I'm currently writing an article about how to navigate your first few days on a new job. One of the things I talk about is all the customs around lunch, the company refrigerator, coffee, etc. I've seen so many arguments over this -- ranging from signs that say "Your mother doesn't work here -- clean up after yourself" to angry notices about one's coworkers.
One of the people I interviewed is partner in an HR consulting firm and he backed up my own personal experience with this quote:
“More difficulties have been caused by disagreements and real or perceived ‘bad behavior’ in the lunchroom than by most any other relationship with co-workers. See, observe and make sure you know and follow the written and often unwritten rules of lunchroom behaviors and expectations.”
Mary has had her stored lunch eaten -- I believe more than once -- and I just shake my head -- can't imagine the circumstances under which you tell yourself it's ok to steal a coworker's food.
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My office once had a serial lunch thief. He/she had excellent tastes,stealing food only from two people known to pack yummy lunches (one of them used to prepare and sell her culinary delights to newsroom folks). Very disturbing. The thief had to know which of the many unidentified lunch bags in the fridge belonged to the yummy lunch-makers.
Over course of two months, management issued memo after memo asking for a halt to the food pilfering--but to no avail. Then one day the thefts suddenly stopped. The thief, who left no trail of crumbs behind, was never identified.
Anybody have any insight into how the thief justifies it? Like a shoplifter could say "Oh a big store like X won't miss this one shirt" but you know your coworker *will* miss their sandwich.
I really have no idea. I think you could write a book about what people steal and how others try to retaliate. I've seen lunches with notes on them ("do you like sesame chicken? that's what I brought in" -- no shaming them though) and people who put nasty things in the food or threatened to. It's a mystery to me because I've never heard anyone own up to stealing food.
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