We have a yoghurt thief at work.  And I was their victim on Friday.  A few weeks ago, a colleague of mine fell foul of the thief and put an even more terse note than mine on the fridge door.  At first I thought she was being precious but now that it’s happened to me, I feel her anger.  This wasn’t an innocent mistake, our staff fridges are well away from public areas and non staff never wonder into ‘our’ areas of the building.  Also, the unwritten rule is that everyone labels their food and no one else at work shares my first name.

It’s not the dollar value of what’s been pilfered, it’s the lack of respect and the loss of trust.  Yes, your life might have depended on our cartons of yoghurt, but the least you could do is leave an IOU note.  A replacement yoghurt would have smoothed the waters entirely.

I don’t know why people at work do this kind of thing to each other.  We all work hard and well.  Meal breaks are well earned and needed moments of ‘me time’ to keep us going through the day.  None of as ask the world of our employer in terms of extravagant kitchen supplies and nor do we expect it.  We’re all content to bring in creature comforts from home.

All any of us want is to be able to put food in the fridge, with our names on it and expect to find it when we wish to eat it.

How do you feel about work food thieves?  Does it happen at your work?