Co-worker stealing food, what do you do?

Question

Food had been regularly disappearing from the refregerator at work, labeled with people's names. A coworker gets transferred temporarily to another office for two months. The missing food problem stops. She comes back and it starts again. I go into the lunch room and she is munching down an ice cream sandwich and furtively tosses something in the trash. After she leaves I check the trash and in it is a label with a different coworker's name. I find out later that coworker had not eaten her ice cream sandwich (left from an office party) and didn't know it was gone. If I tell anyone, the food thief will know who told. She is a higher ranking employee than I am. What do I do?

Answer 1

Set a peanut butter sandwhich in the fridge with her name on it and a little note saying "We are watching you." It'll creep her out.

Answer 2

Tape a note to the fridge that says:

Dear Fat Food Thief,
Several of us coworkers have gotten together and formed a little club. Each day one of us is bringing something laced with poop and putting it in the fridge. Only the one bringing it that day will know which item has the poop in it. Keep your fat hands off of our food or risk eating our poop. By the way if you drink anything that you didn't bring you might taste a little urine.
Signed,
Coworkers Fed UP with your Feeding

Then simply take turns throwing away something each day in front of her.

Another fun idea would be to use a non toxic dye in something like frosting. Let her eat it then demand the "troops" all line up and open their mouths while you get a boss to use a black light to inspect. Just imagine her standing there with her big old tongue hanging out glowing under the black light. Hey, what if she was secretly having an affair with someone in the office and their tongue also glowed or even better their trousers. I should write this scene into a movie! Ha Ha.

By the way, I would NOT put laxative in anything. Do you know you could actually be brought up on charges for poisoning her!?

Answer 3

Didn't anyone else notice that the food stealing problem stopped when she wasn't there? Can't you just talk with the other workers there about the problem? Maybe a couple of you can confront her with her behavior. She can't fire you all at once and you stand much stronger if you're with a group of people when you confront her. If she goes to your boss he's more likely to believe all of you than just her. I don't know where she went those two months, but I'm sure the people there will have experienced the same problem. If she's doing it because she's broke, maybe she can get help. But she can't solve this problem (of being broke) if she doesn't first talk about it. So maybe you would be helping her in a way if you did confront her. And solve your fridge problem at the same time.

Answer 4

Don't tackle this one alone. I agree very much with people who say that you should go to another manager in confidence, give them the information and seek their advice. They can tell you what your employer's policy is on this situation, and take it forward for you. Please don't stick your neck out and confront them yourself unless you feel completely comfortable to do so. Things like this is the reason we pay managers more -- they get to deal with the nasty things, and they can protect you from any fallout or victimisation.

Anyone doing this will be very embarassed to get caught. Where I work, theft is a disciplinary offense no matter who does it and no matter how petty it is. I'm a civil servant and we're supposed to uphold a standard of conduct, so even stealing snacks out of the fridge is a serious matter.

Finally, whatever you do, please do not start putting laxative-laced food in the fridge or try other silly traps. You do not want to make anyone sick, because that could get you in just as much trouble.

Answer 5

Wow...there are some really great answers here to your sensitive subject! I agree that YOU should not directly confront her, and I agree that the person whose food you witnessed taken, should be told. I think a note on the Fridge or on the front of her locker where everybody can see it, would be a good idea. The ideas of putting something nasty in food are bad, because somebody might actually grab another's food by mistake...then be sick. Is there any possibility of doing a petition, or an anonymous letter? Good luck with that!

Answer 6

Well, maybe don't be so hard on the lady, for example at my work we never care if someone takes food, we bring food and drinks for all. Maybe this lady's previous job was kinda like mine, same situation. I think you should let her know politely that she should not take other people's food, especially if she is a higher ranking employee. I think she will stop. And in case she doesn't... Avoid serious conflict anyways, it's just food...

Answer 7

In case it's sensitive, as she's a 'higher ranking employee' - get the employee concerned (whose sandwich was eaten) to 'report' to her ('higher ranking employee') of missing sandwich and would appreciate that she (as a superior) investigate and revert the findings :-).

Or ranking aside (especially if she's approachable), talk to her. Maybe she has her reasons - not consciously knowing that it's wrong, maybe she's hungry and broke! You'll never know.

Answer 8

ew, that's a tough one.
Is there someone you can email to mention that you noticed "people" taking other people's lunch? Like the person who cleans out the fridge every Friday and is responsible for things like that. Or talk to your manager or HR and ask who you would talk to about that sort of thing. You don't have to name names just say you've seen people taking other people's lunches and have had yours stolen. They should be able to send an email out or something about respecting other people's belongings in the break room.
1 more thought-the laxitive thing-childish.

Answer 9

the most tricky component might want to be to come across a fashion to ensure that they get the object and no one else does. Then the exciting area. Lace the object with a valuable chemical laxative then quickly relocate the rest room paper and sit down back and watch the chaos. in the adventure that they nevertheless artwork there after that it may be a minor miracle in the adventure that they stole something to devour or drink back :D

Answer 10

Perhaps you could go above her head. The only other thing I can think of is not to put your food in the fridge, or simply go out for lunch. She will eventually starve if enough people don't bring in food.

Answer 11

You could go to her boss and tell him about it. Or you could simply put something in your food that will make her spend hours on the toilet after she steals it and eats it. That should teach her a lesson. Someone did that at my husband's former working place and the food thief never stole food there again.