People eating other's food in the office. Any great ideas?

Question

This is an ongoing saga at many offices. This week alone there have been 3 people who have had left overs, lunches, and breakfast items go missing from our fridge.

We had brought this to the office manager's attn each time with nothing being done.. Nothing at all.

I took it upon myself to send out an email memo outlining the incidents and actually saying. In today's economy in attempt to save money where we can people are bringing lunch, frozen foods ect. The common sense rule would be if it's in the fridge and it's not yours.. SUPRISE.. IT BELONGS TO SOMEONE ELSE.

I also posted a sign of the similiar nature on ther fridge dooor any other ideas?

Answer 1

i like the laxative idea how about a nannycam to catch them red handed?

Answer 2

I know you have already done this but i made a beautiful sandwich and casserole with half a bottle of black pepper.  I never heard anyone yell  but i felt better. ..

Answer 3

Yes. We used to put TONS of Tabasco sauce in everything and left it in there as a trap. Whoever got sick was guilty but they never took anyone's food again. You can also use Ex Lax, if it's a sweet desert.

Answer 4

I think what you have done is great.

Do you and your coworkers label your food?

I know that at my office we have a pantry and refrigerator and in each there are items that are for everybody (that the office pays for) and then there are the actual things brought in by the employees. If you do not plan on sharing, you put your name on whatever it is (coffee creamer, soda, your lunch).

If this is already the case (i.e. labeling), I can only hope that the food thief will eventually be caught.

Answer 5

Crazy, usually in most offices the food in the fridge gets all moldy because people never finish their leftovers or forget about them. You must have some really hungry employees to be eating other peoples food out of the fridge.

Beyond putting the sign up and telling everyone, I don't think there is much you can do

Answer 6

Have one of those little motion detector alarms on the fridge so it beeps whenever someone opens the fridge.

Answer 7

Oh my god, tell me about it! I'm a teacher and at our school, it isn't the lunch that goes missing but the sodas or drinks. The vending machine in the lounge charges 75 cents a coke so people resort to stealing each others' drinks. Even if it's labeled.

You did the best you could and I encourage you to keep the sign posted on the fridge. If all else fails, then try to convince management to please call in a meeting and talk to the staff about it. It's so ridiculous that adults have to resort to petty thievery like that.

Answer 8

then I reccomend a little office vigilante work to teach the thief a lesson. here are a couple of ideals that ran thru my head as i read this post.

1) the first reaction to the post was habanaro sauce or peppers in the left over food discretely placed so that the thief will catch a not so nice surprise when devouring anothers meal that was just so happened to contain enough fire pickles to p**s off a moose.

2) the second one that popped in my head a bit more suttle and for the less brave or the ones who would be concerned for the health of the other or just outright think option 1 is to cruel. would be to use some sort of dye int he food that would leave the thiefs mouth another and very noticable color such as blue or green, then everyone could clearly see who the mid day snack banit is.

Answer 9

Its a crappy thing, but pretty much the only way to solve the issue is only bring enough food for that individual day.

Answer 10

It's your MANAGER.  That's the only reason I can see for their behavior.  lol.

Answer 11

Get an insulated lunch bag & some of those ice packs for lunch boxes. Keep your food at your desk. The easiest way to prevent theft is not to leave your items unattended.

Answer 12

Load a really yummy meal up with laxatives and wait for one of your coworkers to go MIA....there's the culprit PLUS, no one would want to try and eat anything not theirs cuz they'd think it might be a plant.