Colleagues keep using my milk!

[Immo8]

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?

@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.

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).

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!

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.

perfect solution from@FoxtonFoxton

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"

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

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.

Because that's not part of a managers job.

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

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.

This will mean you don’t have to put your daily milk allowance in the communal fridge:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Exllena-Stainless-Double-Vacuum-Insulation/dp/B0CR96B4SP/ref=asc_df_B0CR96B4SP?mcid=c2a678281e5f3d449581506c042bf433&hvocijid=2626927533520282005-B0CR96B4SP-&hvexpln=74&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2626927533520282005&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046415&hvtargid=pla-2281435176938&gad_source=1&th=1

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.

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

But stealing other people’s things doesn’t make you look like the ultimate arse loser?

Pour it into a soya milk bottle.

The metal water bottle suggestion is good

Do they? I've never worked in an office where the firm didn't provide milk. Generally they just get semi-skimmed and work on the basis that, if anyone wants something different, they provide it themselves.

My friend puts hers into a sports bottle. It's a black one her son used to take to football practice. It'd take a particular kind of person to open a sports drink to see what's inside it, surely anyone would presume it's just dilute juice. Could always put green tea in for the first few days, just incase anyone did go for a snoop.

Why would the manager be paying individually? If the employers provide tea and coffee, presumably they provide a budget for it. All they need to do is expand it so that it covers milk.

About 3 weeks into my first office job I concluded that there is no solution to this problem and switched to black coffee. That has worked for me for 35 years now :-)

If you like skimmed milk, I recommend Marvel powdered milk.

It tastes the same as normal milk in coffee and tea and you can keep it in your desk drawer or locker.

I use it at work and when we go camping.

I think a flask is your best bet. Something else to lug back and forth but you’ll be able to keep it on your desk.

Much better than what I was going to suggest. Glue a note to it saying “X’s milk and I’ve spat in it”.

Put it in a different bottle, preferably opaque. The problem is it is obviously milk so multiple people just steal a little bit. But it adds up.

Ask your ridiculous stingy company to provide £5 a month for milk.