Sticky fingers-stealing other people's food/office supplies

[Black Jade]

Lately this has been happening more frequently at our company and we all wonder what we can do about it. They're asking to put "reminders" not to steal other people's food and/or office supplies. How can a "reminder" help this situation? The individual doesn't need to be reminded not to steal, just keep their hands off from what doesn't belong to them.

Some people find it funny or dismiss it as being petty. But others, including myself, find it disrespectful, dishonest and unethical. If this individual doesn't have any regards for other's people's property, I wonder how he or she is with patients or other types of jobs that involves money or information that is confidential? Will that individual also tamper with medical records, (ie. I heard of CNAs making up BP numbers), steal money or medications? I wouldn't trust this individual to work for me.

Putting a surveillance camera is out of the question as that violates everybody's privacy. Has this ever happened at your facility or company? Did they ever caught the culprit? If so, what happened to him/her?

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Love it Poi Dog!:yeah::yeah:

[opjewel]

we had the same problem for some months in the hospital where i work, some person wuld take out bottles of juice, soda cans prepacked lunch. e.t.c. it was hard to get the culprit. but i got fed up and i had, had it upto here. so i decided to label my lunch packs and juice cans. with paper stickers boldly written. "HIV". on all. it was simply hilarious to know that nobody touched my food ever again. even when i forget it behind and go home , i still meet it right there .

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

there's an individual where i work who once believed that any food without a name on it was ripe for the taking. one morning when a colleague of mine was walking in to work, a patient arrested in the hallway. she dropped (literally -- right where she was) everything and ran to help out. someone else came along -- our housekeeper, i think, and picked up sam's stuff and put it on the table in the break room. whereupon ashley, who was too lazy to help out with the code, saw sam's lunch sitting on the table in it's brown paper bag, and ate it. for breakfast. now ash knew it wasn't his lunch. he probably even knew it was sam's. he just didn't care.

after the code, sam went looking for her lunch to put it away, and was confronted with the empty lunch sack.

in her anger, sam posted a sign up in the break room saying "ash wilson is a thief! he eats other people's food."

when ash saw the sign, he called hr to report a "hostile work environment." and sam was the one who had to go to hr for disciplinary action. evidently putting a sign up chastising someone for eating your lunch is more hostile than going around eating other peoples' lunches.

for a long time afterward, people would bring in lunches spiked with ex-lax and leave them in the fridge. or habeneros. or "mr. yuck!" -- the stuff that you put on your furniture legs to keep the dog from chewing them. someone even dissolved lasix in their juice. ash spent a lot of time in the bathroom. or drinking water. or, one day, throwing up. he tried to complain about "hostile work environment" and co-workers who were "trying to poison me." and indeed, the person who put lasix in his juice was questioned. but that person had a prescription for the lasix and his name was prominently displayed on the juice container that ash drank from. he was cautioned that "it wasn't a good idea" to spike his drink with lasix and leave it in a public refrigerator, but made the point that "whoever drank it and was "nearly poisoned" was stealing my food.

ash stopped stealing food for a long time. but my sandwich went missing the other day. and the sandwich i take in and leave in the fridge the next time i work with ash will be spiked with something. count on it.

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

someone stole my coffee mug that I received during orientation (it's a nice mug too with the name of our hospital on it). I accidentally left it there for a day and when I came back to work, it was gone Literally everyone has this mug and people started putting their names on theirs. I didn't put my name on mine, but still...if it ain't yours, don't take it!

As with food, I haven't had a problem with people stealing mine. Typically if there is any food sitting out on the table in the break room (unless there is someone's name on it), it is considered fair game. Otherwise, nothing gets touched.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

I'm 56 and have been working for 40 years. This goes on everywhere I have ever worked. My solution (since it bugs me as well)...I bring my lunch with ice packs and do not use a communal refrigerator, ever. I do not bring personal office supplies in or if I do I keep them in my locker. I leave nothing where anyone can walk off with it. I had my stethoscope engraved to prevent walk off.

With these measures? I've never had a problem again. Other people do but that's out of my control.

I've had not only food go missing but also a coat and a couple of shirts I'd brought to change into for going out after work. One thief was actually WEARING one of the shirts at work! He readily admitted to taking it when I inquired if he'd gotten it in a certain location. He returned it to me at the end of the shift - dirty. I was afraid not to take it then - figured I might not see it if I waited til he had washed it.

Never did get the other things back. Now I also just carry my own and try not to tempt anyone.

[DeeAngel]

This has gone on every place I have ever worked. I carry my food in a tote that has space for freezer packs and keep it with me at the computer desk I pick to sit at for my shift. For what it's worth I work night shift.

It's the only way I know to truly keep your food for yourself.

[Hygiene Queen]

There was once a rather gross person who used to drink out of other people's coffee mugs at work.

Staff would find their mugs in weird places throughout the building (smoker's lounge, laundry, soiled utility, patio, etc.) and their mugs had obviously been supped from.

So then people stopped washing out their mugs and making them look pretty. They left them very very dirty looking in hopes that it would gross the culprit out so bad, that he/she would leave their mugs alone.

One aide had a mug that was out of control nasty looking. If I didn't know better, her coffee mug looked like it had been used as a chamber pot for elves on Ex-Lax.

The dirty-bird still stole her mug and drank from it!

We -- or at least I -- never found out who was doing it, but I suspect it was someone with some issues.

[Bruce_Wayne, ASN, RN]

I'm really surprised how common this is. Maybe my food is never stolen because I'm a bad cook .

One thing I've noticed from these stories is that if you don't leave your food in the work fridge for multiple days then it is less likely to be stolen.

[amarilla, RN]

We've had both - locker room thief (stole someone's cell phone and a few other items out of bags) and lunch thieves. Apparently, they installed a camera in the locker room, as no one actually seemed to change in there, and called the offending party into a meeting with the evidence. She confessed and was terminated. After this, signs went up that the cameras were staying and we were to change in the bathroom if needed in the future.

Lunch thievery continues, especially if you have something unopened (bottle of soda, jello, frozen dinner, etc.) I do the same thing others have already posted - hide my lunch in my bag with a cold pack if necessary. Our fridge is ridiculous - everything is initialed and dated (items are tossed daily if you leave it behind), but that doesn't matter. Still disappears somehow.

When I floated to another floor a few months ago, a CNA was in the break room, rifling through the fridge. I came in, she introduced herself, and asked me if I was new to the floor. Told her that I was a float for the night. She laughed and said, "then don't mind me", and promptly threw away the charge RNs lunch in the garbage. Said they do that back and forth to the people who deserve it when occasion demands.

[elthia]

There was once a rather gross person who used to drink out of other people's coffee mugs at work.

Staff would find their mugs in weird places throughout the building (smoker's lounge, laundry, soiled utility, patio, etc.) and their mugs had obviously been supped from.

So then people stopped washing out their mugs and making them look pretty. They left them very very dirty looking in hopes that it would gross the culprit out so bad, that he/she would leave their mugs alone.

One aide had a mug that was out of control nasty looking. If I didn't know better, her coffee mug looked like it had been used as a chamber pot for elves on Ex-Lax.

The dirty-bird still stole her mug and drank from it!

We -- or at least I -- never found out who was doing it, but I suspect it was someone with some issues.

This story reminds me of the old military habit of seasoned coffee mugs. My father and a couple of my uncles had a few mugs that hadn't been washed in years. My dad threw a fit if you washed his coffee mug. I heard stories of Navy men who had mugs so seasoned that in a crisis, you could just add hot water to the mug and make coffee. :barf01:

[Dalzac, LPN, LVN, RN]

This story reminds me of the old military habit of seasoned coffee mugs. My father and a couple of my uncles had a few mugs that hadn't been washed in years. My dad threw a fit if you washed his coffee mug. I heard stories of Navy men who had mugs so seasoned that in a crisis, you could just add hot water to the mug and make coffee. :barf01:

My ex marine hubby does the same thing it's downright gross!

[SandraCVRN]

Here is an idea...