to think that my food is my food

[Hotpotpie]

Its petty but Im hormonal!

I work in an office with about 12 other people, Im 30 weeks pregnant just so as to set the story out

Some of the people in my office enjoy making cakes and now and again bring them in for us, one of the girls loves sweets and often brings big packets of them in, Im just a hungry pregnant bird so I often fetch in cakes or sweets or biscuits depending on what I fancy, The boss likes to bring cakes in once a month or so just to be nice- you get the idea

Apart from three people, who eat everything and bring nothing, which is a bit tight but if you sit a bag of something on the counter and invite people to tuck in then in my book its fair game

So anyway, I left fruit on my desk the other day, not for other people, for me the next day, came in and someone had eaten it, I left cracker breads on Friday, came back in today and again liberated from my desk empty packet left, there was a bit of chocolate stashed between my computer and the wall, Bloody gone as well and I had some cup a soups also gone, as is my cereal (cant lock it away I dont have the space in my midget cupboard)

AIBU to think that food that I bring in for myself and dont offer around should stay on my desk so that I can eat it? Im on a budget and Im pregnant and starving half of the time. It wouldnt be so bad if I came in to a note - Ive eaten it i'll replace it but someone is just sneaking it away. Have mentioned it in the office and those who bring nothing cant see my problem 'its just a bit of food'

YANBU. Everyone knows that communal office cake and sweets are completely different from your own food. Nobody brings cracker bread and cup a soups to share, do they? Is there nowhere you can keep food out of sight though? Desk drawers, for example.

Had a little chuckle at 'nobody brings in cracker bread and cup a soups to share', in my book they are a pretty awful dinner anyway, I only bring them for emergency rations! nowhere to lock them up no, im going to have to start bringing stuff in and taking it back home like some mad old hoarder

time forthe laxatives in the cup a soup i feel

Great idea, Stealth. You could always do the Ex-Lax cunningly disguised as Cadburys trick. Leave a piece of that on your desk next time.

Ooor you could bring in a bottle of lemonade. When it's drunk, start flapping around in a panic. "I have a midwife appointment in 10 minutes, where is my urine sample, I left it here in the 7UP bottle"

ooh wicked, but tempting, ex lax in my choccie stash (although must remember not to eat it myself im a bit distracted these days, and laxatives could be very easily mixed in to my cereal box, the colleague who cant keep off the loo is the guilty party..........

Lay the trap, see how they run...!

Love the lemo idea too :) just the sort of answers I needed after a stressful day (not just stressing about my missing crackers honest)

YANBU. I bring biscuits/cakes/sweets in regularly, as does everyone else, for sharing. But I also keep food at work for my own consumption - locked into my desk drawer. OP don't you have a lockable drawer?

YANBU. If it's on your desk, they shouldn't touch it.

Nobody who works in an office can seriously think that things like cup a soups, cereal etc left on a colleagues desk are for anyone who fancies them.

Even if you'd accidently left them in a communal area, it'd be a bit off for someone to take your cup a soups.

strawbezza I only have a tiny one and thats full of stuff like medication and private work related paper work so I couldnt fit anything else in if I tried

Its not just me getting stuff stolen I might someone was fuming a while ago that someone not only ate his dinner but left him the empty packet as well - nice place my office!

This happened to me. I had a carton of fake milk in the office fridge. Went to use it one morning and it had a lipstick ring around the lid - yuk. Emptied it, left it on the countertop with a big note on it about people with disgusting habits etc...

Same thing happened to a colleague, something liquid missing from fridge. She was of a 'certain age' so decide to leave note on fridge along the lines of "hope no-one drank x by mistake as this had my hrt/related medicine in it".

Start with labels and notes on desk about food, if that doesn't work how about a small lockable box underneath your desk.

Ivana like the idea of the notes...

Hotpot difficult with no storage... maybe keep your stuff in a skanky carrier bag full of old newspapers - disguised, anyway?

I suppose you could try putting your food in a bag with an unmissable note on it appealing to the thief's better nature (Please don't steal my food, my pregnancy means I get dizzy and faint if I can't eat regularly) but it doesn't sound as if it would work if some of your colleagues really can't see a difference between communal food and a personal food stash.

A lockable storage box sounds like it might be a good bet if these are just opportunistic greedy gits rather than complete twats who think it is their right to take your stuff.

Or if you don't want the expense of buying a lock box (and really, why should you have to?) you could always have a bit of fun at their expense. Lots of extra hot sauce in something could be amusing, or generously applied food colouring to dye the thief's mouth/hands.

Disguising/hiding food might be worth a shot too - it makes it 100% clear that you do not want to share it, and of course makes it less likely that they will find and eat it. When I had a food thief where I used to work I used to have a food folder. Legit and work-like at a glance, but inside - behold my snack stash. She never found it.

YANBU

You freeloading colleagues need a kick in the hole.

Get the office manager to send out an e-mail saying food is being stolen from people's desks and some guff about company food policy.

Robbing losers! Who takes someones BREAD? Or soup? It's obviously not a sharing sort of thing...

Box files make good hiding places.

happened to me too. someone kept nicking jars of coffee from my office - usually full as i'd have to replenish the last jar they'd nicked. only solution in the end was to lock the office - so agree with suggestion about locking it in your drawer. I was tempted to spit it in to be honest so i at least got some nasty satisfaction.

YANBU. Unless you leave something in a communal area and invite people to take some they shouldn't eat it. Also, they shouldn't be poking around on your desk. (Still at persistent stapler-emptier in previous office - I ended up keeping my spare staples in a tampon box and not loading the thing when he was around...) Do they also take your pens and poke around your computer? Because a lack of boundaries is a very annoying thing in an open-plan setting...

Ugh, how annoying.

It's clearly not a mistake, as well. No-one could mistake cup-a-soups for a communal treat.

Reading this is helping me justify my decision to set up on my own, even if it does mean working outside on days like today. Please do the lemonade urine sample one and tell us all about it later!

Just be careful with your personal belongings i.e. purse etc.. I don't think they'd go that far but......?

Agree with Piggles - I'm thinking a nice big box file, labelled as paperwork but actually full of cupasoups And yes, in my office, anything left on the countertop next to the coffee machine is meant for sharing but you wouldn't dream of taking anything from someone else's desk!

YANBU - agree with giving them something unpleasant and letting us know what happened

Oh, be careful if about complaining to bosses - one of the places I work with, that ended up with a ban on foodstuffs being left in/on desks overnight (we did have a terrible mouse problme, TBF).