Stop taking my food!

[CarolG]

Ok, this is going to sound really petty but here goes�
A few weeks ago I bought a tub of flora & put it in the fridge at work. I only used it once & then went on a month long detox. Last week, having completed the detox, I went to the staff kitchen to make my lunch, got my flora & it was half gone. I was a bit annoyed about this and moved it into another compartment but it keeps being used and moved by someone else. There is nothing communal in our fridge so nobody can be thinking its for everyone's use, I think that this is really cheeky. I understand that its only a tub of butter and was inexpensive but its not the point!! I was thinking of sending an email round or putting a label on it but how anal is that? I am probably overreacting, but would this annoy anyone else?

[woofgang]

No its not petty. its the thought that the person who took your flora might have done so with dirty hands and a knife that they had just licked!!

lol at andy's solution...

[fairy!]

I'd either label it with your name, just incase someone is mistaking it for communatl stuff, or else put it in a carrier bag or tuppaware container... I think people are less likley to steal stuff if it's an effort to get to it!

[Loraxxx]

why dont u all chip in and put a bit of money in a pot each week which would buy essentials such as tea bags etc, that way u save money and save arguments!

[acw]

We only lived 4 of us (interesting use of grammar I know) in my flat in Germany last semester.  However we all bought the same brand of milk.  We all agreed that the milk kept rotting because we were all to polite to drink any for fear of taking someone else's milk!!  (2 out of the 4 were Brits, and the Belgians are also a polite nation!).  We labelled it for that reason.  However, labelling stuff with "mine" or "Carol's" won't stop theiving, it might make them feel guilty.  I suggest you do what andy hughes did.  Teeheehee!!

[jno]

risk with andy's solution is that you'll find another label saying 'So have I.'

[oxeyedaisy]

mix a large amount of white pepper in it and you will know who it is by the one wheezing and gasping..

[CarolG]

Wow, I posted that just before I left work & in the time my tube journey took I had 7 replies! My work pay for tea, coffee, milk etc, I just make my lunch in work so its not a case of all chipping in together to buy stuff. Might go for Andy's suggestion - i'm just a bit of a coward...my work is quite small (about 15 of us) and I don't want to come across a miser (sp?). I need to toughen up!! Thanks for all your suggestions.

Carol

[acw]

Cor - only 15 of you and someone has the nerve to steal?  Perhaps, next time you're at the fridge say to nearest person "mind if I pinch some of your flora?"  They'll hopefully say "Well, it's Bob's" and then you can just identify Bob's stuff later and help yourself to that!  Or, just politely and cheerily say to Bob, once the tub gets low, "as I bought the Flora last time mate, would you mind bringing a new box in on Monday? Cheers pal".  See what he says.  He'll probably be too embarassed to do anything but buy you a new box. 

[metagirl]

agree with some posters here - label it or put it in a carrier bag so they feel extra guilty for going to the trouble to open it and take out the tub of flora. if that doesn't deter them you should report them to the nearest authorities.

[Scarlett]

Carrier bag is an EXCELLENT idea!! They would have to rummage and it would rattle and go! Label it AS WELL. That way the person nicking it will know. If it still persists, I would prepare a tub of mouldy butter (identical to yours) and leave it in the fridge. Then let them use that! You could also buy those little individual packs of butter and take them in every day and just use them...PLUS you could put a few of elastic bands round the lid (yo hold the lid on) which would also slow down the person nicking it.

[PurplePixie]

I would either;

wee on the butter & then put it back & let them enjoy it...or bake a plate of yummy little cakes with a hefty dose of Ex-lax in them. Embedded razor blades are optional in this recipe.

But maybe I'm just a psycho.

[Dark Angel]

Fairy's idea is excellent. If you put the flora in a container/carrier bag the "thief" will probably feel more guilty about making the effort to steal!

[Gevs1966]

You could always make your lunch at home?

[goldheart]

When does it get used, lunchtime? Can you not hang around the fridge area for a while to see who it is? I work in a department of 15 people and would just casually walk around and try to see what people are having at lunchtime and if they're making their own lunch, which I think is quite rare these days, only one person in our dept. makes her own and thats occasional!!  Can it be that the person taking it knows what time you go to lunch etc and just go in after you?

Why dont you just send an email round to everyone and say that you dont wanna come across all anal over a tub of butter but would the person or persons using it please replace  it or have the decency to let you know when it has run out (make up some story that you went to use it and there was none left).... after all the person who is using it is not going to argue that there was some left because he or she would be admitting it!

If noone owns up just stop bringing it in, obviously the other person will have to start bringing some in and you can start using that - thats what I would do...

also, a work colleague brings in her knob of butter wrapped in cling film with her lunch in one of those small cool bags and leaves it in her draw at work... no reason you couldnt bring in some?

[butter1]

Your post did make me chuckle.... no becuase I think your petty but because I would get annoyed by this.  I woud definitely recommend you putting a label on it...saying do no touch.  Good luck anyway.

[GucciGal]

Can't add anything that hasn't already been said but I def agree with you, it would drive me nuts!

[clarabel82]

My Dad's been having his fruit corner yoghurt nicked at work out of the fridge, so he prepared a cherry one with a teaspoon of chilli powder in the fruit bit. He carefully glued the lid back on and put it in the fridge. The thief took his packet of crisps instead and left the yoghurt. It would annoy me!

[Little Lady]

Brings back memories, i used to live with 10 girls in a staff house for 2 years and you can imagine that can't you, it was a joke! To put it lightly. We all had our own separate cupboard which in the end, i had to put a pad lock on, it wasn't just butter etc it was cereal, bread, cans of beans anything, I hated it sooo much, i stopped buying some stuff for the fridge as obvioously you can't stop people taking things from your fridge. We all had different days off so it was hard to keep trakc of when things had gone missing too. Some of the girls got there own fridge in their rooms it got that bad. So glad i am out of that. I must say i used to swap sugar with salt or out names on milk etc but i would probably go for Andy's suggestion though it wouldn't have deterred those gits i lived with. Grrr i have to stop now it is making me annoyed just thinking about it..........