The office refrigerator is basically a lawless zone. It is the Thunderdome of Tupperware. We all know the rules: if your name isn’t on it, don’t eat it. Actually, even if your name is on it, you still have to pray that “Karen” from accounting doesn’t decide your lasagna looks better than her sad salad. But one man on Reddit recently took matters into his own hands after being victimized repeatedly, and the reaction from his office is gaslighting at its finest.
Our protagonist is a 34-year-old man working in a small office of just ten people. You would think that in such a small group, basic decency would prevail. You would be wrong. Over the past month, his lunch has been stolen five separate times. We aren’t talking about a missing yogurt cup or a borrowed splash of milk. We are talking about entire homemade meals vanishing into thin air.
He tried the diplomatic approach first. He messaged the group chat asking people to stop. He got the standard “ugh that sucks” responses, but the thief remained silent in the shadows, probably wiping the crumbs of his sandwich off their face while typing a sympathy emoji. So, he did the logical adult thing. He removed the temptation. He bought a mini-fridge for under his desk and put a lock on it. Problem solved, right? Wrong.
Enter “Dana.” Dana is a 29-year-old coworker who I am highly suspicious of at this point. She decided to confront him during lunch. She told him that having a personal fridge was “weird and selfish.” She claimed it made him look “paranoid” and “not part of the team.” I am sorry, but since when is letting people eat your lunch a team-building exercise?
The audacity of calling someone selfish for wanting to eat the food they paid for and prepared is mind-boggling. She acted like he had put a lock on the water cooler or the bathroom door. He simply secured his own property because the “team” proved they couldn’t be trusted around a ham sandwich.
But the real kicker is Dana’s advice. She actually told him that if he was so worried about his food being stolen, he should have just brought “stuff I wouldn’t care about losing,” like snacks or microwave meals. Read that again. Her logic is that he should lower the quality of his nutrition and eat garbage just so the office thief doesn’t feel tempted to rob him.
That is classic victim-blaming. It is the culinary equivalent of “well, why were you wearing that watch if you didn’t want it stolen?” She is essentially admitting that the theft is inevitable and that it is his responsibility to make himself a less appealing target.
Now the rest of the office is joining in on the bullying. They are making snarky comments like “Don’t let him see your lunch he might lock it up” and calling him “special.” They are mocking him for protecting his property because they are apparently mad that the free buffet has been closed.
So, is he the ahole? Absolutely not. N-T-A. The fact that Dana is so pressed about him locking up his food virtually guarantees that she was the one eating it. A normal coworker would say “smart move” or “cool fridge.” Only a thief gets angry when the vault is locked. Keep the fridge, keep the lock, and maybe start looking for a new job where the “team culture” doesn’t involve grand larceny.
I think I’d complain about them as one of them is definitely the thief!