Food stealing coworkers

[Dawniepoo]

How do you prevent people from stealing your homemade sandwiches from the communal fridge?

I've tried labeling the food, writing threatening message on the bag, putting postit notes on the bag asking for mercy. My sandwiches aren't even that good. Just regular Foster Farms turkey breasts, tomatoes, and some fake bacon. That's it!

[jdp]

Don't put them in the fridge. I have a lunchbag I can put an icepak in if needed. Our work fridge is too gross to even consider putting my food in :lol:

[gt0163c]

Decoy sandwich made of cheap/non-food stuffs or lots of salt and cayenne pepper with your real sandwich hidden in the back in the far back corner?
Eat lunch earlier so that you can get to your sandwich before your coworker has time to get it?
Take your sandwich out of the refrigerator earlier before your coworker has time to get it?
Put your sandwich in an odd, opaque container in the back corner of the fridge in the hopes that the coworker will steal someone else's sandwich before going hunting for yours?
Don't put your sandwich in the refrigerator at all?
Personally, I have an insulated lunch box and put a cold pack in it each day. That works for me. Plus it gives me an excuse to have a rocket ship lunchbox. I get some odd looks (I'm a 33 year old aerospace engineer) but I like it a lot.

[Bernadette]

Originally Posted by gt0163c

Decoy sandwich made of cheap/non-food stuffs or lots of salt and cayenne pepper with your real sandwich hidden in the back in the far back corner?

LOL, very funny. Or place a large, but thin piece of paper in your real sandwich that says "Thou shalt not steal." If the sandwich isn't stolen, you can slide the paper out and eat the rest. But if the thief gets it, he or she will have an interesting, but not damaging, first bite.

Poor Dawniepoo, it really sounds as if you need to get a better class of co-workers! What a contemptible thing to do, stealing somebody else's lunch.

[hermione]

A few suggestions from my sister:

• Put an effective over-the-counter diuretic in the sandwich and keep your real lunch in your desk until the thief has learned his/her lesson
• Hide a sheet of aluminum foil inside the sandwich under the ham - make sure it's a big enough piece that can't get swallowed but slightly smaller than the ham/turkey breast so it can't be seen. Biting on aluminum foil is uncomfortable and used to teach puppies not to chew.
• Put a note in the bag stating "This sandwich is under surveillance" and/or "You're fired."

Or less aggressive solution:

• Instead of putting it in the fridge, use a small cooler or lunchbox, put a frozen drink (can, bottle, etc.) inside to keep your sandwich cool. The drink should be thawed enough to drink by lunch time.

Good luck.

[pidgeon92]

Yeah, the only way to solve it is to keep the food near you. It doesn't matter what kind of place you work in, there is always somebody snatching food out of the fridge.

[Gootsy]

2 words: Broken glass. LOL j/k.

I like the diuretic suggestion tho .

[Found in Boston2]

Originally Posted by hermione

Put an effective over-the-counter diuretic in the sandwich and keep your real lunch in your desk until the thief has learned his/her lesson.

That doesn't sound like something Hermione would do.

[Megan]

I also do the cold-pack/insulated lunchbox thing, mostly because our fridge has a funk that I don't want to permeate my food. But I like the idea of foil or paper in your sandwich. Also, perhaps try getting some of those reusable sandwich containers (Rubbermaid makes some inexpensive ones) and decorate it with ridiculous stickers or colors or something that would make it identifiable? Might turn off someone looking to swipe.

[hermione]

Originally Posted by Found in Boston2

That doesn't sound like something Hermione would do.

I think she would, actually. The "real" Hermione could just jinx the sandwich ... like she did with the D.A. members parchment in Order of the Phoenix.