Why do adults steal lunches from each other at work?

They just don’t care,and are hungry.

Insensitivity and rudeness. The workplace is all about me-me-me.

But @SQUEEKY2 You wouldn’t get someone just rifling around in people’s purses because they need money. Or would you?

I will be following this thread. I’ve wondered this myself. I used to work at a place where there was at least one notorious lunch thief. There might have been two, but we all knew who one of them was, but no one caught her in the act. We were 99% sure she was one of the thieves because she would often comment on the inappropriateness of certain people’s choice of food (she thought it was practically a crime for anyone to bring fish for lunch, even though we had a group of people who’s staple food was fish) or the fact that they didn’t eat their food on the exact day that it was brought in. It made her livid and she would argue with anyone who tried to explain that a PB&J would be just fine the next day, or that the un-opened jar of salsa was for a special treat on Tuesday.

The second person didn’t take the lunch to eat it, she would throw out people’s food because she didn’t like the contents, or didn’t like the idea that someone would dare to leave their food in the fridge over a weekend, even if the person didn’t work on that particular Friday because they were out sick, or had to attend a lunch meeting and had intended to eat that food on Monday. She seemed to feel superior to everyone else and tried to act like the lunch mommy. No one ever caught her in the act either.

It was so bad that there was even a sign placed on the refrigerator door that told people not to steal other people’s lunches. It did no good. It was too easy for these thieves to steal lunches when no one else was in the room. I suggested putting up a cheap security camera, but everyone got mad at me and thought that was mean. Mean? Why is that mean? It would have solved the problem and the speculation.

It was especially bad where we worked, because there was a whole group of people at the lower end of the pay spectrum who could barely afford to eat in the first place, and there lunches were the ones that often got stolen or thrown out.

It was so bad, that I kept a stash of food in our work area, specifically for the people that worked in our department, so they could eat if their lunch got thrown out. I had peanut butter and bread, cans of soup, ramen noodles, chips, nuts, canned tuna, and even cans of stuffed grape leaves (everybody loved those).

Co-worker assisted suicide.

Fortunately I have never had this happen, but I did have a supply of Greek yogurt in my current job’s refrigerator and it seemed to be disappearing. I started keeping count of it, and then I went on vacation and half of it disappeared. Now I take one in per day and if by chance I forget to bring it, I either have to go to the deli and buy one or I do without. I’m not taking chances. We speculate it’s the cleaning people. I work in a small office and I really don’t think it’s anybody I work with. Nobody wants my yogurt and we’re all steps away from the refrigerator, so I think it was happening after hours.

I have a friend who has a mentally ill, crack addicted brother and she told me he used to eat the food out of the refrigerator at work (when he had a job). She told him that’s terrible and he shouldn’t do it, but he probably was broke (from spending his money on crack) and he probably felt desperate.

Laziness and feeling entitled. I use to bring in frozen dinners packages from lean cuisine. I would put a few in the fridge for a week and tell my co-workers that if they are really hungry and don’t have time to go out an get something that they were welcomed to have one but to please be decent and let me know, so I can have a replacement for the next day when I come in so I don’t go hungry. Especially since I couldn’t leave the office during lunch.

Because people suck sometimes.

Nothing some laxative brownies can’t solve. You’ll catch them red handed… err brown bottomed.

Food and eating are so primal this ‘decision’ to steal someone else’s food happens at a subconscious level.
The rest of the mind makes up whatever story is necessary, or none if there is no confrontation.

I guess I’ve been specially blessed. My last job had the opposite problem. People would leave food in the fridge and nobody would touch it until it was obviously rotten. They had to make a policy that if you didn’t name and date your food, you couldn’t complain if it got thrown away.

All my other professional jobs I had a fridge of my own in my office that I shared with 1–2 other people. (The fridge was there do I could host my own special events but due to all of the food restrictions on the students, it went empty except for a few lunches and a whole bunch of water bottles)

For the exact same reason children do it. They haven’t grown up.

My last job had the opposite problem. People would leave food in the fridge and nobody would touch it until it was obviously rotten

If you have a communal refrigerator at work, a policy of “fridge is emptied and cleaned every Friday” is a wonderful thing.

I’ve heard of children stealing lunches, but I’ve never come across adults stealing lunches in the workplace. That’s just bizarre to me.

There’s a company that makes plastic bags that makes it appear there’s mold on the food, so no one will touch it. But it makes no sense, because co-worker will just throw it in the garbage.

Ross Geller has the answer to this one.

I put out a big bowl of sugar-free gummy bears on my desk once. It was spectacular!

I put out a big bowl of sugar-free gummy bears on my desk once. It was spectacular!

Yeah, I once had an office tucked away in a corner. I put gummi bears and pretzel rods on my desk as bait.

I wasn’t a bigwig, but lots of executive meetings were held in my office.

This has never happened to me. I haven’t even heard of it since about 2nd Grade. I could only imagine what this does to someone’s credibility. Man, and to have to work with the kind of person who is so low as to be willing to trade their credibility among their co-workers for a fucking lunch!

“You gotta beef?”
“Yeah I gotta beef, wichoo”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah”

They have the beef?

I was fired from my job of 20 years for this. Not for stealing other people’s lunches, but for calling the ‘lunch thief’ out.

It was widely known that this guy ate his lunch by opening other employee’s lunches and taking the best items. One day I walked into the cafeteria and he was eating 2 things from my lunch. I asked him where he got the food, and he vaguely gestured to the food shelf. I told him emphatically (loudly) that he was eating my lunch and I didn’t appreciate it. There was no cursing, no name calling, no threats real or implied. I simply read him the riot act. I got a_huge_ ‘attaboy’ from the other employees, as it had been reported and completely ignored by management.

Seems he went to said management and reported that he felt “humiliated” – as well he should. A week and ½ to 2 weeks later I was called in and fired for ‘workplace violence’. Corporate saw it differently and gave me full retirement benefits (when I become eligible) when I was 51 years old.

@Espiritus_Corvus That is only if the perpetrator is caught.

Where I worked, we had one (or more) co-worker do this. The amount of time and money invested in both stopping the theft and finding the culprit was insane. Professional signs were made and posted at both entrances to the dept.‘s breakroom. Keypad locks were installed on both doors. Co-workers labeled their personal belongings. It became a regular topic at weekly meetings. A few suggested that a surveillance camera be installed. It was that big of a deal. The worst part was that employees lost trust in their co-workers.

Since the culprit was never found before I left the company, I don’t have an answer to the question. My guess would be that it boils down to either a rationalization or the thrill of not getting caught.

I could never do this. The lunch preparer probably didn’t wash their hands. I am so anal about food cleanliness I won’t eat stuff my mom makes. Fuck everything about this.. I am going to go take a shower.

I’m not anal to the same degree, but I agree with @johnpowell. There were enough disgusting people at the same job that you only ate from dishes of friends if there was a carry-in/buffet. And in a 24 hour facility (ours was), who’s to say you’re not eating something forgotten there a week ago.

There were times my entire lunch would disappear, and that was more understandable – more than likely someone from the previous shift grabbed the wrong bag. It was selected bits disappearing that frosted me.