# I think I'll bring a lunch to work, put it in the fridge and forget about it: forever.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 12, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628 "2014-06-12T15:18:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/1 "2014-06-12T15:18:23Z")
Honest to God people. How do you bring a container of food to work and forget about it?
For the second time in 6 months I’ve just thrown out a half dozen containers of rotten, moldy, stinking food. Seriously?
One sour cream container had a yoghurt in it dated sometime in 2013.
You don’t notice the next day that you left yesterday’s lunch in the fridge?
What the hell?
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/2 "2014-06-12T15:21:06Z")
Ah, work fridges. Where condiments go to die.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/3 "2014-06-12T15:29:59Z")
More employers should do what mine does: all common room refrigerators are cleared out and cleaned by the custodial staff at 6 PM every Friday.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/4 "2014-06-12T15:38:33Z")
I just bought my own mini fridge for my office. HATED the work fridge.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/5 "2014-06-12T17:23:49Z")
Throw them out??? Take them home and refurb them. Casrefully spoon the colored stuff off the yogurt. – add sugar if necessary to overcome tang. Most cheese can be eaten all the way out to the edge, but you might pare a little off the surface, if badly discolored. Never mind how hard it is. Lunch meats, if they’re sticky, just rinse them off under hot running water.
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### Author:  [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/6 "2014-06-12T17:40:07Z")
My office is right across from the kitchenette, and occasionally the fridge gets a funk that wanders into my office every time someone opens the door. I put a sign on our fridge that says ‘Random Fridge checks - Science Experiments will be tossed.’ I don’t care if it’s your grandmother’s heirloom Tupperware. I don’t open it to check first, out it goes… makes me wonder what the hell their houses look like.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/7 "2014-06-12T17:44:49Z")
I once found ten-year-old mustard in our office fridge.
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### Author:  [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/8 "2014-06-12T17:56:23Z")
My strategy for cleaning the office fridge:
- Put stickers on everything in the fridge and freezer
- Put up sign that says, “Remove sticker to keep. On \, anything which still has a sticker will be tossed”
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/9 "2014-06-12T19:29:43Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#):
>
> More employers should do what mine does: all common room refrigerators are cleared out and cleaned by the custodial staff at 6 PM every Friday.
In my department’s case, it’s done by us staffers, including managers. You get assigned to a couple 2-week “kitchen duty” stints each year, which involves tidying the counter and a weekly fridge clean-out. Date and label your stuff or it gets tossed, and anything dated but old (old lunch, expired product) gets tossed regardless. You send out a warning e-mail the day prior. Unlabeled containers go on the table, and in the garbage by the end of the day.
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### Author:  [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/10 "2014-06-12T19:45:13Z")
I bring breakfast and lunch in a cooler each day that sits by my desk, and bypass the office fridge. Everyone wins…
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/11 "2014-06-12T20:13:21Z")
Is this an example of how Chalk River has started producing penicillin as a sop to the medical community now that it is getting out of the isotope business?
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### Author:  [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/12 "2014-06-12T20:20:23Z")
> [@VunderBob](#):
>
> I bring breakfast and lunch in a cooler each day that sits by my desk, and bypass the office fridge. Everyone wins…
That’s a smart tactic. Now WTF is with the people I work with who bring their lunch in a cooler and then put the whole damn thing in the fridge taking up all the space? The insulation works both ways, people! I think your sammy will probably be OK in your cooler bag for a few hours.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/13 "2014-06-12T21:28:51Z")
> [@Muffin](#):
>
> Is this an example of how Chalk River has started producing penicillin as a sop to the medical community now that it is getting out of the isotope business?
Quite possibly. Maybe they were science experiments after all.
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/14 "2014-06-12T21:46:15Z")
> [@filmore](#):
>
> My strategy for cleaning the office fridge:
>
> - Put stickers on everything in the fridge and freezer
> - Put up sign that says, “Remove sticker to keep. On \, anything which still has a sticker will be tossed”
This is absolutely brilliant. Truly.
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### Author:  [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/15 "2014-06-12T21:52:10Z")
> [@filmore](#):
>
> My strategy for cleaning the office fridge:
>
> - Put stickers on everything in the fridge and freezer
> - Put up sign that says, “Remove sticker to keep. On \, anything which still has a sticker will be tossed”
We go the other way. Stickers and a pen are provided. Everyone is expected to label their food with their initials and a date. Every Friday, anything that’s more than two weeks old gets tossed.
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### Author:  [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/16 "2014-06-12T22:10:27Z")
I did this once, sorry.
I brought in a lunch, but then a co-worker offered to buy me lunch.
Forgot to take it out and left on a 3 day business trip. I didn’t think of it again for a few weeks.
Luckily, my office is a “clean out everything on Friday” type place.
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### Author:  [@Hakuna07](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakuna07)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/17 "2014-06-12T22:12:06Z")
Some moron left an unopened can of tuna in the fridge. I think I’ll put it in the freezer for him. just to be safe.
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### Author:  [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/18 "2014-06-12T22:21:39Z")
Bring a lunch, get fired before lunch, forget your lunch.
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### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/19 "2014-06-12T22:26:13Z")
I don’t know, but I’m in an office of only three people - and one is my wife - and yet we still find ourselves having to ask “Who left this thing in here? Can you please deal with it before it crawls onto my desk?”
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-ill-bring-a-lunch-to-work-put-it-in-the-fridge-and-forget-about-it-forever/690628/20 "2014-06-12T22:49:52Z")
I appointed myself Fridge Sheriff a couple years ago. Anything without a label - date and name - is subject to being tossed out at any time. And I did it.
I pissed some people off - one literally screamed at me - but everyone knew the rule and I had management backup.
Most folks loved the policy.
These days I work elsewhere and carry breakfast and lunch in a large, insulated lunch bag that never goes near the fridge.
mmm
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