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Colleagues keep using my milk!

438 replies

Immo8 · 16/01/2025 11:34

I don't want to sound petty as in the grand scheme of things, milk isn't an expensive item and maybe I should leave this be, but it's really starting to grate on me...

Work in an office with around 30-ish staff, the majority are on shift work including weekends so people are in & out a lot. I work standard hours 4 days a week. The company provides tea & coffee but staff bring in their own milk etc. I buy a large filtered milk every month as it lasts and I only have a few cups of tea a day so makes sense.

However, over the last 6 months or so, people will ask me if they can 'borrow' some milk. I would never say no to someone asking but they NEVER bring in their own milk or buy one to replace mine that they've used over the weeks...

Today, I brought in a brand new milk, name on it, placed it at the back of the fridge so hard to find, and I've just gone to make a cuppa and it's been opened without asking, and a 1/4 of it has gone!

How do I word an email to my colleagues (if people think I should) that is polite and doesn't sound too petty?

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getthosetitsup · 16/01/2025 12:28

Put a note on it saying "I spat in it".

Hazeby · 16/01/2025 12:28

Don’t bother with emails or putting notes on the bottle or asking for a contribution or any of that shit, you’ll just look ridiculous and it won’t stop the problem.

Take a small vaccum flask of milk everyday and keep it on your desk.

Snorlaxo · 16/01/2025 12:24

I was in a job where the coffee and tea drinkers contributed to a milk kitty so there was communal milk. Nobody had cereal so it worked out pretty fair.

HelpMeGetThrough · 16/01/2025 12:23

cstaff · 16/01/2025 11:42

Why doesn't your boss provide milk - that is the crazy part to me. Really tight fisted ??

Because that's not part of a managers job.

Buggered if I'm paying out for other peoples milk.

montelbano · 16/01/2025 12:22

Agree about putting the milk in a thermos. There are some nice,small, thermos bottles, about one cup size, so ideal for a days milk.

BeMellowOchreZebra · 16/01/2025 12:21

Just put a label on it saying the milk has your medication dissolved into it so please do not use.

HelpMeGetThrough · 16/01/2025 12:21

Send an email saying...

"if you've used my milk, I'll warn you now, I drank out of the carton and I can feel a cold sore coming.

Good luck"

beetr00 · 16/01/2025 12:21

perfect solution from@FoxtonFoxton

GRex · 16/01/2025 12:19

Annoying that it isn't provided. Serviced offices just make it all communal, which is an acceptance that this is one thing people won't behave on.

Put milk in thermos and take it around with you. Thermos will keep it cold until you get home.

VexedofVirginiaWater · 16/01/2025 12:15

OMG those udder lock things are brilliant - I would definitely have bought one at my last job if they'd been available. I tried labelling mine as dog's milk etc but nothing worked.

I would advise against milk kitties etc as people just don't pay - and you end up responsible, ugh no.

The turning point came when an irritating colleague opened my milk whilst I was there, put her great hooter up to it sniffing juicily and asking whose it was and if it was off. Fucking annoying. I said it's mine, no it's not, and no you can't use it.

After that I bought a little flask and kept it in my locker - it kept perfectly fresh. The only problem was when I left it behind at work by mistake, so I bought another!

WellsAndThistles · 16/01/2025 12:13

I gave up in the end, bough 2 large thermal cup popped the milk in them before work and added the hot water at work.

(Totally recommend Contigo branded thermal cups).

Alalalala · 16/01/2025 12:11

@Immo8 I’ve just looked at those Udder milk bottle lock caps and they’re brilliant! They are what you want. It’s a two cap system and you lift off the outer lid, leaving the internal one (on the milk bottle) impossible to remove without it! So the outer lid acts as the key.

WellsAndThistles · 16/01/2025 12:11

cstaff · 16/01/2025 11:42

Why doesn't your boss provide milk - that is the crazy part to me. Really tight fisted ??

You've never worked in the public sector 😀

Strictlymad · 16/01/2025 12:07

Either everyone pitches in for milk, you get an udder lock or my personal fave get some lansinoh bottles and label it as breast milk

TheBoysAndTheBallet · 16/01/2025 12:07

This is why I only drink fruit or mint tea at work, don't want to take in milk or steal from anyone!

Avenuesandboulevards · 16/01/2025 12:06

If pooling didn't work how about an honesty box (can also include a qr code for those that don't carry cash), where people pop 10p in every time they use the milk and if there is any profit leftover it is donated to charity?

moose62 · 16/01/2025 12:05

You could just point out that a lot of people seem to have 'run out of milk' when they want a tea or a coffee so perhaps there should be a kitty to finance collective milk.
If no one is interested, I would go with the put the milk in a metal water bottle suggestion.

CheeseCakeSunflowers · 16/01/2025 12:03

I solved this at my work place by using a tiny lemonade bottle to take a few cups worth of milk in from home. Nobody used it when they weren't sure exactly what was in the bottle.

CoolPlayer · 16/01/2025 12:03

Could you get like a nice little pot with milk contribution (any change in here will go towards milk for everyone to use) to leave on the side or something

RhathymicandMaenadic · 16/01/2025 12:00

SleepyHippy3 · 16/01/2025 11:39

I would email everyone, and politely point out that the milk is in fact yours, paid out of your own pocket. I would actually ask for a monthly contribution from everyone, towards the milk, so you are not out of pocket. I don’t think anything else will stop people taking your milk, as shocking as that behaviour is.

Please don't! You'll look a complete a**e. This is a problem as old as time itself. Even when I parked my cow under my desk, colleagues would get out their three-legged stool and have a shifty milk of her while I was in the lavatory.
Seriously, though, the only way around the issue @Immo8 , is as others have suggested, bring a flask of milk and keep it on your desk!

Cuffi · 16/01/2025 11:59

Those udder locks work. You have a key which goes over the lid and needs both to unlock. amzn.eu/d/7R8447B

Immo8 · 16/01/2025 11:58

Ohthatsabitshit · 16/01/2025 11:56

Put it in a different bottle. Why on earth don’t you all just pool some ££s to buy milk?

That's been tried in the past, but you'd have people who didn't opt it but would still use the milk...so the amount of time taken to organise it was just pointless! Plus people like to use different milks etc.

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