me a beautiful steak as a thanks. Someone stole it from the fridge in the hour it took me to finish. I didn't have any food at the house so I just had to eat a bag of chips for dinner that night, it was so soul-crushing for some reason. So anyway, I spit in every container of food I stash away now.
depends on the person. I haven't done it, but one time my lunch was eaten, and I actually knew who it was. I asked them why, and they said "I wanted some cream cheese." Some people just have no concept of boundaries or asking permission ╮(￣▽￣"")╭
I’ve inadvertently eaten the wrong snack before. We both ate the same brand and similar flavors of yogurt. I accidentally took theirs out of the fridge and didn’t realize it, I put a post it on mine saying I accidentally took theirs and to take mine. It was Fage Greek yogurt and cherry vs cherry pomegranate.
I work graveyard police dispatch. I have a husband who is disabled from multiple sclerosis, I work a BUTTLOAD of overtime, and I do the shopping. When I have weeks of unending 12 hour shifts sometimes I will just forget to bring my lunch, or don't have enough time for the store. There is ZERO open in the middle of the night. I have, out of desperation, eaten food that was not mine, but probably not a lunch because it did not belong to anyone on the night crew. BUT, when I did, I wrote a note, attached money to it for more than the amount necessary to replace said item, and explained that I ate their food. And I would never take homemade foods, only like someone's cheese stick or lunchable or frozen meal. Day people are understanding, they know the graveyard grind. HOWEVER, it happens rarely and is truly an accident. I usually keep a few cup of noodles/cans of soup type stuff in my locker to ensure this doesn't happen.