The Cleaner in work is pouring full fat milk into the low fat milk.

[AwayWithTheFairiesX]

I work in an office of a factory. We get 8 litres of full fat milk a day delivered . I asked around to see if I changed 1 of the bottles to low fat milk if anyone one would mind. They all said ok so I was given permission by the accountant to change it. The cleaner seen the low fat milk in the fridge and freaked out . interrogating everyone to find out who changed. she demanded I change it back even though i don't answer to her. She is feer mongering anyone who drinks saying ' I can't believe your drinking' 'that's the last bottle of that you will see' . Hiding in the back of the fridge and refuses to put it inth same section as the other milk.. But the worst of it happened this morning when i realised she poured over half a litre of full fat milk into the carton of low fat milk. What the hell do i do in this situation because i know if i go to management they will laugh at its ridiculousness and wont take it seriously. I don't like confrontation so i dont know how to best approach.

I agree that she’s probably taking a pint or two home each day and doesn’t want low fat.
Speak to your manager.

But she could just leave that bottle in the fridge, and just pinch the full fat.

It's bizarre, but I used to work in an office where the company agreed we could buy in one carton of non-dairy milk every week, to suit a few of us with dietary requirements. Over time some of those people left and eventually I became the main non-milk drinker. The problem was, we were only in the office two days per week and there was only so much milk I could drink! The office manager used to constantly nag me to drink more, not waste it and so on. Emails, team messages, verbally.

I did see her point (that it was a shame not to use more of it), however the company bought milk for everyone else, and this was not always used either. The company bought in hundreds of thousands of pounds of work each month, so it was hardly a huge financial burden either. I walked home and didn't fancy taking an open carton with me alongside my laptop and everything else.

She nagged me so regularly that I was relieved when I left. I didn't care about the milk at this point! But if you're going to offer it, and it will need to be bought fresh every week anyway, let people use it how they want!

Is she tampering with anything else?

This does need to be taken further

Who has full fat milk? Everywhere I have worked for the last 25 years has semi if its provided at all.

Honestly - she sounds like the kind of person who would spit in the skimmed milk bottle if the issue was pushed. I'd just bring my own in while plotting some sort of revenge to mess with her head

Tide has turned since the semi skimmed thing turned out to be lies. There's less carbs in full fat and better for us overall I think.

Talk to your manager, the catering manager if there is one too. Tampering with food is very serious, has she received food handling and hygiene training, why is a cleaner responsible for this anyway.

How does that work, I thought semi was basically watered down full fat

Wow . She is a cleaner and /or on low pay so she is a thief.
Disgusting judgement

All cleaners are insane, maybe it's the chemicals

Our cleaner is an absolute diamond - she's so lovely, BUT... she has been making her own cleaning concoction of vinegar and baking soda and the corridors smell awful now

I use vinegar to clean at home. It’s much better for you than all the other synthetic chemicals.

It doesn't smell very nice, though.

This sounds trivial, but is actually an H&S issue, which could make people ill. You should never pour milk into a commercial milk container - eg if you've poured some into a jug for a meeting and it wasn't all used. Transferring milk back and forth from various containers - even from one milk bottle to another - introduces bacteria and contaminates the whole. This is especially true when the milk has been bought with different expiry dates, or one has been kept at room temp for a while (eg in a jug). It's better to pour it away than mix it.

I do think this person should be asked by HR for a meeting to find what on earth is going on. It's very strange and potentially dangerous behaviour.

I think she's re filled it to try and prove a point . That's nobody will drink it . Even though multiple people were drinking it.

I think this is quite poor behaviour. It maybe you need lower fat milk for a specific reason. It is not for her to make these decisions. I would speak to her line Manager.

I agree, it is better than synthetic chemicals - just needs a drop of essential oil or something to even it out. Although I haven't smelt the vinegar/soda combo for a while so I think cleaners have stopped using it.

If she is swiping the leftovers then why not just take the leftover full fat? Why waste it by pouring it into the low fat bottle. It’s so odd. Why all the weird comments about it and hiding it in the fridge.
If the 8l comes in 2x4l and now 50% of the milk is low fat then I can see why it would bother people but the obvious solution would be to order something like 1x2l a week of low fat and miss out the occasional full fat. If it comes 8x1l and they are still getting 7l of proper milk a day then it seems fair enough. How many people is this milk for? Does anyone else drink the low fat?
I'm public sector and in “milk club” for £5/month (it includes tea/coffee/biscuits etc) and our compromise is semi skimmed. One person brings her one skimmed. My campaign for full fat ended in defeat but I’m not bothered enough to bring my own.

I agree and actually think this is quite serious. Food should reflect the label and it is unsafe to tamper with the contents of labelled food without alerting everyone due to allergies and medical conditions. For example, someone with a heart condition may deliberately choose the skimmed milk version. Please speak to the cleaners’ line manager and stress that this should be taken seriously due to the company’s own potential liability.

Agreed.

You really should bring this up with management.
Are you going to have a word?

This could be terrible. If I drank that by mistake I could end up in hospital.

God that’s a bit of a reach isn’t it?

I thought the same - who would pour open milk from one container to another? Open milk begins to deteriorate when it is opened and if it is in and out of the fridge and possibly left out will go rancid. Yuk!!