Among Friends

[alicedee]

A side note...I am retired now, but worked in offices for over 40 years.  At every single workplace....there was an occasional issue with someone's lunch being taken from the staff room refrigerator...sometimes just something OUT of the lunch, not the whole thing! I would just shake my head...these were professionals in various areas....consultants, teachers, a medical office....didn't matter what the business was, it happened at every single place.  I learned early in my career to take my lunch in an insulated bag with an ice pack in it, and leave it at my desk until lunchtime....thus, I never had a problem.

I agree that theft is wrong...but when you understand it's a possibility, just chalk it up as a lesson learned and find a solution that works for you.  Your boss isn't going to call the police over a missing watermelon!  Try to keep life in perspective.

[Allegheny]

Something to ponder...the next time the co-workers and supervisor are "hardy har haring" it up, it could be about you.  So I stand by my conviction that the supervisor should stand clear of such behavior.

[Mominohio]

Maybe I'm missing something here, and I've never worked as a nurse or in a facility like this, but if an entire watermelon is missing I would want to know what is up as well.

Number one, was it for the person who brought it in, and her personal use only? Or was it brought in for the clients? Or was it to share with everyone?

At any rate, with people who live in a situation where supervision is necessary, a missing food item that large could be problematic. Could they be in any danger of eating it when they shouldn't or somehow hurting themselves with it ( or someone else). Could it be rotting away somewhere they may have stashed it, causing a problem?

If this was taken by another staff member, well how immature. There are jokes and pranks in the workplace, but, since this particular nurse seems to be the butt of everyone's jokes already, stealing or hiding her things just to 'have some fun' isn't really a place I'd like to be working. In this particular setting, I'd wonder how much time is being spent with such 'horseplay' and what the clients are lacking because of it.

Let's face it, different workplaces call for different levels of decorum. What the office manager did isn't really horrible, but if one particular employees is always the target of the 'funning' then maybe there should be something done about it. If everyone has a good sense of humor, and the poking fun isn't targeted to just one or a few, it would make for a more light hearted workplace.

So a missing watermelon in this setting would concern me for patient safety if it got into the wrong hands and patients could get hold of things they are not supposed to, and it would make me consider if the staff made it disappear, what was the point except meanness, unless it resurfaced quickly.

[151949]

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@alicedee wrote:

A side note...I am retired now, but worked in offices for over 40 years.  At every single workplace....there was an occasional issue with someone's lunch being taken from the staff room refrigerator...sometimes just something OUT of the lunch, not the whole thing! I would just shake my head...these were professionals in various areas....consultants, teachers, a medical office....didn't matter what the business was, it happened at every single place.  I learned early in my career to take my lunch in an insulated bag with an ice pack in it, and leave it at my desk until lunchtime....thus, I never had a problem.

I agree that theft is wrong...but when you understand it's a possibility, just chalk it up as a lesson learned and find a solution that works for you.  Your boss isn't going to call the police over a missing watermelon!  Try to keep life in perspective.

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Not everyone works all day at a desk - some of us have to share our desk area with others thru the day.In my workplace it was against the law (state dept of health) to have ANY food out in the work area.ALL food had to be kept in the employee lounge.