It’s common sense not to steal your coworkers’ food. Right? Unfortunately, common sense seems to be in rather short supply. And, alas, a surprising number of your colleagues may actually be ‘borrowing’ other people’s lunches.
Sometimes, Karma decides that enough is enough and lends a hand. Reddit user u/Ilex-RuralMagic entertained the Petty Revenge online community with a tale about how they accidentally caught the office food thief. All thanks to the extra spicy lunch they’d made for themselves.
Scroll down to find out how the thief got his comeuppance and how he reacted. Bored Panda has gotten in touch with the author, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from them.
Stealing is wrong. You know. We know it. Unfortunately, some sneaky workers around the world still haven’t gotten the message
Image credits: voronaman111/Envato (not the actual photo)
One employee went viral after sharing how their food-stealing colleague got his comeuppance in a very bizarre, roundabout way
Image credits: vadymvdrobot/Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Ilex-RuralMagic
Sadly, lunch thieves aren’t rare. Food going missing from the communal fridge is a problem in offices everywhere
Though the majority of your coworkers are likely to be decent people, a sizeable chunk might turn out to be food thieves.
According to a survey conducted by Furniture At Work, over a tenth (10.4%) of office workers have admitted that they’ve stolen something from their workplace.
That comes around to roughly 2.5 million working Brits who are guilty of theft at work. From the respondents who admitted to stealing, a whopping one in six (17%) admitted to stealing food from the communal fridge.
Image credits: kroshka__nastya/Envato (not the actual photo)
A further 10% villainous employees have also owned up to the fact that they’ve stolen someone else’s mug.
Meanwhile, Safe and Sound Security claims that 75% of employees have admitted to stealing from their workplace at least once.
“Employee theft costs businesses approximately $50 billion each year. The economic burden of such thefts stretches far beyond the immediate losses, affecting overall financial stability and investor confidence.”
Furthermore, workplace theft is said to be responsible for nearly 30% of businesses going bankrupt in the US.
The biggest rates of employee theft occur in retail and food services. Mainly, this is due to “the high volume of cash transactions and inventory management. These sectors are particularly prone to cash theft and employee stealing of food and retail products.”
Even though stealing is wrong and revenge sounds sweet, you may want to think a bit about how you tackle the issue
Now, why someone decides to steal their colleagues’ lunch (or anything from their workplace) is a serious question. Some individuals enjoy the thrill of it.
Others feel entitled to something, even though it’s clearly not theirs. They might have an improper understanding of boundaries or ethics.
Or they might simply be incredibly lazy and cheap. They eat your food because it’s cheaper and more convenient than for them to bring or buy their own.
In some cases, food theft is a genuine misunderstanding. Maybe your colleague mixed up the food meant for the entire office with what you brought in. Maybe they genuinely mixed up your sandwich with theirs.
Image credits: valeriygoncharukphoto/Envato (not the actual photo)
In other cases, your coworker might be going through a tough time financially. If money and food are scarce at home, they might be trying to make ends meet by sneaking into the communal fridge. And they might be too proud to ask for help. Ironically, if they did ask, most of their coworkers would probably be happy to help them out.
However, someone who complains about the food they stole being too spicy is probably nabbing people’s lunches because they’re selfish, not because they’re struggling.
If talking with the problematic person doesn’t help, it’s best to ask your manager or HR to mediate the conflict. It also helps if you have evidence to back up your suspicions, so it’s not just your word against the culprit’s.
Something to consider before adding random, nasty ingredients to your lunch to punish the thief is that they might be seriously allergic to some things. It’s healthier (though emotionally harder) to have an honest chat about their inappropriate behavior, boundaries, and expectations than to risk causing anaphylactic shock.
Have you ever had to deal with a sneaky food thief in the office, dear Pandas? How did that turn out? Did you manage to catch them red-handed? Why do you personally think people stoop so low as to steal other people’s nibbles? Let us know in the comments below.
The story got a ton of popularity online, and the author answered some readers’ questions in the comments
Many people thought the work drama was absolutely brilliant. Here’s how they reacted to it
Some netizens had very similar stories of their own to tell. Here’s what they’ve experienced at work
