# Best way to deal with lunch thieves? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2016, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048 "2016-04-12T22:56:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/41 "2016-04-13T16:41:55Z")
If you bring in a frozen dinner packed in an insulating bag, is there really any reason to put it in the community fridge? You’re not going to get food poisoning because it very slightly dethaws before you heat it thoroughly in the microwave. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/42 "2016-04-13T16:51:06Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > If you bring in a frozen dinner packed in an insulating bag, is there really any reason to put it in the community fridge? > > You’re not going to get food poisoning because it very slightly dethaws before you heat it thoroughly in the microwave. I wouldn’t think that would be a problem at all. For myself, I have a small refrigerator in my office. Not because of theft, but the community fridge was getting crowded. And I don’t make lunch at home (unless I bring in a Tupperware of leftovers). Instead, I keep sandwich and other stuff in my fridge and make what I want. ---
**Author:** ![Maeganspop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Maeganspop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeganspop)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/43 "2016-04-13T18:09:48Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > Put a sign on the door which says: “To combat thefts, items may be booby-trapped. To avoid the consequences, only take your own items.” You don’t have to actually booby-trap anything. The sign itself may be enough to discourage the thief. This reminded me of the joke: A watermelon farmer trying to combat thieves taking his Watermelons put a sign out in the patch that read, “One of these Watermelons have been poisoned!”. The farmer came back the next day and another sign was posted that said, “Two of these Watermelons have been poisoned!”. Maybe not the best way to combat the situation. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/44 "2016-04-13T18:18:23Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > And just how much money is a victim expected to spend on this, on top of the inconvenience and expense of having his lunch stolen? Some of us can’t really afford to play James Bond here. :dubious: I missed the part of your post where you offered a solution of any kind. I’m guessing you also disapprove of victims of crime having to pay taxes in order to support the police and courts. Such indignity, having to invest one’s resources in order to solve one’s problems. When your property is being stolen, you shouldn’t have to do a goddam thing to make it stop. It should just stop, ya know? :rolleyes: Welcome to Life. You got a problem, you’re gonna have to invest your time and/or money to solve it. If you’re that concerned about costs, then buy a dashcam, use it, and sell it on craigslist to recover most of your cost. Or install it in your car to save you from an expensive lawsuit by the lying pedestrian you’re about to hit; it’ll more than pay for itself. Or borrow a camera from a rich friend. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/45 "2016-04-13T18:52:39Z")
I like the food coloring plan. However, if the thief ranks the guy, he may make life difficult afterwards. Many years ago, I put a Dinty Moore Beef Stew label over a can of dog food, and theft stopped. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/46 "2016-04-13T19:33:00Z")
Years ago, I caught and confronted a cow-orker that stole my lunch. It was pretty easy to determine who it was, since it was in a passcard-protected space that only three people had access to over the previous 72 hours. I made him give me $20 to ease my pain and suffering. When he balked, I reminded him the penalty for stealing a lunch was termination and he was lucky I didn’t make it $100. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/47 "2016-04-13T19:52:39Z")
Once, while both microwaves were being used, I dropped off my soup while I ran to the restroom. When I came back, my soup was gone. We’re talking maybe 90 seconds, two minutes tops. I have a suspicion, but I can’t prove who took it. I don’t keep my lunch in the break room fridge anymore…my boss lets us use the dorm room-sized fridge for the department. I don’t have to worry about getting my food tossed Monday morning either. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/48 "2016-04-13T19:52:57Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Let’s step back a bit on this. What would motivate someone to take a lunch from the break room fridge that didn’t belong to you? They are probably too poor to afford their own lunch. Poverty can drive people to do things you wouldn’t imagine. Instead of trying to punish these people, why not just make an extra lunch and label it as _FREE_. Oftentimes this is deliberate jerkish behavior. They have the money, they know it’s wrong, they just see themselves as above the rules and don’t care. For a crime like this, it is very unlikely due to poverty. My solution: Insulated lunch bag in your desk and a set of those thick brick-style ice bags. Have several so there’s always a fresh one to use if you forget to stick it back in the freezer. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/49 "2016-04-13T20:06:12Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > My solution: Insulated lunch bag in your desk and a set of those thick brick-style ice bags. Have several so there’s always a fresh one to use if you forget to stick it back in the freezer. Put the ice bags in the work freezer. That way you’ll get the electricity benefit of the work fridge but the safety of keeping your lunch with you. At least until people start stealing the ice bags. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/50 "2016-04-13T20:27:06Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Camera’s solve these problems far more effectively then booby trapping food. Based on what? The expense makes that a 2nd choice option if you ask me. Furthermore, if I was stealing I imagine I’d try to do it in such a way that I wasn’t showing the bag as I stole it. As was mentioned above, food coloring sounds like a very inexpensive option to me. > [@Chimera](#): > > If you bring in a frozen dinner packed in an insulating bag, is there really any reason to put it in the community fridge? > > You’re not going to get food poisoning because it very slightly dethaws before you heat it thoroughly in the microwave. That’s what I do, and we have a mini fridge less than 10 feet from me. I’ve packed frozen entrees, cut up fruit, and other easily spoilable food; and have never had a problem. I guess the first question is what do you really want to accomplish? Would you be happy if it would just stop? Or are you now at the point where you feel like the culprit needs to be caught and shamed? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/51 "2016-04-14T01:16:55Z")
Many years ago when this was happening to me I was going to get a [personal alarm](http://www.amazon.com/Vigilant-Personal-PPS22BL-Batteries-Activation/dp/B005E04MK0) and attach it to a piece of cardboard in the bottom of my lunch sack with the chain attached to my sandwich bag. Someone else caught the perp before I had the chance to follow through. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/52 "2016-04-14T01:28:26Z")
> [@MoonMoon](#): > > I can see someone sneaking a bit of someone else’s creamer that they keep in the fridge, but the idea that people steal coworkers’ entire _lunches_ just completely astonishes me. > > I vote for the hidden camera route, followed by intense shaming, if not firing. People stealing milk for their tea or coffee is pretty common. I used to bring in my own small bottle of full-cream milk as I was about the only person who drank it and I couldn’t find anyone to share with. Even so that started disappearing, now I use a small medical specimen bottle (the kind with the bright yellow lid you get given for urine samples) that holds just enough milk for two cups of tea. There is something about a milky white fluid in a sample jar that turns people off using the contents 😃 ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/53 "2016-04-14T01:30:14Z")
From the OP - > [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > Well, we’ve had a rash of lunch thefts at work these past few weeks. Hmm… a rash in the past few weeks…Might point to a new hire. It may be as simple as checking on them a bit during lunch. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/54 "2016-04-14T03:10:08Z")
Many years ago, I worked at a place where over 100 people shared several refrigerators, and one afternoon, I went in the break room to take my leftover Long John Silver’s home to have for dinner. The empty box was sitting in the fridge, wide open. :mad: :smack: I have no idea who might have done it, and left a note on the fridge that said, “Whoever took the fish and chicken out of my Long John Silver’s box, DON’T DO IT AGAIN.” That note stayed on the refrigerator for several weeks. 😕 I’ve heard plenty of stories about doctors who helped themselves to nurses’ lunches, even ones that had their names on it, and every one of them was a woman doctor. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/55 "2016-04-14T03:42:24Z")
Just like in the Rogers ad, get Toronto Blue Jays’ Russ Martin to hide behind the fridge, because, as anyone knows - the catcher hates stealing. ---
**Author:** ![Hocus\_Pocus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/41988e/32.png) [@Hocus\_Pocus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hocus_Pocus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/56 "2016-04-14T04:40:58Z")
> [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](#): > > I found the best solution to the lunch thief problem was to keep my lunch and snacks in a small cooler at my desk. Sure it was awkward carrying that cooler in to the office every morning but my lunch and snacks didn’t get stolen. Not always an option. At my last job they had this 5S organizing program that wouldn’t allow for keeping your lunch at your desk. Fortunately theft wasn’t a problem there. One could also fill an empty apple juice bottle in the bathroom… ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/57 "2016-04-14T13:24:52Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > :dubious: I missed the part of your post where you offered a solution of any kind. You didn’t miss a thing. Plenty of solutions were already offered by others; I was offering a perspective on a couple of them. I figured it was okay to share my views in a forum titled In My Humble Opinion. > [@](#): > > I’m guessing you also disapprove of victims of crime having to pay taxes in order to support the police and courts. Such indignity, having to invest one’s resources in order to solve one’s problems. When your property is being stolen, you shouldn’t have to do a goddam thing to make it stop. It should just stop, ya know? I seem to have missed the part of my post that decried paying taxes and advocated doing nothing about one’s problems. My point, which I’m sorry seems to have been missed, is that the idea of spending $50 or so for the sake of a $3 lunch is not feasible for everybody. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/58 "2016-04-14T13:31:24Z")
People are getting really weird about their lunches here at my workplace. For example, they’re putting names on their food. I just ate a hot pepper sandwich named Josh. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/59 "2016-04-14T13:37:28Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > People are getting really weird about their lunches here at my workplace. For example, they’re putting names on their food. I just ate a hot pepper sandwich named Josh. Some fancy Foodie cuisine, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048/60 "2016-04-14T13:59:36Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > You didn’t miss a thing. Plenty of solutions were already offered by others; I was offering a perspective on a couple of them. I figured it was okay to share my views in a forum titled In My Humble Opinion. Except the “solutions” offered by others didn’t seem to do much in the way of identifying the perp. > [@Gary\_T](#): > > I seem to have missed the part of my post that decried paying taxes and advocated doing nothing about one’s problems. You decried the idea of allocating resources to solve a problem involving theft of resources. My point was that no problem gets solved without allocating resources to the solution. > [@Gary\_T](#): > > My point, which I’m sorry seems to have been missed, is that the idea of spending $50 or so for the sake of a $3 lunch is not feasible for everybody. Want to really get your money’s worth? Post the video on YouTube, include the perp’s name in the video title, and send the link to everyone in your office. It would stop the thefts, and also publicly humiliate the thief, thereby satisfying the desires for revenge that have been expressed throughout this thread. If my lunch were getting repeatedly stolen, I’d definitely pay $50 to make that happen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-deal-with-lunch-thieves/752048.md?page=4)