# Really?!?!? - Office refrigerator **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 4, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815 "2018-04-04T15:52:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/21 "2018-04-05T00:35:51Z")
I put some Limburger cheese in there once, and was in no hurry to eat it. One of the office girls asked me when I was going to finish it up. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/22 "2018-04-05T00:46:00Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I ate someone’s food by accident once. The whole office was on Weight Watchers and I brought in my week’s supply of frozen WW meals and stored it in a Key Food plastic bag in the freezer. Friday came, I took out my last meal, popped it into the microwave and ate it. An hour later my office manager was yelling about someone eating her food. Her very own special Smart Ones Mac n Cheese that she put special in this here special Key Food bag AND SOMEONE ATE IT!!! > > Seeing as how I did not have any special kind of Smart Ones in my Key Food bag and the remaining Key Food bag in the freezer did not have Mac n Cheese in it, special or not, I figured it was me. I felt _terrible_. She was obviously looking forward to her lunch and I ruined it for her. I offered her my Smart One and to go out and get her another but she declined, still upset that someone ate her food. > > This is why you should put your name on the food in the communal fridge. Not to keep someone from eating your food but to stop you from eating someone else’s. She put \*her \*food in \*your \*bag that had other meals in it? That’s 100% on her. You didn’t do anything wrong there. What kind of idiot does something like that? ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/23 "2018-04-05T00:48:40Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > My office has really weird ideas about _naming_ food. I just ate a sandwich named “Mike.” People who haven’t seen that meme might assume that thought originated with you. > [@Chefguy](#): > > As the boss at one job, I made sure that any mystery objects that were left by COB Friday were tossed, containers and all. People got the idea fairly quickly. I did this for quite a while at my old job, and I showed no mercy. Got aggressively cussed out twice, even though there were signs clearly posted and everyone knew I meant business. One woman did not speak to me for months. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/24 "2018-04-05T01:24:58Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I put some Limburger cheese in there once, and was in no hurry to eat it. One of the office girls asked me when I was going to finish it up. That’s a fucking office felony pal. Almost as bad as fish in the microwave. You are open to righteous abuse from your co-workers. I’m no longer working, but we had a LARGE, management approved sign on the fridge door, that said: Every Friday, EVERYTHING in the refrigerator would be thrown out at 5:00PM. They exempted condiments and stuff, but all food was gone, containers and all. And they emphasized it with a weekly intercom announcement Kind of worked. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/25 "2018-04-05T01:46:11Z")
I long ago stopped using the office fridge. If I bring my punch it comes in an insulated bag with an icepack. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/26 "2018-04-05T01:54:47Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > She put \*her \*food in \*your \*bag that had other meals in it? That’s 100% on her. You didn’t do anything wrong there. What kind of idiot does something like that? No, no. She brought in another, identical Key Food bag with her meal in it. It was totally my fault. I didn’t know or care what was in the bag. I just assumed the Key Food bag was mine. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/27 "2018-04-05T02:50:06Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I put some Limburger cheese in there once, and was in no hurry to eat it. One of the office girls asked me when I was going to finish it up. There’s a specific level of hell just for people who do that. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/28 "2018-04-05T02:57:35Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I put some Limburger cheese in there once, and was in no hurry to eat it. One of the office girls asked me when I was going to finish it up. I’m sure you did. > [@Biggirl](#): > > No, no. She brought in another, identical Key Food bag with her meal in it. It was totally my fault. I didn’t know or care what was in the bag. I just assumed the Key Food bag was mine. Ahhh OK that makes more sense. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/29 "2018-04-05T10:52:23Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I long ago stopped using the office fridge. If I bring my punch it comes in an insulated bag with an icepack. Odd. I keep my punch in a bowl. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/30 "2018-04-05T21:54:25Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I’ve seen them throw out half sheet cakes from someone’s birthday and an unopened gallon of lemonade. I understand, since this isn’t your house and we can’t leave food in the fridge for weeks on end, but I still cringed at the waste. Cake and lemonade are not food in any nutritional sense. It’s waste in a good-tasting sense, but not food waste. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/31 "2018-04-05T22:02:32Z")
Most of us never used the refrigerator. There was a Salmonella Carousel (also known as the Rock-hard Café) that was adequate for workday eating, as long as one had a good breakfast/dinner at home. And occasional visits by the Gaggin’ Wagon helped. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/32 "2018-04-05T22:24:13Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > > [@ivylass](#): > > > > I’ve seen them throw out half sheet cakes from someone’s birthday and an unopened gallon of lemonade. I understand, since this isn’t your house and we can’t leave food in the fridge for weeks on end, but I still cringed at the waste. > > Cake and lemonade are not food in any nutritional sense. It’s waste in a good-tasting sense, but not food waste. Plus a half-sheet cake or a gallon of lemonade take up a lot of space in the office refrigerator. And in most places where I’ve worked, the “office refrigerator” is just a household-type refrigerator, and not usually a particularly large one. In one case, another co-worker and I went to Circuit City and just bought a cheapish household refrigerator that they delivered to our office building. ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/33 "2018-04-05T22:39:25Z")
In a previous job, I saw two guys get into an actual fistfight over a subway sandwich of all the things. It started with them both licking each other’s food, then it escalated to one of them loading the sub in question with hot sauce. It then escalated to both of them screaming obscenities at each other, then the actual fight, and it ended up with the cops hauling them both away. The company investigated, and ended up firing both of them over it. I remember this clearly, as I was the “big guy” in the office, and my boss told me to break it up. So I got in the middle of them, and one of those assholes broke my nose. My nose has been broken five times in my life, that was time #2. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/34 "2018-04-05T22:47:41Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I long ago stopped using the office fridge. If I bring my punch it comes in an insulated bag with an icepack. Punch AND icepick? Is that like belt and suspenders? > [@Backwater Under\_Duck](#): > > That’s a fucking office felony pal. Almost as bad as fish in the microwave. I had a co-worker who said she had read about how microwaving fish in the office is a terrible thing to do. It’s also something she did regularly. She admitted to reading it and then continuing to do it – the kitchen is down the hall from the office was her excuse. She been known to be less than considerate of others. ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/35 "2018-04-05T23:31:55Z")
There’s been a container with cooked chicken in our office fridge for about 3 weeks now. No-one knows who it belongs to. I might bin it before I go home tonight. Of course, I won’t admit it if it turns out to belong to the boss. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/36 "2018-04-06T00:07:13Z")
We have a lot of temps and people that don’t last long\* and having food stolen happens fairly often. I bring my lunch every day and it stays in my work area, in an insulated backpack with a frozen soda bottle full of water to keep things cold. \*Not saying temps and short timers are bad people but I think knowing you are not likely to be around makes people less concerned about possibly getting caught. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2018, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/37 "2018-04-06T00:25:47Z")
I am probably equally plaintiff and defendant when it comes to the office fridge. I absolutely can not bear to see food rotting in the fridge. I am also terrible about remembering my own food is in there. I’ll be at my desk, utterly starving, with tons of food in there but I forget what is mine. So I developed the habit of keeping a marker in there to put my name and date on my food. After the seventh marker disappeared I rigged up a string and taped it to the side of the fridge. Nothing but the tape. The third one of those that went I got a chain and rigged it around the door to the little butter cave in the door. Somebody took the marker, the string, and the door to the butter cave. Butter fell on my foot every time I opened the fridge door after that. So I decided “F” it. If my food rots, it’s no more than they deserve the ungrateful twits. I have no idea how many times my food went bad while I sat hungry because I wasn’t quite certain if that was MY salad or somebody else’s. About a year ago I saw a huge fist-sized marker at the store and tried leaving that one on top of the fridge. I never did see whose desk it wound up on,but it was gone within a week. :shakes fist: ---
**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 6, 2018, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/38 "2018-04-06T13:15:30Z")
I’d just like to add my standard rant about how not every food item needs to be constantly refrigerated. If your sandwich is taken from your home fridge in the morning and left in a lunch bag for 4 hours, it’s safe to eat. It also tastes better at room temperature. IMHO, bread should never be refrigerated anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/39 "2018-04-06T13:20:35Z")
The worst is people who bring their lunch in a soft-side cooler the size of a 12-pack, then put the WHOLE COOLER in the fridge. What fuck, either unload the cooler in to the fridge, or keep the COOLER and lunch at your desk. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2018, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815/40 "2018-04-06T13:42:19Z")
I worked with a girl who had a mini-fridge by her desk. I asked her how she got that, did she bring it in, or what? Turns out, people objected to her storing breast milk that she pumped in the main refridgerator, so they had to get her her own mini-fridge. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-office-refrigerator/811815.md?page=3)