Breakroom refrigerator theft

Opra · Aug 31, 2016

I thought things like that only happen in the UK

sarlou · Aug 31, 2016

This has gone on for decades.....don't know why some people think everything is theirs or just don't care in some cases. Where I worked, there were nurses and aides that would take a persons food from the refrig (the name on it) and sit down to eat it with the "owner" in the same breakroom! Also, when we've had "food" parties, and an eve aide had her husband drive up to the break room backdoor and took most of what was on the table out for him to take home!!!! And, yes, drink a partial can of pop and leave the rest in the refrig even though another persons name was on it.....it goes on and on.

Spiker, ASN, RN, EMT-P · Aug 31, 2016

We have permanent markers in a cup stuck to the front of our break room refrigerators - there are so many staff members who bring food, we need 2 refrigerators, & 3 microwaves. We have to put our names on our food, as well as the date; by Friday evening shift, anything left in there is tossed. I actually had a container with a pork chop, some green beans, & potatoes in it. I opened it to put in the microwave, & the pork chop was GONE!! Yuck! I didn't even want to touch the rest of my food, God knows who else may have! Our Supervisor makes sure there are plenty of Saltines & peanut butter in the break room; at least there's always that, if you don't want to go to the cafeteria & pay $7 for an old sandwich....... But stay out of my lunch bag!!!!!

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 31, 2016

I tend to put food in the fridge that clearly shows my BIG BITE MARK: like a delicious sandwich. Oh, and half-eaten works well too.

I have a coworker who would steal your food and eat it, bite mark and all. How do I know this? Because he went through my nylon lunch bag in the refrigerator and finished my sandwich, my soup and my cookie. Then he left the dirty containers in the sink and put the bag back in the refrigerator. I know this because a colleague saw him do it, and she didn't know it was my lunch bag until I went looking for my food and found the empty bag. The bag even had my NAME ON IT! The only thing that ever put a stop to his shenanigans was when an NP and an RT went together and ordered take-out. When it came, they were too busy to eat so it went into the refrigerator, where Dick found it and ate it.

The RT caught him finishing up the last of the food and confronted him. Dick just laughed and said it was no biggie. He was 6 foot 4, the RT was a 5'2" 40ish woman who happened to be a black belt in Tae Kwan Do. She had him on the floor, begging for mercy and the NP dug his wallet out of his pants, removed all of his cash and told him that he owed $20 more. Dick threatened to make a stink about it and go to HR, so the NP took a picture of him on the floor with the RT holding him down and said he was welcome to do so, but she was posting the picture and the whole story on FaceBook.

He caughed up the additional $20 the next shift . . . Under pain of exposure on FaceBook.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 31, 2016

I can't believe that after all this you still don't get it. YOU don't think it's a big deal so I really hope that everyone in the hospital who feels in need of a snack or a full meal goes to your lunch bag instead of mine! I don't think that you have a different relationship with food than most people, that's nonsense. You don't know who also has IBS, who has a very restrictive diet that requires that they eat specific things at specific times. You don't know who is on very limited funds and the soup you took from them was all that they were going to eat for another 10 hours! You don't know that your need for food is more important than someone else's need for food! you can wish for hot soup because you didn't bring any but you can't take mine! I have an important relationship with food too in that if I don't eat when I need to eat I can get SO hungry I just about vomit. Stomach cramps because of hunger have plagued me all my life and you think it's ok to take my food because you feel you need it more? How did you convince yourself this is the right thing to do???? I'm sorry if sometimes your condition makes you feel horrible but I'd have to say that it's your responsibility to plan for it since you know about it, you can't make me suffer instead of you!! IF you were my coworker and said Hey I'm super hungry so hungry I don't feel well can I have a piece of your sandwich of course I'm going to say yes! I wouldn't dream of saying No. But just taking it??? Not ok ever.

If GardenRN doesn't think it's a big deal that people steal from him, I hope it at least he realizes that it's not OK to steal from others. Because frankly, if I knew that Garden was stealing food from OUR break room, I would be unlikely to share my food with him when he asked.

Totalnoob · Aug 31, 2016

We solved that problem at my wife's hospital after numerous thefts from the fridge in the break room. My wife would go by Chic Fil A before work and get 2 grilled chicken sandwiches. One she would eat before work and save the other in the fridge until her break later than night. The thief had taken her chicken sandwich before so we knew they probably liked them and would take one again.

I took a needle and drew up some Wicked Nightmare Extract(be warned it really is your worst nightmare), and injected it into the middle of the grilled chicken breast. Then she took it to work and just put it in the fridge. First day nothing happened and neither the second day either. She was then off for a few days and went back to work which I again injected another chicken breast and she put it in the fridge that night.

About 7 hours later she went to check and it was gone but didn't seem like anyone was complaining. She asked around and found out a tech had to go home cause they said they weren't feeling well about an hour earlier. Someone said she was crying and had spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom before they left. They knew who it was then, the food stopped disappearing for a while but has started to disappear again although that tech no longer is on that floor so it has to be someone else now. They will learn soon enough!

Amazon.com : Hotter Than Ghost Pepper Scorpion Habanero Hot Sauce Wicked Nightmare Extract : Grocery & Gourmet Food

she244 · Aug 31, 2016

That is what our Hospital did. Only Nurses or Physicians from the Department could use our break room. You had to have the pass code to open the door. It worked great.

DesiHonor · Aug 31, 2016

Is it just me or does the thought of eating someone else's food seem revolting??? This problem always baffled me. I don't know where these leftovers have been or touched, how clean the dishes are, what if the cook had a cold? How fresh is the food? It's just a bizarre concept to me. Besides the fact that it's plain rude. I'm sorry but I am not responsible for someone else's eating habits, nutrition, and health. If I didn't bring the item and don't have money to buy lunch, I don't eat someone else's food plain and simple. It's not mine. I've brought in a brand new coffee creamer unopened and had it in a bag and someone got into it. Last I did that. I'm not in the business of feeding the hungry and don't expect others to feed me no matter how hungry I may be.

If you're hypoglycemic, plan accordingly. It's your responsibility to own your food habits, not anyone else.

Ugh... and the doctors. To work at a hospital, AND my roommate is dating a dr... they sure like to take food that isn't theirs. NO... you make $300K a year. Go get your own snacks and lunch. I'm just as busy if not more so, than you.

Garden,RN, ASN, RN · Aug 31, 2016

I am well aware if my stuff is missing no one is going to replace it and all the rest. I just can't be bothered with worrying about who took my food from the fridge. I wouldn't even go through the trouble of writing a sign about it. I have bigger fish to fry.

Emergent, RN · Aug 31, 2016

I am well aware if my stuff is missing no one is going to replace it and all the rest. I just can't be bothered with worrying about who took my food from the fridge. I wouldn't even go through the trouble of writing a sign about it. I have bigger fish to fry.

Yet, you are taking the time and effort to post several times on this thread...

Kristiernbsn · Aug 31, 2016

"please take your rotting leftovers out of the fridge after a month or two, ok?"
I work from home, so I will check into that.
As far as onsite problems... I see many insulated bags taking up space in the communal refrigerator. An insulated bag will keep your food cold.
Keep your insulated bag on your desk... end of problem.

You're so lucky. Unfortunately they don't allow us to bring food (insulated bag or not) to our "desks" aka the nurses station. We nurses who work in the hospital or health center have to use the community fridge in the break room, if we're even lucky enough to have that! People should not have to package their food in a special way, or label it with their name, or anything else to keep people from eating it. Adults know what they bought, and only eat that. If it's been too long ago to have a clear memory of whether or not you bought something, it's probably rotten or it's someone else's.

Editorial Team / Admin · Aug 31, 2016

As far as onsite problems... I see many insulated bags taking up space in the communal refrigerator. An insulated bag will keep your food cold.
Keep your insulated bag on your desk... end of problem.

Um, no thanks. My "desk" is in an OR, where there are bits and pieces of people's bodies and fluids flying around. Literally. Once had a surgeon who got some pericardial fat stuck to his glove that he couldn't get off. So, he shook his hand until it flew off and landed high up on the wall in the front of the room, where it stuck for about 5 minutes and then slowly began oozing its way down to a height I could reach to grab it and throw it in the trash. We've also had arterial showers that resulted in us scrubbing walls and ceilings. No way in you know where would I eat or drink anything in that was in that environment. There's a reason it's against AORN standards, policy, and plain old not-so-common sense.

As for ice packs, yeah, they don't last long enough to not put my lunch bag in the fridge. Just because they say it can keep food cold for X number of hours doesn't mean it will. I don't have a set lunch time. Sometimes it's first lunch at 1100 when we have free staff; sometimes it's at 1430 when my case is finished.

If I place my food in my bag in the communal fridge, common decency says I'm the only one allowed to open that bag unless I give someone permission- I do have a stash of extra plastic utensils that I'm willing to share with a coworker who forgot a spoon or fork if â€‹they ask. But the food? That's mine, and if it ever disappears, you can believe the claws will come out.