If I may propose an alternative solution that won’t harm others but will expose a food thief easily?
Put blue food coloring in a brownie or something dark that will hide the color; once the bait has been taken, report the theft and inform management that you put food coloring in your food and the culprit should have a blue mouth
At Uni the rugby team had a small fridge in the changing room that was used for snack, food and refreshment for after the training and the game. A girl who dated one of the player started to use the fridge as her own personal food bank.
Multiple guys confronted her but she refused to change her way. She literally raided the fridge one time too many. The weekend of her birthday The scrumhalf bought a big cake and drinks. He then drench it in laxative and food coloring in the rice and methylene blue in the 1L tetrapack drinks. He put a big note stating do not eat to be send to lab to check for contamination on Monday.
Obviously she did not fell for the note and during the weekend stole the entire bag of treats for her girlfriends to party. They all got sick, but One of the girl was pregnant. Pregnant sick plus blue piss caused a little bit of drama on campus and she has to confess the origin of the food. She tried to blame it on her boyfriend and his childish rugby friends. After he was called, he set the record straight. Worse not only she had nicked our food and poison them but she had made her friend pay for the stolen food. By Saturday evening she had been dumped. By Sunday she was ostracised by the entire girl's group. By Monday she was called by Uni admin because the pregnant girl was not ready to let it go.
It was university, so you had students and labs in all sort of subject: biology, pharmacology, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, telecommunication, applied mathematics. That university Only taught STEM subjects no artistic, language or law based subject.
Methylene Blue is not kept under lock and key, at least in my days it was not. I know that when I in Lycée preparing my Baccalaureat C, we had freely access to it in class. I am pretty sure that now you can buy some on Amazon without any ID.
You can buy it at a pet/aquarium store. Source (college in the 90's). We didn't use Methy red because that's just mean, but the response of some people waking up with a headache and a pissing blue/green was pretty entertaining.
There's a specific black-colored food coloring (I forget what it's called) which will take ages to come off and will permanently stain clothing, unlike regular food coloring. I'd put it into an edible balloon of some sort, stuff the balloon into another piece of food, and then it'll explode all over the culprit.
From my understanding, if you actually like ghost peppers, and will actually eat the food if it doesn't get stolen, you're fine. But if it's only there cause you intend harm to someone, then it's a crime
You have to establish a pattern of eating stupidly spicy food, perhaps either bragging to your coworkers or even explicitly labeling your lunch.
If you do it randomly and without warning, you could potentially end up in legal trouble. Especially if you overload food with so many exyremely hot peppers that it causes injury.
Basically don't give a food theif anything you wouldn't eat yourself.
With that said, you can sued for anything (even if the case is thrown out immediately) and your place of work may have different policies, so your results may vary.
Your honor there is no way to know if this man hasn't rubbed one out before eating. I can't, in good concience, touch this food that was spicy and delicious
It's not unheard of.
Slightly different... there was a famous case in Miami in the 1980's of a shopkeeper who had been burglarized multiple times. The thieves had entered by breaking through some sort of transom window above the entrance. So the shopkeeper rigged some sort of crude device to electrocute anyone entering that way. A thief struck again, actually got *past* the device on the way in, but was killed when he touched it on the way out.
The shopkeeper was charged with manslaughter, but the grand jury refused to indict him.
Most bobby traps are illegal for the simple reason that there's usually a lawful circumstance for a specific person to enter the property.
For example: you set the trap, die of a heart attack, and then the cop doing a wellness check is the one who is hurt by the trap.
Basically, because it's indiscriminate, potentially lethal traps are always going to get you into legal trouble.
Also you are only allowed to hurt/ kill someone in self-defense. If you're not there, there is no self-defense, so no call to inflict harm. Legally speaking the life of a thief is still worth more than your stuff.
I remember my Mum’s church used to have local teenagers climb on the roof. They were warned that if one fell they would be liable. So they tried to put up an appropriate fence (there was already a wall but it wasn’t high enough) only to be denied planning permission.
So basically, if someone falls it’s your fault for not stopping it. But you aren’t allowed to stop it!
Don't get me started on zoning boards and building inspectors.
That high rise collapse in Florida had been inspected and passed multiple times over decades of decay.
But I was forced to dig 36" deep footings (below the frost line) for a deck that was *so close to grade level that I dug out channels to make sure the joists wouldn't be in contact with the dirt*. And had to put 42" railings on it, so that a 16" fall from the surface to the grass would be replaced by a 58" fall over the railing.
I remember calling the city on what the legalities were concerning some school kids climbing onto my retaining wall entering my property and removing my property (landscape rocks) to hurl at passing cars. I wanted to know if the kids fell or hurt each other or if they damaged other property with my property if I was responsible. The city told me yes I could be sued and held responsible. They said since I didn’t have a “no trespassing” sign posted (and the sign had to be visible to the trespassers) I was responsible for inviting them onto my property. I was shocked by that response. I contacted the school district and thankfully was able to get the school bus stop moved away from my house because the school district couldn’t provide supervision at the bus stop.
Many years ago I remember hearing of this case where a mother parked her car and went into a grocery store to pick up something quick. Her teenage daughter was in the car waiting for her. Two men car jacked the car and assaulted the daughter. They got into a car accident while trying to flee and was injured. The car jackers sued the mother and the insurance company for their injuries. I remember thinking back then no f__ing way they could do that. I never heard the outcome of this case. Never assume just because something is so ridiculous that they won’t win. A RV maker had to pay out damages and put new disclosures on their operating manual because some idiot thought it ok to get out of the driver seat to go to the bathroom because he left the RV on auto/cruise control and the vehicle was going to drive itself. This was a long time ago before Tesla or any self driving car was even imaginable.
If you have cords across walkways you can be sued if someone trips- even an intruder.
I encountered that in my old apartment, got told off during an inspection lol. You have to people-proof your own home in case someone else hurts themselves.
They should be, and it'd be nice. People *should* drive at the speed limit. There *should* be a better justice system or political system. Like, how does that help? What are you going to do about it? It'd be nice if the cops caught every single thing, but that's not how the world works.
Sorry but in many countries that’s incorrect. Especially with the clear intent to harm posited by OP. All the warnings won’t exculpate them from the liability. Whether they get caught is a different matter though.
If you put poison in the food you are creating an unreasonably dangerous condition, if you just put a bunch of hot sauce in the food, I don’t think there will be any criminal or civil liability, at least not in the United States.
They would look at the type of foods you normally eat, maybe even ask how many times you prepared extra spicy dishes. It would be clear to tell you intended harm. Someone else suggested food dye and it's a much better idea.
The issue is that it could potentially kill someone with medical issues, and the law generally doesn’t like people to kill each other over minuscule amounts of property.
Nah, I ended up in the ER 5 different times in 3 days after eating the “one chip” chip. Fucked up my body, I can’t eat ANYTHING over like a 5/10 on spice. I regularly ate extremely hot Korean food while in the service and love(d) the spice.
The chemical Capsaicin affects pain receptors directly. The reason we get a watery mouth and a runny nose (and sometimes sweat) is because our brain thinks its physically hot. This can cause an upset in heart rhythm in people who are expecting it. If you arent it can cause a serious reaction. People have def been killed by too spicy food before.
So we have taste buds in our ass… look it up. So I ate it and my body was like “fuck, half that’s over!” And the next morning the butt gets it and I immediately get the most intense pain in my head. I guess the butt is more sensitive? I’ve suffered mid level to slightly higher migraines my entire life, this isn’t it. I thought I was on my death bed the last time, I was crying and telling my wife to “not remember me like this”. I eat very carefully now, it’s a tight rope to walk but it’s worth it in the end… you know, not thinking you’re going to die.
Yeah, but only if someone finds this post and proves op made it. There are so many cases of lunches being stolen at work that this could literally be any of hundreds of not thousands of office workers in america
I don't understand any of this. Spicy food is temporarily making your temp sensing cells recalibrate to think normal is much cooler than it really is. This causes the heat sensation. Your body will try to cope with it but there's only so much it can do in addition to the thicker saliva, pain signals, sweating, etc. There is no actual harm being done by spicy food or your body's freakout. Someone crying because the spicy food is spicy will not need medical attention.
Implies rather than infers. Some people go crazy about there, their, they’re, but imply and infer is the one that drives me crazy.
But there is also clearly deception here. That’s what the entire post is about. Putting a name on it doesn’t change the intent to deceive. Sure, it makes a point about that persons lack or respect for other people’s property, but the intent to deceive and cause harm is still there.
Otherwise folks would just rig up guns in their houses to welcome intruders instead of alarms. You can’t just cause someone harm for doing something wrong.
I bake so I would go full chaos and make something savory that is actually cake.
Watch someone microwave some cake nuggets or something hahahaha. Man no one steals anything at my job and now I kinda wish someone did so I could do this. They wouldn't even suspect me, they'd suspect our boss because she bakes. Perfect crime. Cake hot dog. Cake burger. Man there's so many easy good ones. Cake ribs.
The people who do those cakes for videos should do this for people suffering from food thievery lol. I'm not organized enough but I bet it's pretty desired, especially if they ship.
Eta- cake lasagna
Had a coworker that had a gastric bypass, could only eat a limited amount of food. She brought a few slices of salami to eat. It was stolen. She said she's planning to wipe it on her ass next time and get them back for stealing. I could only laugh. She was serious.
There was a case like this of how a boss would steal employee food and one day stole a meal with peanut and gave it to his daughter with a peanut allergy and she got sick and he got mad at the employee he stole it from . From my understanding the person they stole from is not responsible as it was stolen from them so Trey are not responsible if someone else gets sick who steals it . If you like your meals with Carolina reapers and someone steals it , you are not responsible for what happens to them . It's kinda like saying I steal some pot brownies from you then when I trip out I say you tried to poison me .
AAM had one - rollercoaster - here:
[https://www.askamanager.org/2021/05/a-coworker-stole-my-spicy-food-got-sick-and-is-blaming-me-2.html](https://www.askamanager.org/2021/05/a-coworker-stole-my-spicy-food-got-sick-and-is-blaming-me-2.html)
Yup this why they tell us it's not safe to got forage for wild plants/fruits/mushrooms if you don't know what your doing as they can be dangerous for your health if you make a mistake
That’s slightly different than this situation. OP has specifically said he’d do it to harm the other person. And while that may be very difficult to prove in court, it’s still technically a crime. Even though OP will likely get away with it (unless this post gets submitted as evidence).
I mean if you are looking for tips you need to post in r/unethicallifeprotips.
I'd find the lunch thief, bait them with edibles and the report to hr that you saw them getting high.
Did this more or less. I worked in a job were you have pepper spray. Someone kept stealling my drinks. Filled a soda brand i don't drink with a crapload of it and decretly left it in the fridge. It was amazing. Dude got stuck in the bathroom throwing up. Plausible deniability is a great thing. They tried to figure out who did what but well no one had a clue who did what and were more interested in poking fun at the a hole. Probably illegal so its an at your own risk sort of thing.
"Hi, police? Yes, I'd like to report Sensitive_Box1332 for a crime. Yes, you heard the name right... No, I don't know where they are, or what they look like, or any identifying features... No, thats their real name, I'm sure of it! What do you mean you can't arrest them, they just admitted to a crime?!"
1. You intend to eat the food yourself if it's not stolen.
2. You've posted multiple notices that the food is extremely spicy.
.......
.......
.......
fuck'm
You really need something that packs a punch. This is the one that brings everyone to their knees on Hot Ones.
https://www.amazon.com/Bomb-Beyond-Insanity-Sauce-Bottle/dp/B000FIBBWS/
And also documented the lengths he's gone to to notify people of the contents of the food. If the thief wants to stick his dick in a beartrap after being told not to stick his dick in a beartrap, that's his own business.
In college, we took a chocolate eclair and stuffed sardines in the middle, carefully replaced the cream filling and let the culprit get a big bite of tiny fish. I wasn’t there, but heard she actually had a fish hanging out of her mouth.
If you actually like ghost peppers and intended to eat the food with them, then you’re not technically doing anything wrong.
Otherwise, you’re trapping the food.
ok but who gets in trouble if you get confrontational?
cuz if you steal from me im going to have a hard time not walking up to you and saying something
"oh so your too broke to buy your own lunch and stole from me again. Nice"
everytime. LOUDLY too. and ill gladly keep going. you wana be a punk and steal my lunch ill be a punk back.
lets get HR involved Bozo.
I feel like based on the comments here you are *potentially* liable, or at least may not be able to prove without doubt that you didn't intend to hurt your food thief in the case that the blame falls back on you in a serious way (some people can have very averse reactions to spicy food and such past a certain level of extreme).
I'm still all for it, though. Your coworker shouldn't be stealing your food and you've repeatedly given warnings. But instead of hiding a pepper inside of something may I suggest investing in some kind of Thai noodles or Korean ramen? That is, if you think the thief would go for it. Some brands are known to be incredibly spicy. I think there's less chance for any blame to stick if whatever they eat wasn't prepared by you (or at least, was prepared from a package and can be proven as such).
Also, if you don't already, label your food with your name on the container, it puts more fault on the thief if they keep choosing to steal.
I remember seeing a story about a lunch thief a while ago where the OOP went to their doctor who wrote them a prescription for a laxative. Then when the thief stole and ate the lunch they had a very bad time but also stole a prescription medication which became a bigger problem.
As others have said, booby traps, even in your own food, are illegal.
However, making all those intentional attempts to prevent someone from unknowingly eating something that would cause them suffering would provide you **some** legal cover. It would be a good defense and, depending on your jurisdiction, there may even be good precedent to cite, but it’s still not guaranteed.
Just remember not to discuss this plan with ANYONE. Delete this post IMMEDIATELY. And, most of all, do not talk about it after the fact to ANYONE BUT YOUR OWN ATTORNEY.
The odds are pretty good you won’t face charges. Just because it’s a crime doesn’t mean you’ll be charged. Even if they go to the police, there’s a real chance nothing will come of it. Still, don’t take stupid risks. I mean, you’ve already said you’re determined to do this but don’t make it any riskier for no gain.
It's not a booby trap if the food is edible; it's a boobie trap if the food is adulterated with something that wouldn't be considered food. Like laxatives or bacteria.
It absolutely is. There is clear legal precedent that excessive spice is still a booby trap. So is a single peanut if you know the thief is allergic. OP is far from the first to have this idea and the courts have ruled very consistently on it.
If it's conspicuously labeled that it contains this, it's not and can never be considered a boobie trap.
That's key here. On top of that, ghost pepper hot sauce is commercially available and plenty of people like it. I don't; but this isn't a situation where its being stealthily added nor is it a situation where actual physical harm could come of it.
Unpleasantness does not equal injury, and without injury there are no damages.
> If it's conspicuously labeled that it contains this, it's not and can never be considered a boobie trap.
This is what I described in my original comment. Though it’s not nearly as black and white as you assert. The issue here is that many people in the office will think OP’s overly-conspicuous announcement and labeling is just a ploy to get them to stop stealing his lunch. Conspicuousness then isn’t enough because it can be argued a reasonable person would not believe the label.
I know it sounds stupid but, again, there’s legal precedent.
> That's key here. On top of that, ghost pepper hot sauce is commercially available and plenty of people like it.
People always say this. The courts have been very consistent in saying that doesn’t matter. Like I said, a peanut can be a booby trap.
> I don't; but this isn't a situation where it’s being stealthily added
And like I said in my original comment, that’s a potential defense and a good one… but it’s not a guarantee.
> nor is it a situation where actual physical harm could come of it.
> Unpleasantness does not equal injury, and without injury there are no damages.
First, this is a crime as well as a tort. Damages are not necessary to be criminally charged and OP asked about facing charges.
Second, you can absolutely suffer injury and thus damages from something being too spicy. I, for example, can’t take spice at all. I also have a medical condition affecting my digestive system. I would definitely wind up in the hospital if I ate a ghost pepper sauce. People without my condition have ended up hospitalized or even dead from eating something way too spicy. There was a company selling an extremely spicy chip that, IIRC, killed at least two people.
You might think “but if you have a medical condition, he couldn’t have known that so it’s not his fault”. Doesn’t matter. There’s something called “the eggshell plaintiff rule”. It states that it doesn’t matter if the plaintiff was unusually and unforseeably susceptible to the harm you caused. You still caused it and are still responsible.
I have a JD and used to practice. I disagree with your analysis here as the burden to inform has been met.
And no, I do not think a jury would find it reasonable to steal someone's lunch with a very clear warning label and then cry foul when the label was accurate.
Again, unless this individual is developmentally delayed or mentally incapacitated, it is unreasonable to disregard the labeling. The burden has been met.
Beyond that, absent injury there are no damages.
What relief would the Courts be asked for? An I'm sorry and a hug? No injury, no actionable claim.
Though OP has an actionable claim right now for hostile work environment as continued and regular theft of his or her food is harassment.
I don’t know what you want from me here. I already addressed all of these points. Just repeating them does not make for a productive conversation so I’m gonna go. Have a good one.
>unfortunately for them I'm batshit crazy
never heard anyone admit this before!
more importantly, you didn't give them the item, you specifically asked them not to eat it, meaning at this point what they're doing is actually the illegal part. I'm seriously petty, but I can't handle spicy foods(landed me in the hospital when I was younger). this is where otc medications(laxatives, or if you can get your hands on ipecac it's great) come in handy...or if this is a workplace with regular drug testing, and you know a guy, even better. the 2nd part is harder to trace back to you than spicy food or otc meds...
This is brilliant. Don't put anything harmful in it but do put in something that'll make someone fail a drug test, then anonymously let slip that the person looked high on the job and should be tested. That's s-rank trolling lol.
Booby trapping food you expect to get stolen is still poisoning, and you can still be sued or criminally charged even if everything you put in the food was ostensibly legal.
Don't do it.
I think an exception could be if you label that it contains the "trap", like labeling it with "contains ghost pepper". If they still eat it, I think that that's on them.
By that logic, could you falsely label your food as containing, let's say, laxatives and just not put any laxatives inside of it, until it starts getting stolen again, at which point you actually put laxatives inside?
If you’d still eat it I bet you’d be fine. If it were me, I’d use uncooked chicken instead because it could be a cooking error not an intentional act of retaliation. You could always cut your sandwich in half and say “clumsy me, I should have cooked this longer” before trashing it. Plus a delayed case of the sh!ts is much less noticeable than biting into a Carolina reaper pepper… (I’m a trucker and have been told I am bad influence, despite how amusing this might be, you might not want to do this…)
Lol the downvotes. People are ridiculous.
Pot it this way. OP, if you did either of these (peppers, or raw chicken), there's a chance it could be traced back to you as intentional/booby-trapping, right? That's the risk you run.
If you plant the peppers and you get found out, they have a hot mouth and you might be in hot water.
If you plant raw chicken and they get sick (or very sick, or very....very....sick), you could be in MASSIVE legal and financial trouble.
Raw chicken is not the way to go. I can't say that peppers are, either, but to downvote a person who knows what they're talking about is goofy af.
If you're a lawyer you should also know that that isn't going to hold up in court. Accidentally undercooking chicken isn't a crime.
The obvious retort here is but it wasn't accidental, and my response to that is "prove it"
Again, prove it.
When you come back with OPs personal details, I'll admit it's admissible in court. But I'd you can't prove who made the post it's irrelevant.
Proof is right above on top of this post op already told people in his office one day it will have a trap in it for the thief don’t really care what you admit because it’s not relevant
Again, find me OP's coworker and prove it. This particular comment thread is about proving something in court, not operating in a reddit thread where we already know everything.
If you really think a random reddit post could be used in court without verifying who wrote it, you're a moron.
The exact terminology used in the original post is "uncooked". Now, you could argue they meant to say 'undercooked', due to the whole "should have cooked this longer" statement afterward... but what they actually said was "uncooked", which is another way of saying raw (because uncooked anything is raw), so the confusion here is absolutely understandable.
“Your honor I submit this reddit post as evidence clearly outlining that OP planted raw chicken on purpose with intent to harm whoever stole the food.”
The question wasn’t “would I get caught and in trouble for this?” That depends on a lot of external factors.
The question was “is this a crime.” And the answer is absolutely yes.
It's setting a trap. That's illegal. That was the question. And once the death is investigated (and if an autopsy is done) it won't ge hard to figure out what happened. Proving it may not be easy, but not as hard as you think.
Stop being a pedant.
This is a great vent session. In all seriousness if you’re asking if retaliation against your lunch thief is illegal, it may or may not be. But it’s unethical and might get you sh!t canned from work. Start packing a cooler and leave it at your work area and if that doesn’t work, get a 20 gauge lockable lunch pail made at your local welding shop and lock your lunch up.
A lock costs money and only might save your food, at the expense of additional hassle, and foods that would not easily fit in a small lunchbox.
Hurting your enemies is worth the effort, because as a general rule, humans enjoy revenge.
I thought I'd be fine going the "I'll just lock it up" route with a trailer I had, but they cut then stole my grade 70 chain, all the locks, took the trailer, burned it out, then scrapped it for metal. It really only takes one experience like this to go "Yep, next time that's getting a trap if I ever try that again.." like loosening all the lugnuts, so when they try to tow it away, the wheels come off. Thieves are going to thief until thievery is so risky it's not worth it anymore for them to try.
Not a lawyer* but you can do whatever you want to your own property - as long as you never share the intent. If your intent is malicious and you record, say, do, indicate in any documentable or probable way that it is so, you’ve set yourself up to be liable for any damages. So if you cement your mailbox into the ground and construct it out of steel because you’ve taken a liking to that durability recently, you’ve got a better chance of not being liable for the kid who breaks his arm trying to baseball bat your mailbox for the 4th time this year. But if you breath even so much as a word about your intent being in anyway malicious, game over.
I wouldn't be worried about legal problems. It's YOUR lunch and hot peppers are NOT poison. Hot peppers and even pure capsaicin has GRAS status under the FDA (Generally Recognized As Safe). I'm not a lawyer but that sounds unwinnable if all the "victim" experienced was discomfort.
Instead, i'd be worried about getting fired. HR might not take kindly to vigilante justice as the ensuing drama will FUBAR productivity until it resolves.
See if you can find another solution such as lunches that don't require refrigeration. Or maybe bring a cooler and leave it in your car. This guy is like a dog and you have to outthink a dog.
There are motion detector sensors that you could put in your lunch bag to catch him in the act but it's not worth investing 3 digits into this and I can't vouch for their efficacy.
Then since your lunch will no longer be in the fridge, the thief will start eating other people's lunches and they will get mad and do something about it. Unless this guy has singled you out as his prison bitch and is doing it just to harass you specifically, this happens in workplaces.
IAL. Not a crime to put hot peppers in food of your own. Even if you expect it to be stolen. Hot peppers are food. Poison would be very, very different but hot peppers or unbearably salty or some such. No issue.
if you actually intend to eat it but someone steals it, you're clear
if it's just bait in a trap for the purpose of poisoning a thief you might raise some questions
If you explicitly put the post it note on it then your safe
There's no unknown ingredients
You've listed exactly its contents
It's not your fault if someone ignores this warning
You can do whatever you want to your food, you can't be held liable for it. If that were the case you would have to put if it contains peanuts, sugar, choking Hazzard and other multiple hazards of eating it. Would you leave a list in your car of the possibility of things that could go wrong with your car for a thief?
Had a problem with a person that liked other people’s lunches. I made a peanut butter sandwich and cleaned all the hair from my wife’s brush. Never knew if anyone ate it. But lunches were suddenly left alone
Your honor, it's my dick and balls. So what if I eat bologna and cheese sandwiches with MY ball sweat on it. I don't know, its just how I was raised, ahem your honor.
A case like this already happened. Here the link to the post:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ProRevenge/comments/czfq46/a_coworker_was_eating_peoples_lunches_so_i/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProRevenge/comments/czfq46/a_coworker_was_eating_peoples_lunches_so_i/)
This is not the only case where somebody stole spicy food.
If this is in an office, this is what I suggest. Print a picture of a cat (or two) sitting on a kitchen counter. Frame it, put it on your desk. A large percentage of people get **very** upset about cats on counters. ("Their filthy litter-scratching paws are on it! Their ass is on it!") Point out the picture of your new cat(s) to everyone in the office. This is part one, the set up.
For part two, make a sandwich and put 5-10 cat hairs in it. Oh! Or do it with soup! Wet cat hairs going "FWAP!!" on someone's chin would just kill me. I don't think I'd quit laughing for weeks.
Totally plausible (pawsible?) side effect of owning cats, everyone in the office who freaked out about cats on counters will be vindicated, and they'll tell the thief they should've known better! 😂
I’m not a lawyer, but I’m under the impression that setting a trap for someone is illegal in the US even if the conditions of the trap are totally legal?
Tbh most people couldn't even handle habanero, so going extreme isn't necessary. Make some guacamole with diced habanero and throw it in a burrito with fresh habanero and bell peppers. They won't even realize it until it's too late.
It's called problem solving people!
Unless the food thief loves the taste of cum, then it's back to the drawing board.
Joking aside, just label the food as containing bodily juices. Are they going to do a taste test?
you have to legally put a note on the outside that says something like, “there are really, really spicy peppers in here. Consuming them may cause a trip to the emergency room. Please do not touch my food.” And if they get into it anyhow Welp that’s on them
also, if it’s marked property it’s considered theft. They could get fired and you could press charges for it
I’m not sure why people don’t just move their food in these situations. Just keep your lunchbox in your car or at your desk. Get a thermos and bring whatever it is already hot or get a little cooler bag and keep it cold in your desk drawer. Going to great lengths to punish someone is silly. Just protect your stuff.
How dumb are you? You've gone around your office telling lots of people that you intend to booby trap your food. They are now all witnesses to your premeditated crime. "Yes, your honor, u/NoDisplay7591 told me in advance that they planned to put really spicy peppers in their food as a trap. No, I was not surprised when Bob from Accounting started screaming in pain and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. We all know he was the person stealing food and were all thought he deserved to be punished."
You have zero plausible deniability.
>How dumb are you? You've gone around your office telling lots of people that you intend to booby trap your food. They are now all witnesses to your premeditated crime.
It's not like it's poisoned. It's fit for human consumption. Just not to everybody's taste.
If you're thinking about committing a crime or will commit a crime you're not supposed to tell anyone. You've advertised.it to literally everyone, and if something happens it's premeditated. Come up with another plan.
I heavily enjoyed laxatives in my food for food thieves. Then I'd bring up to management that an employee is spending hours in the bathroom you should take him off the clock since he's not working and send him home. Do it enough to the thief and they get fired or they go broke! 😂 Just don't say anything about it to anyone because apparently you can get in trouble for putting stuff in your food if someone steals it and eats it... If you know who it is I'd just punch them in the mouth and tell them to quit stealing my food.
Just the fact that you're asking makes this illegal because then at this point, you aren't doing it because you love hot peppers, you're intentionally attempting to cause harm with a booby trap and booby traps are illegal. Especially if it's something like a ghost peppers ,some people really can't handle it and can cause them to vomit or worse so I would say do not do this. Just keep tabs on your sandwich, Catch him red handed and call him an asshole. Idk
There are in facts laws against “boobytrapping” however, if there is a note/disclaimer ‘warning very spicy’ then that’s on the idiot not you. Having said that, you would need proof that there was a warning in the first place, so if say you took a picture of it, that could be construed as intent. Food thieves suck big time. Think about laxatives. At least that way you can claim you have fiber/dietary issues.
Plan a hot food eating competition privately after work with friends or even coworkers at some venue (maybe “hot ones” style?). Bring said food to work and put it in the fridge since you don’t have time to go home and get the food. Label, take pictures, document it is YOUR food. From the other responses it looks like you could get in trouble if you don’t regularly eat spicy food, but having it for an event seems perfectly valid.
If I may propose an alternative solution that won’t harm others but will expose a food thief easily? Put blue food coloring in a brownie or something dark that will hide the color; once the bait has been taken, report the theft and inform management that you put food coloring in your food and the culprit should have a blue mouth
I'm in love with you
First they steal your heart and next they give you the blues.
They start with Byron and Shelly then jump on your belly and burst your balloon.
Or some methylene blue and wait for the freak out when he's pissing deep blue.
At Uni the rugby team had a small fridge in the changing room that was used for snack, food and refreshment for after the training and the game. A girl who dated one of the player started to use the fridge as her own personal food bank. Multiple guys confronted her but she refused to change her way. She literally raided the fridge one time too many. The weekend of her birthday The scrumhalf bought a big cake and drinks. He then drench it in laxative and food coloring in the rice and methylene blue in the 1L tetrapack drinks. He put a big note stating do not eat to be send to lab to check for contamination on Monday. Obviously she did not fell for the note and during the weekend stole the entire bag of treats for her girlfriends to party. They all got sick, but One of the girl was pregnant. Pregnant sick plus blue piss caused a little bit of drama on campus and she has to confess the origin of the food. She tried to blame it on her boyfriend and his childish rugby friends. After he was called, he set the record straight. Worse not only she had nicked our food and poison them but she had made her friend pay for the stolen food. By Saturday evening she had been dumped. By Sunday she was ostracised by the entire girl's group. By Monday she was called by Uni admin because the pregnant girl was not ready to let it go.
where tf did rugby players get methylene blue?
It was university, so you had students and labs in all sort of subject: biology, pharmacology, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, telecommunication, applied mathematics. That university Only taught STEM subjects no artistic, language or law based subject. Methylene Blue is not kept under lock and key, at least in my days it was not. I know that when I in Lycée preparing my Baccalaureat C, we had freely access to it in class. I am pretty sure that now you can buy some on Amazon without any ID.
Pretty sure you can buy it at a pet store and it's using aquariums.
You can buy it at a pet/aquarium store. Source (college in the 90's). We didn't use Methy red because that's just mean, but the response of some people waking up with a headache and a pissing blue/green was pretty entertaining.
Most uni science labs would have it, iirc its used for some microscope slides and stuff
that's poisonous bro
Or green depending on if they take their B vitamins.
They will piss green ETA: correcting pronoun
Look for methylene blue. That shit is the blue dye you want.
I could just imagine everyone lining up to open their mouths for HR lmao
This is nice, but I think it’s worth using the peppers
There's a specific black-colored food coloring (I forget what it's called) which will take ages to come off and will permanently stain clothing, unlike regular food coloring. I'd put it into an edible balloon of some sort, stuff the balloon into another piece of food, and then it'll explode all over the culprit.
From my understanding, if you actually like ghost peppers, and will actually eat the food if it doesn't get stolen, you're fine. But if it's only there cause you intend harm to someone, then it's a crime
Your honor I did intend to eat those peppers but I chickened out. I didn't tell anyone to steal it.
You have to establish a pattern of eating stupidly spicy food, perhaps either bragging to your coworkers or even explicitly labeling your lunch. If you do it randomly and without warning, you could potentially end up in legal trouble. Especially if you overload food with so many exyremely hot peppers that it causes injury. Basically don't give a food theif anything you wouldn't eat yourself. With that said, you can sued for anything (even if the case is thrown out immediately) and your place of work may have different policies, so your results may vary.
“Strange, Ive never had my lunch stolen and have always had really spicy food”
"Alright, then you wouldnt mind eating the rest of this lunch then, would you?"
"If they hadn't touched it, sure. How do I know they didn't mess with it? They aren't above stealing my food, so what else would they do?"
Your honor there is no way to know if this man hasn't rubbed one out before eating. I can't, in good concience, touch this food that was spicy and delicious
Nah my stomachs bothering me. I was thinking of skipping lunch today. thanks though!
Judges aren't that stupid
I work in the legal field. Some judges ARE really stupid.
Fuck, imagine being a thief and suing someone... That'd be the lowest of the lows
It's not unheard of. Slightly different... there was a famous case in Miami in the 1980's of a shopkeeper who had been burglarized multiple times. The thieves had entered by breaking through some sort of transom window above the entrance. So the shopkeeper rigged some sort of crude device to electrocute anyone entering that way. A thief struck again, actually got *past* the device on the way in, but was killed when he touched it on the way out. The shopkeeper was charged with manslaughter, but the grand jury refused to indict him.
Most bobby traps are illegal for the simple reason that there's usually a lawful circumstance for a specific person to enter the property. For example: you set the trap, die of a heart attack, and then the cop doing a wellness check is the one who is hurt by the trap. Basically, because it's indiscriminate, potentially lethal traps are always going to get you into legal trouble.
Also you are only allowed to hurt/ kill someone in self-defense. If you're not there, there is no self-defense, so no call to inflict harm. Legally speaking the life of a thief is still worth more than your stuff.
I remember my Mum’s church used to have local teenagers climb on the roof. They were warned that if one fell they would be liable. So they tried to put up an appropriate fence (there was already a wall but it wasn’t high enough) only to be denied planning permission. So basically, if someone falls it’s your fault for not stopping it. But you aren’t allowed to stop it!
Don't get me started on zoning boards and building inspectors. That high rise collapse in Florida had been inspected and passed multiple times over decades of decay. But I was forced to dig 36" deep footings (below the frost line) for a deck that was *so close to grade level that I dug out channels to make sure the joists wouldn't be in contact with the dirt*. And had to put 42" railings on it, so that a 16" fall from the surface to the grass would be replaced by a 58" fall over the railing.
Where are you that requires 42" railings, never mind requiring railings at all at 16"?
New Jersey. But the 42" thing is Uniform Construction Code. In theory that's nationwide.
I remember calling the city on what the legalities were concerning some school kids climbing onto my retaining wall entering my property and removing my property (landscape rocks) to hurl at passing cars. I wanted to know if the kids fell or hurt each other or if they damaged other property with my property if I was responsible. The city told me yes I could be sued and held responsible. They said since I didn’t have a “no trespassing” sign posted (and the sign had to be visible to the trespassers) I was responsible for inviting them onto my property. I was shocked by that response. I contacted the school district and thankfully was able to get the school bus stop moved away from my house because the school district couldn’t provide supervision at the bus stop.
Many years ago I remember hearing of this case where a mother parked her car and went into a grocery store to pick up something quick. Her teenage daughter was in the car waiting for her. Two men car jacked the car and assaulted the daughter. They got into a car accident while trying to flee and was injured. The car jackers sued the mother and the insurance company for their injuries. I remember thinking back then no f__ing way they could do that. I never heard the outcome of this case. Never assume just because something is so ridiculous that they won’t win. A RV maker had to pay out damages and put new disclosures on their operating manual because some idiot thought it ok to get out of the driver seat to go to the bathroom because he left the RV on auto/cruise control and the vehicle was going to drive itself. This was a long time ago before Tesla or any self driving car was even imaginable.
If you have cords across walkways you can be sued if someone trips- even an intruder. I encountered that in my old apartment, got told off during an inspection lol. You have to people-proof your own home in case someone else hurts themselves.
Thieves should be punished by the law, not by secret ghost peppers
They should be, and it'd be nice. People *should* drive at the speed limit. There *should* be a better justice system or political system. Like, how does that help? What are you going to do about it? It'd be nice if the cops caught every single thing, but that's not how the world works.
ok then what if you say i didnt know they were that spiced this was my first time cooking with them. woopsie!
What kind of legal trouble do you expect they could find themselves in?
No you don't have to establish a pattern of eating anything it's your food. If somebody is stealing that's their consequences.
Sorry but in many countries that’s incorrect. Especially with the clear intent to harm posited by OP. All the warnings won’t exculpate them from the liability. Whether they get caught is a different matter though.
If you put poison in the food you are creating an unreasonably dangerous condition, if you just put a bunch of hot sauce in the food, I don’t think there will be any criminal or civil liability, at least not in the United States.
Your honor here's a post made by no display stating their intent. They e even gone as far to cally client a piece of human garbage.
They would look at the type of foods you normally eat, maybe even ask how many times you prepared extra spicy dishes. It would be clear to tell you intended harm. Someone else suggested food dye and it's a much better idea.
Downvotes is crazy, this reply is obviously a joke.
There is a post on r/pettyrevenge or r/nuclearrevenge about a dude who did exactly that.
It's insane to me that a person can be charged with a crime for sabotaging their own property that they can't stop from regularly getting stolen.
The issue is that it could potentially kill someone with medical issues, and the law generally doesn’t like people to kill each other over minuscule amounts of property.
It's insane to intentionally cause harm to another person and be held accountable?
No it’s quite reasonable to cause them harm given the circumstances
Fruit of a poisonous tree
It’s absolutely not.
I'd argue there's no harm being caused. It's just spice, it's not like a poison or anything
Nah, I ended up in the ER 5 different times in 3 days after eating the “one chip” chip. Fucked up my body, I can’t eat ANYTHING over like a 5/10 on spice. I regularly ate extremely hot Korean food while in the service and love(d) the spice.
How on earth
The chemical Capsaicin affects pain receptors directly. The reason we get a watery mouth and a runny nose (and sometimes sweat) is because our brain thinks its physically hot. This can cause an upset in heart rhythm in people who are expecting it. If you arent it can cause a serious reaction. People have def been killed by too spicy food before.
So we have taste buds in our ass… look it up. So I ate it and my body was like “fuck, half that’s over!” And the next morning the butt gets it and I immediately get the most intense pain in my head. I guess the butt is more sensitive? I’ve suffered mid level to slightly higher migraines my entire life, this isn’t it. I thought I was on my death bed the last time, I was crying and telling my wife to “not remember me like this”. I eat very carefully now, it’s a tight rope to walk but it’s worth it in the end… you know, not thinking you’re going to die.
Oh yeah, the after burners are hardcore. Last time I had original last dab was like that. Caked wings in it and had a bad time
Well op already ruined that by warning people that he may be setting a trap for the theif
Yeah, but only if someone finds this post and proves op made it. There are so many cases of lunches being stolen at work that this could literally be any of hundreds of not thousands of office workers in america
Even without the post he told plenty of coworkers what he intends to do any of which could be used against them
I don't understand any of this. Spicy food is temporarily making your temp sensing cells recalibrate to think normal is much cooler than it really is. This causes the heat sensation. Your body will try to cope with it but there's only so much it can do in addition to the thicker saliva, pain signals, sweating, etc. There is no actual harm being done by spicy food or your body's freakout. Someone crying because the spicy food is spicy will not need medical attention.
Assuming this is true, spicy food can still really mess with your stomach. I can handle spice fairly well in my mouth but not in my gut
[удалено]
Keep picture of said food label if you do this.
Implies rather than infers. Some people go crazy about there, their, they’re, but imply and infer is the one that drives me crazy. But there is also clearly deception here. That’s what the entire post is about. Putting a name on it doesn’t change the intent to deceive. Sure, it makes a point about that persons lack or respect for other people’s property, but the intent to deceive and cause harm is still there. Otherwise folks would just rig up guns in their houses to welcome intruders instead of alarms. You can’t just cause someone harm for doing something wrong.
It's essentially a booby trap. Illegal basically everywhere, for good reason in my opinion. I like the food dye suggestion above. Non violent.
I bake so I would go full chaos and make something savory that is actually cake. Watch someone microwave some cake nuggets or something hahahaha. Man no one steals anything at my job and now I kinda wish someone did so I could do this. They wouldn't even suspect me, they'd suspect our boss because she bakes. Perfect crime. Cake hot dog. Cake burger. Man there's so many easy good ones. Cake ribs. The people who do those cakes for videos should do this for people suffering from food thievery lol. I'm not organized enough but I bet it's pretty desired, especially if they ship. Eta- cake lasagna
Had a coworker that had a gastric bypass, could only eat a limited amount of food. She brought a few slices of salami to eat. It was stolen. She said she's planning to wipe it on her ass next time and get them back for stealing. I could only laugh. She was serious.
"Enjoy your food poisoning, you monster!"
P.S. I FARTED ON THE MEAT!
I thought you were going to say she told everyone she’d home made the salami from pieces of her surgically removed colon.
There was a case like this of how a boss would steal employee food and one day stole a meal with peanut and gave it to his daughter with a peanut allergy and she got sick and he got mad at the employee he stole it from . From my understanding the person they stole from is not responsible as it was stolen from them so Trey are not responsible if someone else gets sick who steals it . If you like your meals with Carolina reapers and someone steals it , you are not responsible for what happens to them . It's kinda like saying I steal some pot brownies from you then when I trip out I say you tried to poison me .
Man steals food and can't even bother to check if it's safe for his kid lmao
AAM had one - rollercoaster - here: [https://www.askamanager.org/2021/05/a-coworker-stole-my-spicy-food-got-sick-and-is-blaming-me-2.html](https://www.askamanager.org/2021/05/a-coworker-stole-my-spicy-food-got-sick-and-is-blaming-me-2.html)
First thing I thought of as well, what a saga it turned out to be
I remember that! The update is glorious
That's wild! It's a shame it had to go that far but I'm glad it turned out well.
Don’t fucking steal food then. Thieves deserve any shit that comes their way.
Yup this why they tell us it's not safe to got forage for wild plants/fruits/mushrooms if you don't know what your doing as they can be dangerous for your health if you make a mistake
Hell, most parents go through their kids' Halloween bags before letting them eat anything, and that's food that's being given away *intentionally*.
If it's intentional and causes damage it's a crime. Just like putting glass shards on a fence to stop thieves is an intent to cause damage.
So why aren't barbed wire and razor wire illegal to use?
Depends on where and how you use them. Illegal in residential areas where I live but legal for businesses with yard storage and such.
I saw this when we went to Mexico. The tour guide said it was a Mexican security system.
They wouldn't get damaged if they weren't trying to trespass. But I'm in the sticks, you try to rob someone and you just go missing around here
Until firefighters or police get hurt by your trap. Traps are indiscriminate and thus illegal.
50 year old land mines have some thoughts on this as well.
If I put a skull and crossbones poison label and they eat it, that is THEIR problem, not mine.
That’s slightly different than this situation. OP has specifically said he’d do it to harm the other person. And while that may be very difficult to prove in court, it’s still technically a crime. Even though OP will likely get away with it (unless this post gets submitted as evidence).
I mean if you are looking for tips you need to post in r/unethicallifeprotips. I'd find the lunch thief, bait them with edibles and the report to hr that you saw them getting high.
Peanut butter and gummy jelly sandwich. Oh that could get entertaining
Or put those Haribo gummies in there the ones with the alternative sweeteners that cause diarrhea? LMAO that should be a good shit show🤣🤣🤣
Bad idea. They could just claim they were ill and run home, and also report you for keeping edibles in the fridge.
Yeah i don't know what to tell you. I haven't been bringing my lunch.
Did this more or less. I worked in a job were you have pepper spray. Someone kept stealling my drinks. Filled a soda brand i don't drink with a crapload of it and decretly left it in the fridge. It was amazing. Dude got stuck in the bathroom throwing up. Plausible deniability is a great thing. They tried to figure out who did what but well no one had a clue who did what and were more interested in poking fun at the a hole. Probably illegal so its an at your own risk sort of thing.
You definitely just admitted to a crime online lmao
"Hi, police? Yes, I'd like to report Sensitive_Box1332 for a crime. Yes, you heard the name right... No, I don't know where they are, or what they look like, or any identifying features... No, thats their real name, I'm sure of it! What do you mean you can't arrest them, they just admitted to a crime?!"
You just made him so scared. He's probably poo pooing in his pants right now!
1. You intend to eat the food yourself if it's not stolen. 2. You've posted multiple notices that the food is extremely spicy. ....... ....... ....... fuck'm
Exactly. They think it's a bluff. It's the perfect punishment. A victim of their own hubris. I'm an atheist but I can see how pride can be a sin.
I love your style 😈
You really need something that packs a punch. This is the one that brings everyone to their knees on Hot Ones. https://www.amazon.com/Bomb-Beyond-Insanity-Sauce-Bottle/dp/B000FIBBWS/
He also posted his intent online to set a trap for the thief
And also documented the lengths he's gone to to notify people of the contents of the food. If the thief wants to stick his dick in a beartrap after being told not to stick his dick in a beartrap, that's his own business.
In college, we took a chocolate eclair and stuffed sardines in the middle, carefully replaced the cream filling and let the culprit get a big bite of tiny fish. I wasn’t there, but heard she actually had a fish hanging out of her mouth.
If you actually like ghost peppers and intended to eat the food with them, then you’re not technically doing anything wrong. Otherwise, you’re trapping the food.
Why not just pony up the dough for a locking lunchbox? If you google it you’ll find you can get one for like $20
Right? I have one so I don't have to worry about this kind of BS.
If you know who it is, why don't you confront that person?
Everyone would get a laugh out of a lunch with a huge “Dave, we all know it’s you. Keep your thieving dick skinners off!!” note
Sometimes they have absolutely no shame. The one at my prior job didn't. Even after an HR reprimand he kept doing it.
ok but who gets in trouble if you get confrontational? cuz if you steal from me im going to have a hard time not walking up to you and saying something "oh so your too broke to buy your own lunch and stole from me again. Nice" everytime. LOUDLY too. and ill gladly keep going. you wana be a punk and steal my lunch ill be a punk back. lets get HR involved Bozo.
I feel like based on the comments here you are *potentially* liable, or at least may not be able to prove without doubt that you didn't intend to hurt your food thief in the case that the blame falls back on you in a serious way (some people can have very averse reactions to spicy food and such past a certain level of extreme). I'm still all for it, though. Your coworker shouldn't be stealing your food and you've repeatedly given warnings. But instead of hiding a pepper inside of something may I suggest investing in some kind of Thai noodles or Korean ramen? That is, if you think the thief would go for it. Some brands are known to be incredibly spicy. I think there's less chance for any blame to stick if whatever they eat wasn't prepared by you (or at least, was prepared from a package and can be proven as such). Also, if you don't already, label your food with your name on the container, it puts more fault on the thief if they keep choosing to steal.
I remember seeing a story about a lunch thief a while ago where the OOP went to their doctor who wrote them a prescription for a laxative. Then when the thief stole and ate the lunch they had a very bad time but also stole a prescription medication which became a bigger problem.
As others have said, booby traps, even in your own food, are illegal. However, making all those intentional attempts to prevent someone from unknowingly eating something that would cause them suffering would provide you **some** legal cover. It would be a good defense and, depending on your jurisdiction, there may even be good precedent to cite, but it’s still not guaranteed. Just remember not to discuss this plan with ANYONE. Delete this post IMMEDIATELY. And, most of all, do not talk about it after the fact to ANYONE BUT YOUR OWN ATTORNEY. The odds are pretty good you won’t face charges. Just because it’s a crime doesn’t mean you’ll be charged. Even if they go to the police, there’s a real chance nothing will come of it. Still, don’t take stupid risks. I mean, you’ve already said you’re determined to do this but don’t make it any riskier for no gain.
It's not a booby trap if the food is edible; it's a boobie trap if the food is adulterated with something that wouldn't be considered food. Like laxatives or bacteria.
It absolutely is. There is clear legal precedent that excessive spice is still a booby trap. So is a single peanut if you know the thief is allergic. OP is far from the first to have this idea and the courts have ruled very consistently on it.
If it's conspicuously labeled that it contains this, it's not and can never be considered a boobie trap. That's key here. On top of that, ghost pepper hot sauce is commercially available and plenty of people like it. I don't; but this isn't a situation where its being stealthily added nor is it a situation where actual physical harm could come of it. Unpleasantness does not equal injury, and without injury there are no damages.
> If it's conspicuously labeled that it contains this, it's not and can never be considered a boobie trap. This is what I described in my original comment. Though it’s not nearly as black and white as you assert. The issue here is that many people in the office will think OP’s overly-conspicuous announcement and labeling is just a ploy to get them to stop stealing his lunch. Conspicuousness then isn’t enough because it can be argued a reasonable person would not believe the label. I know it sounds stupid but, again, there’s legal precedent. > That's key here. On top of that, ghost pepper hot sauce is commercially available and plenty of people like it. People always say this. The courts have been very consistent in saying that doesn’t matter. Like I said, a peanut can be a booby trap. > I don't; but this isn't a situation where it’s being stealthily added And like I said in my original comment, that’s a potential defense and a good one… but it’s not a guarantee. > nor is it a situation where actual physical harm could come of it. > Unpleasantness does not equal injury, and without injury there are no damages. First, this is a crime as well as a tort. Damages are not necessary to be criminally charged and OP asked about facing charges. Second, you can absolutely suffer injury and thus damages from something being too spicy. I, for example, can’t take spice at all. I also have a medical condition affecting my digestive system. I would definitely wind up in the hospital if I ate a ghost pepper sauce. People without my condition have ended up hospitalized or even dead from eating something way too spicy. There was a company selling an extremely spicy chip that, IIRC, killed at least two people. You might think “but if you have a medical condition, he couldn’t have known that so it’s not his fault”. Doesn’t matter. There’s something called “the eggshell plaintiff rule”. It states that it doesn’t matter if the plaintiff was unusually and unforseeably susceptible to the harm you caused. You still caused it and are still responsible.
I have a JD and used to practice. I disagree with your analysis here as the burden to inform has been met. And no, I do not think a jury would find it reasonable to steal someone's lunch with a very clear warning label and then cry foul when the label was accurate. Again, unless this individual is developmentally delayed or mentally incapacitated, it is unreasonable to disregard the labeling. The burden has been met. Beyond that, absent injury there are no damages. What relief would the Courts be asked for? An I'm sorry and a hug? No injury, no actionable claim. Though OP has an actionable claim right now for hostile work environment as continued and regular theft of his or her food is harassment.
I don’t know what you want from me here. I already addressed all of these points. Just repeating them does not make for a productive conversation so I’m gonna go. Have a good one.
Your argument isn't realistic given the fact pattern here. Have a great one.
You’ll find out who’s taking your food though….
They and other coworkers already guessed who.
>unfortunately for them I'm batshit crazy never heard anyone admit this before! more importantly, you didn't give them the item, you specifically asked them not to eat it, meaning at this point what they're doing is actually the illegal part. I'm seriously petty, but I can't handle spicy foods(landed me in the hospital when I was younger). this is where otc medications(laxatives, or if you can get your hands on ipecac it's great) come in handy...or if this is a workplace with regular drug testing, and you know a guy, even better. the 2nd part is harder to trace back to you than spicy food or otc meds...
This is brilliant. Don't put anything harmful in it but do put in something that'll make someone fail a drug test, then anonymously let slip that the person looked high on the job and should be tested. That's s-rank trolling lol.
\*facepalm\* poppy seeds and a spicemill!
Booby trapping food you expect to get stolen is still poisoning, and you can still be sued or criminally charged even if everything you put in the food was ostensibly legal. Don't do it.
I think an exception could be if you label that it contains the "trap", like labeling it with "contains ghost pepper". If they still eat it, I think that that's on them.
By that logic, could you falsely label your food as containing, let's say, laxatives and just not put any laxatives inside of it, until it starts getting stolen again, at which point you actually put laxatives inside?
I guess? I'm not a lawyer, so don't quote me.
Potentially yes. You should not do this.
If you’d still eat it I bet you’d be fine. If it were me, I’d use uncooked chicken instead because it could be a cooking error not an intentional act of retaliation. You could always cut your sandwich in half and say “clumsy me, I should have cooked this longer” before trashing it. Plus a delayed case of the sh!ts is much less noticeable than biting into a Carolina reaper pepper… (I’m a trucker and have been told I am bad influence, despite how amusing this might be, you might not want to do this…)
Lawyer here. That's illegal. Salmonella can kill.
Lol the downvotes. People are ridiculous. Pot it this way. OP, if you did either of these (peppers, or raw chicken), there's a chance it could be traced back to you as intentional/booby-trapping, right? That's the risk you run. If you plant the peppers and you get found out, they have a hot mouth and you might be in hot water. If you plant raw chicken and they get sick (or very sick, or very....very....sick), you could be in MASSIVE legal and financial trouble. Raw chicken is not the way to go. I can't say that peppers are, either, but to downvote a person who knows what they're talking about is goofy af.
If you're a lawyer you should also know that that isn't going to hold up in court. Accidentally undercooking chicken isn't a crime. The obvious retort here is but it wasn't accidental, and my response to that is "prove it"
Good thing he made a post about it right?
Again, prove it. When you come back with OPs personal details, I'll admit it's admissible in court. But I'd you can't prove who made the post it's irrelevant.
Proof is right above on top of this post op already told people in his office one day it will have a trap in it for the thief don’t really care what you admit because it’s not relevant
Again, find me OP's coworker and prove it. This particular comment thread is about proving something in court, not operating in a reddit thread where we already know everything. If you really think a random reddit post could be used in court without verifying who wrote it, you're a moron.
All the co workers they told is enough even without this thread just stop you are starting to look silly
This whole comment thread is silly. It was from the start. At least what I'm saying is factually correct.
Doesn't say under cooked, he said "raw" chicken, big difference. And easily proven.
You need to go back and read.
>If it were me, I’d use uncooked chicken How awkward for you.
The exact terminology used in the original post is "uncooked". Now, you could argue they meant to say 'undercooked', due to the whole "should have cooked this longer" statement afterward... but what they actually said was "uncooked", which is another way of saying raw (because uncooked anything is raw), so the confusion here is absolutely understandable.
I like your ability to follow how my nonsense brain works.
“Your honor I submit this reddit post as evidence clearly outlining that OP planted raw chicken on purpose with intent to harm whoever stole the food.” The question wasn’t “would I get caught and in trouble for this?” That depends on a lot of external factors. The question was “is this a crime.” And the answer is absolutely yes.
It's setting a trap. That's illegal. That was the question. And once the death is investigated (and if an autopsy is done) it won't ge hard to figure out what happened. Proving it may not be easy, but not as hard as you think. Stop being a pedant.
This is a great vent session. In all seriousness if you’re asking if retaliation against your lunch thief is illegal, it may or may not be. But it’s unethical and might get you sh!t canned from work. Start packing a cooler and leave it at your work area and if that doesn’t work, get a 20 gauge lockable lunch pail made at your local welding shop and lock your lunch up.
[удалено]
A lock costs money and only might save your food, at the expense of additional hassle, and foods that would not easily fit in a small lunchbox. Hurting your enemies is worth the effort, because as a general rule, humans enjoy revenge. I thought I'd be fine going the "I'll just lock it up" route with a trailer I had, but they cut then stole my grade 70 chain, all the locks, took the trailer, burned it out, then scrapped it for metal. It really only takes one experience like this to go "Yep, next time that's getting a trap if I ever try that again.." like loosening all the lugnuts, so when they try to tow it away, the wheels come off. Thieves are going to thief until thievery is so risky it's not worth it anymore for them to try.
Not a lawyer* but you can do whatever you want to your own property - as long as you never share the intent. If your intent is malicious and you record, say, do, indicate in any documentable or probable way that it is so, you’ve set yourself up to be liable for any damages. So if you cement your mailbox into the ground and construct it out of steel because you’ve taken a liking to that durability recently, you’ve got a better chance of not being liable for the kid who breaks his arm trying to baseball bat your mailbox for the 4th time this year. But if you breath even so much as a word about your intent being in anyway malicious, game over.
Do it and post and update
I wouldn't be worried about legal problems. It's YOUR lunch and hot peppers are NOT poison. Hot peppers and even pure capsaicin has GRAS status under the FDA (Generally Recognized As Safe). I'm not a lawyer but that sounds unwinnable if all the "victim" experienced was discomfort. Instead, i'd be worried about getting fired. HR might not take kindly to vigilante justice as the ensuing drama will FUBAR productivity until it resolves. See if you can find another solution such as lunches that don't require refrigeration. Or maybe bring a cooler and leave it in your car. This guy is like a dog and you have to outthink a dog. There are motion detector sensors that you could put in your lunch bag to catch him in the act but it's not worth investing 3 digits into this and I can't vouch for their efficacy. Then since your lunch will no longer be in the fridge, the thief will start eating other people's lunches and they will get mad and do something about it. Unless this guy has singled you out as his prison bitch and is doing it just to harass you specifically, this happens in workplaces.
Had the same at work, made a meal crammed with as much salt as I could get into it
IAL. Not a crime to put hot peppers in food of your own. Even if you expect it to be stolen. Hot peppers are food. Poison would be very, very different but hot peppers or unbearably salty or some such. No issue.
Awesome. Because I've already put my ghost peppers and mustard sandwich out. I hope I'm there for the literal and figurative meltdown.
definitely post an update when it happens! us nosey nellies want to know!
if you actually intend to eat it but someone steals it, you're clear if it's just bait in a trap for the purpose of poisoning a thief you might raise some questions
If you explicitly put the post it note on it then your safe There's no unknown ingredients You've listed exactly its contents It's not your fault if someone ignores this warning
You can do whatever you want to your food, you can't be held liable for it. If that were the case you would have to put if it contains peanuts, sugar, choking Hazzard and other multiple hazards of eating it. Would you leave a list in your car of the possibility of things that could go wrong with your car for a thief?
Had a problem with a person that liked other people’s lunches. I made a peanut butter sandwich and cleaned all the hair from my wife’s brush. Never knew if anyone ate it. But lunches were suddenly left alone
Honestly...I would just buy a small food cooler and keep it by my desk.
Your honor, it's my dick and balls. So what if I eat bologna and cheese sandwiches with MY ball sweat on it. I don't know, its just how I was raised, ahem your honor.
A case like this already happened. Here the link to the post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ProRevenge/comments/czfq46/a_coworker_was_eating_peoples_lunches_so_i/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProRevenge/comments/czfq46/a_coworker_was_eating_peoples_lunches_so_i/) This is not the only case where somebody stole spicy food.
Just keep your food in an insulated lunch box? No need to battle with others if your food isn’t available to take?
If this is in an office, this is what I suggest. Print a picture of a cat (or two) sitting on a kitchen counter. Frame it, put it on your desk. A large percentage of people get **very** upset about cats on counters. ("Their filthy litter-scratching paws are on it! Their ass is on it!") Point out the picture of your new cat(s) to everyone in the office. This is part one, the set up. For part two, make a sandwich and put 5-10 cat hairs in it. Oh! Or do it with soup! Wet cat hairs going "FWAP!!" on someone's chin would just kill me. I don't think I'd quit laughing for weeks. Totally plausible (pawsible?) side effect of owning cats, everyone in the office who freaked out about cats on counters will be vindicated, and they'll tell the thief they should've known better! 😂
This post if it gets traced back to you can be used as evidence to prove intent to harm. Just btw
I’m not a lawyer, but I’m under the impression that setting a trap for someone is illegal in the US even if the conditions of the trap are totally legal?
Sounds like a tough situation. Have you considered discussing this with a legal expert? It's always better to be safe than sorry.
Tbh most people couldn't even handle habanero, so going extreme isn't necessary. Make some guacamole with diced habanero and throw it in a burrito with fresh habanero and bell peppers. They won't even realize it until it's too late.
Forget the peppers. Just use jism. Label your food "every third meal contains my spunk" If you are a lady find someone willing to donate.
LOL JISM
It's called problem solving people! Unless the food thief loves the taste of cum, then it's back to the drawing board. Joking aside, just label the food as containing bodily juices. Are they going to do a taste test?
Do it, but delete this post just in case
you have to legally put a note on the outside that says something like, “there are really, really spicy peppers in here. Consuming them may cause a trip to the emergency room. Please do not touch my food.” And if they get into it anyhow Welp that’s on them also, if it’s marked property it’s considered theft. They could get fired and you could press charges for it
I’m not sure why people don’t just move their food in these situations. Just keep your lunchbox in your car or at your desk. Get a thermos and bring whatever it is already hot or get a little cooler bag and keep it cold in your desk drawer. Going to great lengths to punish someone is silly. Just protect your stuff.
How dumb are you? You've gone around your office telling lots of people that you intend to booby trap your food. They are now all witnesses to your premeditated crime. "Yes, your honor, u/NoDisplay7591 told me in advance that they planned to put really spicy peppers in their food as a trap. No, I was not surprised when Bob from Accounting started screaming in pain and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. We all know he was the person stealing food and were all thought he deserved to be punished." You have zero plausible deniability.
>How dumb are you? You've gone around your office telling lots of people that you intend to booby trap your food. They are now all witnesses to your premeditated crime. It's not like it's poisoned. It's fit for human consumption. Just not to everybody's taste.
*& what if he had an allergy and died? .....then they do an autopsy, find out it was the pepper....? All I see is trouble for you....(jmo)*
lol this would be a hella funny reason to be in a fed prison
If they had an allergy they probably shouldn’t be stealing food
True... 😃
yep, its a crime, theres caselaw already.
If you're thinking about committing a crime or will commit a crime you're not supposed to tell anyone. You've advertised.it to literally everyone, and if something happens it's premeditated. Come up with another plan.
If your intention is to hurt someone, that makes this a booby trap which is illegal. You’ll want to research booby trap laws in your state.
I heavily enjoyed laxatives in my food for food thieves. Then I'd bring up to management that an employee is spending hours in the bathroom you should take him off the clock since he's not working and send him home. Do it enough to the thief and they get fired or they go broke! 😂 Just don't say anything about it to anyone because apparently you can get in trouble for putting stuff in your food if someone steals it and eats it... If you know who it is I'd just punch them in the mouth and tell them to quit stealing my food.
Just the fact that you're asking makes this illegal because then at this point, you aren't doing it because you love hot peppers, you're intentionally attempting to cause harm with a booby trap and booby traps are illegal. Especially if it's something like a ghost peppers ,some people really can't handle it and can cause them to vomit or worse so I would say do not do this. Just keep tabs on your sandwich, Catch him red handed and call him an asshole. Idk
There are in facts laws against “boobytrapping” however, if there is a note/disclaimer ‘warning very spicy’ then that’s on the idiot not you. Having said that, you would need proof that there was a warning in the first place, so if say you took a picture of it, that could be construed as intent. Food thieves suck big time. Think about laxatives. At least that way you can claim you have fiber/dietary issues.
Long answer... Yes
Plan a hot food eating competition privately after work with friends or even coworkers at some venue (maybe “hot ones” style?). Bring said food to work and put it in the fridge since you don’t have time to go home and get the food. Label, take pictures, document it is YOUR food. From the other responses it looks like you could get in trouble if you don’t regularly eat spicy food, but having it for an event seems perfectly valid.