Out of all the ways you can make enemies at your workplace, stealing is probably one of the most effective ones.
A few days ago, a woman who goes online by the nickname Cute-Age-9393 made a post on the subreddit 'Petty Revenge', recalling the time when she was an intern at one company.
It was amid the pandemic and due to various restrictions that prohibited larger gatherings, each department had one designated coffee person who would fix its members up with their hot java.
Cute-Age-9393 ended up being her department's supplier, however, she began noticing that someone was getting their hands on her personal stockpile. So the intern devised a sneaky plan to get back at the thief.
During the pandemic and its restrictions, this intern was in charge of her department's coffee
Image credits: DragonImages (not the actual photo)
When she noticed that someone was stealing from her private stash
Turns out, it was the CEO's secretary
Image credits: Emre (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Cute-Age-9393
Workplace kitchen wars are a widespread problem
We managed to get in touch with Cute-Age-9393 and she was kind enough to have a little chat with us.
"I decided to do an internship there because it was an interesting company with a lot of new learning possibilities," she told Bored Panda.
"This particular incident aside, I liked it there."
According to Alison Green, who has been fielding workplace questions for a decade now on her website Ask a Manager, workplace kitchen wars, unfortunately, remain relatively common.
"With many companies bringing people back to the office at least part time, office kitchens are once again aggravating many workers—the takeout food from months ago left rotting in the fridge, the politics of who gets stuck cleaning up after others (and who doesn't), and the brazen thefts of other people’s food have all returned with a vengeance," she wrote.
"Pandemic considerations aside, office kitchens have always been the source of drama."
Image credits: Mad Fish Digital (not the actual photo)
To some extent, they are to be expected
"Even when people aren't flagrant slobs, the mathematical reality is that having an entire office sharing one kitchen is going to result in some mess," Green explained.
"When you've got a few dozen people (or more) who each leave a few crumbs or a small drip here and there, it adds up."
Some workplaces tackle this by assigning folks various duties to keep the order, but that often irritates those who don't feel they should be responsible for someone else.
When it comes to stealing, nearly 1 in 5 workers — 18 percent, to be exact — admits to having eaten someone else's lunch out of the office fridge, according to a survey of 1,061 employees from American Express OPEN.
"It's such an unusual thing to be so widespread," said Green. "Who are these sociopaths who are stealing lunches across the land?"
If you're a victim of repeat office lunch thefts, the loss can take a bite (or, in this case, a sip) out of your budget. But such incidents can be even more costly for thieves, especially if the incident becomes prime-time office gossip.
After all, people don't forget it, and trust issues can arise. Are a few cups of coffee really worth damaging your image?
At Cute-Age-9393's office, however, it didn't seem to have caused a big stir. "People were amused [by the whole ordeal], but I don't know if there were any repercussions for anyone."
Image credits: Petr Magera (not the actual photo)
As the story went viral, the person who shared it provided more context
And it really resonated with people, with many sharing similar experiences
