Coworkers Who Steal Your Lunch

From The Salt: Etiquette Hell is a website that has documented more than 6,000 first-hand bad etiquette accounts, and the most frequent complaint is about “fridge theft.” Apparently, it is also a major issue at NPR!

Office fridge theft runs rampant here at NPR. Leftover sandwiches disappear. Frozen meals with names on them vanish. Apparently, half an orange holds appeal to someone. And all-staff emails occasionally attempt to shame the perpetrators.

My favorite email concerned someone’s stolen leftover barbecue ribs. This shocked even the etiquette-hell lady. “Ew! Most people pick up ribs with their fingers and gnaw on them,” Hamilton says.

Okay, so even the nice radio people at NPR steal food from coworkers. What kind of person would steal food from coworkers? The answer, easily enough, is: a hungry person.

Well, Molly Heiser, for one. Last week, she stole a Greek yogurt out of the office fridge. The ironic thing is, Heiser works as a video editor for a Bible software company in Bellingham, Wash. That means she deals with sermons and religious material all day.

So what inspired such a sin?

Hunger, she says.

Personally, no amount of hunger would cause me to steal from my coworkers. I would just ask? “God, I’m starving, does anyone have any snacks they’d be willing to share?” (I always have snacks that I am willing to share.)

Photo: Kai Hendry

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