Office gossip, toxic managers, burnout, and awkward humor aren’t the only things to avoid in the workplace. It’s an awful realization that someone you work with might be completely ignoring your boundaries by stealing your food!

Well, some people push back against this sort of behavior. Creatively. Redditor u/YouKeepThisLove amused the r/pettyrevenge online community with a story about how they got back at the company owner’s son, who was infamous for his food-stealing ways. He learned a lesson that he’ll never forget. Scroll down for the full story. Bored Panda got in touch with the author of the viral story, u/YouKeepThisLove, who was kind enough to answer our questions about what happened with their coworker. Check out our interview with them below!

It’s a nasty feeling when you realize that someone has been raiding the fridge at work, stealing your lunch

Image credits:  setofotografias/Envato (not the actual photo)

An employee regaled the internet with a story about how they taught their resident office food thief a lesson he’ll never forget

Image credits: Artem_ka/Envato (not the actual photo)

Image credits: YouKeepThisLove

The food thief got the message and changed his ways… well, partly

We were curious about what happened after the whole food coloring situation at work. According to the author, their coworker stopped stealing food for a while.

“He did it again a few times, but when confronted, he was more mature about it and oftentimes paid for it. The owner’s son was young, very young for the position he was in, and his father was his role model. His father stole food all the time, but his father was an extremely clever man [who] was very absent-minded and charming at the same time. And he would often pay for it later,” u/YouKeepThisLove told Bored Panda.

“The son took after his father, but without the charm. I feel he did learn his lesson. To be honest, I didn’t mean it as a lesson. I just wanted to confront him in a way that was 50% serious and 50% in jest. We’re Dutch, and our humor can be a bit more… confrontational and direct than in most countries,” they explained.

In their opinion, people steal food mostly due to laziness, bad planning, and a “slight disregard” for others. “This guy would always say stuff like, ‘I am too busy to go out and get food. I have important meetings,’ to justify him nicking food. As if none of us had anything to do. As if we did not require food, because we didn’t work that hard. He was THAT guy,” u/YouKeepThisLove said.

However, there are workplace cultural ways of nipping these sorts of problems in the bud. “My previous employer had a system where you could sign up for a collective lunch, have a small amount (like 2 euros per day) deducted from your income (before tax), and they would just order groceries and keep the fridge stacked. Food theft was non-existent there.”

The author pointed out that the food coloring they used was completely harmless. “My wife made a lot of blue muffins, purple ice cream, and so on at home for our kids. I’ve had some people saying that the story was fake because they could not see someone throw up from the sight of moldy food. But it was because he thought he ate it, and some people just don’t respond to that very well,” u/YouKeepThisLove told Bored Panda.

“I ended up showing him what my first plan was after a cool-down period because he was rather cross with me at first, so I made my drinkable yogurt blue, poured a glass, and he retched immediately. Blue is more associated with mold or food that has gone bad and not with anything consumable, I guess.”

The author was completely taken aback when their post went viral. They simply wanted to share a funny story from their past. As it turns out, it was incredibly relatable. “I think it [the story] resonated with people because a lot of people deal with shared kitchen/refrigerator space at work. I have had people nick other peoples’ food at various companies. I also think people caught on to it because it was an unusual way of dealing with it.”

According to them, they improvised the revenge plan at work. “I had planned to make my dairy drink, which he would take a glass from regularly, blue just to take a small dig at him, let him know I knew and wasn’t happy about it.” The author then ended up sprinkling some of the coloring on the cottage cheese leftovers. Redditor u/YouKeepThisLove added that at their current workplace, everybody labels their food.

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Image credits: Antoni Shkraba/Pexels (not the actual photo)

There are a few main reasons why someone might decide to nick their coworkers’ food

To most of us, it sounds like complete common sense not to steal other people’s food. If you desperately want a taste of someone’s home-cooked meal, simply ask.

Most of us learned early on in childhood that stealing is wrong. Alas, some individuals seem to have missed the lesson entirely.

The fact of the matter is that kids emulate what the authority figures (i.e., the adults) in their lives say and do. So, if someone’s parents see other people’s boundaries as optional rather than mandatory, they’re likely to pass on those same ‘values’ down to them.

The author of the post, u/YouKeepThisLove, pointed out that their coworker, the company owner’s son, stole everyone’s food just like the boss did. However, unlike his dear old pop, he didn’t even have the decency to pay for what he ate.

The story went viral on Reddit and elsewhere on the internet. At the time of writing, the post already has 18k upvotes, as well as upwards of 800+ comments. Unfortunately, food theft is fairly common in offices everywhere.

Obviously, the situation gets much more complicated when your food thief has the backing of the boss. However, no matter how high up the corporate ladder you are, no matter who your parents are, stealing is wrong. Full stop.

There are lots of different ways to tackle this sort of sticky situation, aside from creatively using food coloring like the author. All of them involve finding the courage to stand up for yourself and enforce some healthy boundaries, rather than ignoring the problem in the hope that it’ll sort itself out. If you want something to change for the better, you’d better be proactive.

Aside from pranks, there’s really nothing better than starting a dialogue about food theft, whether with the criminal, your superiors, or the fine folks working at your human resources department.

Food thieves tend to have low empathy and poor impulse control. Simply put, they either don’t realize how their behavior affects the folks around them or they simply don’t care.

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Alternatively, they might believe that they can keep getting away with stealing food. They might think that nobody will notice a few nibbles going missing every now or then. They may think that nobody will ever suspect them. Or they might wager that the entire situation is too awkward to broach at all.

Image credits: SHVETS production/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Everyone needs to protect their boundaries at work and actively solve any issues that affect everyone

The odds are, your food thief won’t magically become a better person when confronted with their crimes against gastronomy. However, you should still consider having a firm but friendly chat with them about their behavior. Don’t sound overly judgmental initially (you don’t want them getting defensive), but don’t beat around the bush either. Ask them to stop stealing everyone’s food.

If you’re feeling particularly empathetic, you could try to get on the same wavelength as your colleague. Try to understand their reasons for stealing food.

The situation might be very different than you expect. They might potentially be struggling with being able to afford food. In which case you and your colleagues might be able to help them out. But it’s more likely that they’re simply taking the easy path and eating other people’s food because it’s cheaper and easier than buying or making their own meals.

If your not-so-collegial food thief ignores your attempts at diplomacy, it’s time to ramp things up. Bring up the issue with either HR, your manager, or both. Explain the situation. It really helps if you have some evidence. The more specific you are, the more unavoidable finding a solution to the problem becomes. If anyone else has been affected by the stealing, ask them to join you for some honest managerial meetings.

Image credits: KoolShooters/Pexels (not the actual photo)

In some cases, food theft can be a subtle call for help

HR advice and consultancy director at Peninsula, Kate Palmer, told Metro that sometimes, food theft can be a simple mistake.

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“But if this keeps happening, employees should raise the issue with their employer, who can consider the best course of action. If the employee knows who has taken their lunch, the employer could suggest that the employee has a quiet word with the person concerned if they feel comfortable doing this,” she explains.

“It may be appropriate for the employer to send an email reminder to all staff not to take their colleagues’ food and to be respectful to each other. The employer could also stress that if this continues it will lead to disciplinary action under the employer’s disciplinary procedure. If this does not resolve the problem, or if an individual continues to be targeted, this can make the matter more serious and a disciplinary investigation may need to be carried out,” Palmer said.

Has anyone ever stolen your or anyone else’s food at your workplace, dear Pandas? How did you deal with the food thief? We’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic. So, grab a snack, and we’ll see you down in the comments section!

The post spread like wildfire on the internet. Many readers wanted to share their reactions and similar stories

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