That's what you get for raiding the office fridge! - Page 9

MorningLover · ‎10-04-2015

7/21/16

I saw this on the News

It says it went viral on Facebook

online...

After Co-Workers Used Her Coffee Creamer, This Woman Told Them It ...

www.self.com/.../after-co-workers-used-her-coffee Self

chickenbutt · ‎03-09-2010

@Ms X wrote:
@SunValley wrote:
No one labelled the food contents on containers in the work fridge at my office. "Ham sandwich with mayo and a yogurt" on lunch bags? Uh, no. And there is no law that you can't repurpose a container marked one thing for some other edible. Unless the item is marked community or you brought it, it isn't yours to take, period. Fridge thefts are so weird to me. I have trouble with work pot lucks. let alone eating a mystery lunch.
Deliberately putting breast milk or something equally grotesque in the office refrigerator under a false label for revenge should be unacceptable and possibly criminal. It's not clear whether she just put the sign after the fact or actually used breast milk. At any rate, I consider her transgression worse than the original theft. Were it my company, she'd be GONE if she actually put breast milk in a container marked cream. We all have to work with less than ideal situations sometimes. She could have brought an insulated tote that needed no refrigeration or a coffee creamer that needed no refrigeration. If she brought breast milk or pretended to do so, as a company owner I'd have a problem with that.

Hi! I don't understand. If somebody put something that was HERS in the refrigerator, why would it matter what was in it? There was never any intent to poison, sicken, or anything else, another person because it was her consummable, and hers alone.

I can understand if sombody taints something that is meant for others. But in this sort of case it was only meant for her to use in her coffee.

I'm not attacking, or anything. I just don't understand why it would be a fireable offense if she had put, or said she put, breast milk in her own coffee creamer.

Honestly, and if this case is even true, the vibe I get is that nothing was even put in there. It was just a 'leave my stuff alone' tactic. Whether it was right or wrong - I don't know. Since it was not for public use I don't think it should matter what was in it.

If it is a case where EVERYTHING in a community refrigerator is communal, that's another thing. But most of these cases, and clearly this one, it is a scenario where everybody brings in their own stuff for their own use so the rule is that you don't steal other peoples' stuff.

SunValley · ‎04-19-2010

@Ms X wrote:
@SunValley wrote:
No one labelled the food contents on containers in the work fridge at my office. "Ham sandwich with mayo and a yogurt" on lunch bags? Uh, no. And there is no law that you can't repurpose a container marked one thing for some other edible. Unless the item is marked community or you brought it, it isn't yours to take, period. Fridge thefts are so weird to me. I have trouble with work pot lucks. let alone eating a mystery lunch.
Deliberately putting breast milk or something equally grotesque in the office refrigerator under a false label for revenge should be unacceptable and possibly criminal. It's not clear whether she just put the sign after the fact or actually used breast milk. At any rate, I consider her transgression worse than the original theft. Were it my company, she'd be GONE if she actually put breast milk in a container marked cream. We all have to work with less than ideal situations sometimes. She could have brought an insulated tote that needed no refrigeration or a coffee creamer that needed no refrigeration. If she brought breast milk or pretended to do so, as a company owner I'd have a problem with that.

Breast milk is grotesque? I respectfully disagree with that assessment. Several women at work pumped breast milk and stored it in the fridge so their babies had the milk when the mothers had to be at work. They had to "work with less than ideal situations sometimes." No one complained nor did anyone get fired for having breast milk at work.

Don't take what isn't yours without asking is a fundamental rule of a civil society. You may not like the way this woman responded but she didn't put anything not intended for human consumption in the container and perhaps just wrote that note to keep the thief's hands off. Why is it up to her to prevent a thief from not liking the content of what they stole. We don't punish the victim of a theft because the thief was unhappy with the spoils. No one should have to buy non refrigerated creamer and keep it in your desk so you don't tempt a fridge thief. That would be an interesting addition to the employee handbook.

dooBdoo · ‎06-27-2010

Marianne1 wrote:
Even if this story is true (which I doubt for several reasons)...

The "creamer/note writer" was the owner of the food, so she is not tampering with someone else's food.

The other person is a thief, if we are going to assign criminal behaviors to someone in this story.

Besides, putting breast milk into a container is not tampering, legally.

Hi, @Marianne1! Always good to see you weigh in. My thinking was similar to yours, but I don't have the expertise in this area that you do. I looked online for a few minutes, just to see if I could find an origin to the story... it appears none of the stories link back to an actual person so far. So who knows if it's real or fabricated. It certainly sparked some lively discussion here today!

Few things reveal your intellect and your generosity of spirit—the parallel powers of your heart and mind—better than how you give feedback.~Maria Popova

missy1 · ‎03-10-2010

I think this employee could have used a better method then this note, to let her other coworkers not use her creamer.

chickenbutt · ‎03-09-2010

missy1 wrote:
I think this employee could have used a better method then this note, to let her other coworkers not use her creamer.

I would agree that there are better ways, too. I would have probably put MY things in a paper bag in the refrigerator with my name on the bag, large enough to see. I might even staple it shut.

If that didn't work, I would just bring a small cooler to work with ice packs and keep my things in that, under my desk or something. I might bring extra ice packs and put them in the freezer, hoping somebody doesn't steal those, too.

I'll probably never understand why some people think it's ok to steal other peoples' food/drinks, instead of bringing their own.

Venezia · ‎03-09-2010

@bri20 wrote:
@Plaid Pants2 wrote:
@3suwm5 wrote:
Wow, the perils of working anywhere but out of your home

Even then........

I mean, if their mother stole food from the fridge, would they "teach her a lesson" by tainting the food, and said that she "deserved it" if dear old mom ate the tainted food?

Especially if mom was elderly, and maybe not all with it?

Your scenarios are a little dramatic, aren't they?

@bri20 - LOL! You beat me to it. I was about to post "Now we're getting into the realms of fantasy!"

Catty2 · ‎09-06-2014

Wow, that is a bit extreme, IMO. I've been retired for a few years but the community fridge at work was always a topic of conversation. Once somebody put a can of Coke in the freezer and forgot about it - it exploded all over. A nice coworker offered to clean it. Sometimes I would check expiration dates on things in the door - salad dressings, etc. and toss the stuff that had expired. I remember many days when coworkers would ask if something smelled bad in the fridge, and then try to figure out what it was. Once it was a frozen dinner that was defrosted and forgot about. Fun times!

Venezia · ‎03-09-2010

@Plaid Pants2 wrote:
TWO WRONGS DOES NOT = A RIGHT!

Shouting at everyone else and putting it in bright red isn't going to win anyone over to your side of the argument.

(And...ummm....grammatically, it's "Two wrongs do not make a right". Just sayin'. "Two wrongs" is plural.)

Tinkrbl44 · ‎08-23-2010

@Marianne1 wrote:
Even if this story is true (which I doubt for several reasons)...

The "creamer/note writer" was the owner of the food, so she is not tampering with someone else's food.

The other person is a thief, if we are going to assign criminal behaviors to someone in this story.

Besides, putting breast milk into a container is not tampering, legally.

@Marianne1 @Plaid Pants2

ITA ..... The creamer was not for everyone in the office .... it was for JUST the note writer.

If someone has the nerve to steal someone else's food items, sooner or later they are going to pi$$ someone off. If they retaliate, you were asking for it ... and deserve whatever you get. There is no reason why food thieves should expect to be protected.

Plaid Pants2's logic is faulty. You steal co-workers' food, you better be VERY careful.