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Any suggestions on how to stop the night shift from stealing the day shifts' lunches out of the refrigerator?



We think it is one person who is doing this since there are not many who work the night shift that have access to our building. They actually went as far as emptying the grape juice bottle and filling it with water!!  Why bother?!  I realize some of them work 12-hr shifts and are not allowed to leave the premises, that's why we have a full-serve cafeteria on site that has pretty decent food.  I think I'll put some kind of note on the fridge letting them know that we are aware and want it stopped or we will take further action with security.  I am not sure if this will make them stop.



Any suggestions?



venim102

I hate to say this, but you could always try the old high school Ex-Lax trick.  Ignore me--having a bad day; I'm crawling back to my corner now, grumbling, "Man, I hate lunch thieves!"

You're probably already doing this, but make sure that everything is clearly labeled with a full name & a date.

Also, putting a note on the fridge requesting people not to take other people's food is probably not a bad idea.



If no one on the night shift NEEDS to have access to the refrigerator, you could always put a lock on it. Icky, I know, but sometimes that's what it takes. I once worked in a building that was primarily conference rooms, so they assumed that ALL of the food in the refrigerator was up for grabs! Grrr. We did end up locking it, to keep them out.

 

Unbelievable... Can't imagine someone taking other peoples food Yuk!!



I think the sign should help, but again if they want it BAD enough a note won't stop them (something yummy like crawfish or shrimp pasta - I'd think about it myself), but a sandwich - no way!!!



Hope the sign helps... nolalady



 

Personally, I honestly believe people should be taking their lunches home with them each night!  Let's face it, if they didn't eat it today, they sure won't tomorrow, then it gets stale and spoiled.

You could always put up a notice to the effect of "due to recent thefts this room is now under observation" and see if that deters them.

Leaving food and drink in the fridge is a reasonable thing to do at work, unless, of course, it is a tiny fridge. If I buy a large tub of cottage cheese on Monday morning it should last me untill Friday for example, and yoghurts come in packs of four. Given this, I would complain and expect my complaint to be taken seriously. I don't expect someone to wear my coat if I leave it at work.

Failing all that, the ex-lax trick sounds promising.

I've had my lunch stolen before out of the freezer at work.  From then on I wanted to put a note on it saying I was growing an experiment (toxic waste) for my Girl Scout Troop!!! Fortunately, it never happened again.

We had the same difficulty.  I had our security person send an email (my emails had no effect)to everyone indicating "you never know who (or how) you may be watched".  This implicates the potential of a security camera. Be sure to include at the end of your email that theft is a terminable offense.  If all else fails...I second the ExLax suggestion.

I tend to agree with the person who said it shouldn't be in there overnight anyhow. And people certainly shouldn't shop for a week's worth of groceries and keep it in the office fridge, and expect it to be untouched by others.



I say lock the kitchen at night, and invest in vending machines for the night shift.



 

Thanks for the advice everyone!  



The first idea that came to mind was the old Ex-Lax trick, however, should someone become extremely ill because of it, we will be held responsible.



I opted for the warning note on the fridge indicating it is under observation.  We will see if that works.



venim102







 

Another admin and I used to have this problem until we started putting our stuff in the vegetable drawer - for some reason the guys NEVER look in there.  Odd, but it really worked.

I had a friend who tried this with bad reprocussions.  Her son is mildly autistic.  One day he opened the freezer and put a half gallon of ice cream on the counter.  She guessed he figured she'd know he wanted some, but it was ruined before she got there.  Her husband tried to out a lock on the fridge and freezer, with a drill (such a guy!) and ended up drilling through a coolant hose, so be careful about locking it (I still wanna know how).



In favor of Ex-Laxin' the creep - Yank

Venim why would you be held responsible for someone taking Ex-Lax out of YOUR lunch?  They have committed the greater crime of theft and maybe you needed Ex-Lax for some other reason...



To paraphrase "All's fair in lunch and war"

When I worked at a rather well-known discount store, lunch theft was not the biggie, it was drink theft.  Apparently the prevailing idea was "if it's a 12 oz. canned drink, it's fair game."  But the veggie door trick worked well for me there.

I always feel that a professionally-made sign with words something like this . . . Premises under 24-hour surveillance.  That should deter anyone unless they are one that made the sign.  I would feel it would be good for people looking in other people's desks, etc to know that they could be taped doing that.  I have kept my lunch in the refrigerator overnight and I'll eat it the next day.  It's fine as long as I don't leave it in longer than 2 days.  I can't imagine someone taking other people's food - I would never do that.  We had 2 instances where I work where someone switched out brand new VCR with an old and broken one and someone switched a good typewriter with a broken one.  These items we don't use everyday so by the time we realized what had happened it could have been 2 or 3 weeks later and we were never able to find the culprit.

In a sitch where theft is not a problem, I often cook a week's worth and bring them all in on Monday.  Freezer for 4, eat the fifth.  Take second out Monday night and put in fridge.  You get the idea.  :-)



Just a thought--I don't always have kitchen access and cooking for one is just bleh.



shannon