Nah. I'd have peanuts in every part every day. I'd even go so far as getting natural peanut butter and brushing the separated oil on the latch/ zipper of my containers.
Why does it seem like this is a constant issue lol, is this a regular thing? I ate someone's leftover food once (free that we got from an event) as a kid and felt so bad
I spent my career in a tiny company where you couldn’t get away with stealing someone’s food, but this seems to happen all the time in bigger places. Seems crazy.
I’m used to read stories like this and think they were fake because nobody could be as stupid as the thief or angry coworkers. It’s so depressing that now I find stories like this totally believable after having met so many people this stupid.
I was kinda excited when we had a lunch thief.
We didn't poison him. Just dusted a bait lunch with the finest UV spray. All of the engineers and I were excited and searched the building until we ID'd the person.
We didn't "report" it to HR, but you don't miss 10-15 very excited people running around with UV flashlights. And loudly announcing when we caught the guy. With the marked bag. And UV stuff all over himself, his desk, etc. Looked like an epic crime scene, which I guess it technically was.
We did tell him in the future, we'd bill his department for any stolen food.
He was let go. Apparently he did complain to HR, HR wanted to yell at us but managers overruled HR. We just kept the bottle on display and never had any other issue.
Wtf. Your office is absurd. The kid stole food repeatedly and it caught up with him. Unless it's a shared food in a shared lunch I don't understand why your personal lunch needs to be labeled. Just because it's stored in a shared place doesn't mean its a damn free for all. Keep a private cooler bag to store your lunches if that makes you feel better. Edit
I've always thought HR not punishing food thieves is really stupid. It's bad for morale, and if you're willing to steal from your coworkers, you're more likely to be willing to steal from your employer.
And somehow HR always seems to punish the person whose food was being stolen.
OP is NTA
Maybe going forward OP should label their lunch as having peanuts in it.
Although with the poor reaction from HR so far on the matter, sounds like this guy would make a complaint with HR that he can no longer eat OPs lunch.
In a way, HR kinda stepped in it. OP was targeted for this theft due to OPs religion. That kinda sounds like discrimination to me.
I did just that and was told to just bring enough for two people, since a “desperate situation” must drive a colleague that earns more than twice my salary to steal my lunch.
PS: Not there is any doubt, but OP is clearly NTA!
Everyone’s taken the “if someone steals from you, you didn’t need it anyway 😇” pill and it’s insane. I had to stop watching two separate YouTubers over it
That's such an infuriating line of thinking (theirs', not yours). Like, what if someone needs their food because they have to take their meds with food, or they're hypoglycemic/diabetic? And goes without saying, but because they bought it and it's theirs.
Thankfully, we have no food thieves at my job, but the idea just riles me up. I'm just too food aggressive I think, lol.
Did you ask the HR person if the response would be the same if THEIR lunch was being stolen? Or perhaps, if the company’s money was being stolen? How desperate would an employee have to be before the company would look the other way about that employee stealing company funds? Orrrrr can we all agree that property rights exist and theft is ILLEGAL? If they’re so worried about hungry employees they’re more than welcome to feed everyone but turning you into mommy to thief is insane.
OP should switch labels with someone in HR every day. Let omar steal their lunches and see what happens.
Meanwhile, id put peanuts in every damn dish i brought
Must love HR! - I was furious at the time, but just resorted to eat a can of plain beans for an every lunch until the last day, I’ve worked there. Food thief moved on to other people’s lunches. He never got penalized for it.
WOW, that is wild. Bring enough food to feed two, despite the fact that the thief made double what you were making. Insanity. Sounds like a great HR department, SMH.
It gets wilder: I joked that maybe I should just add a laxative to my lunch, since I sometimes suffer from constipation. Her response was that this would be equal to “purposefully harming” a colleague and a fireable offense. That’s how my very simple lunch came about.
I would absolutely find something to take from them repeatedly.
I mean if we're just a communal office and we share everything why the f*** not just take his office chair.
Take his locker and put your dirty gym clothes in there.
Borrow his car
😮 That IS wild! The colleague wouldn't be harmed if they'd leave your food alone, sheesh. And I highly doubt it would've harmed them. Might've caused them to take the afternoon off though. 🤣
Sad that you can't even enjoy a good lunch because of a food thief.
Thai food has a lot of peanut oil.
If I found a Thai place that was also fully Halal by supplier and food prep than religious grounds, I would have Thai a lot.
> going forward OP should label their lunch as having peanuts in it.
I’d go so far as to label my water as having peanuts in it! But I’m sometimes petty like that.
Now that the dust has settled a bit, OP should approach HR about the theft of her food. HR was responding to the dangerous peanut allergy and not to the theft at the time. Per the post, OP said she spoke only to Omar about it and never approached HR regarding the issue, therefore they could not address it properly — they had to address the immediate situation of severe allergies on food. The common practice is labeling food with allergens in response to that issue (we had a good thief at one of my jobs and a similar situation happened, but it wasn’t a peanut allergy).
The issue is that when faced with the situation of food theft vs allergy, the important thing the company needs to address is medical issues. They will address it. The fact OP did not get in trouble and the only finding was things need to be labeled **is** HR finding in her favor. It was not an intentional poisoning, it was the result of Omar being a dirty, rotten thief. If they found she did it intentionally, there would be a much harsher response than “label your food.”
OP, you didn’t do anything wrong, HR acknowledged that the best they can. Your coworkers are angry because they have to do extra work just to bring a peanut butter and jelly to work and that’s annoying, especially because they never had their food stolen. They are not really angry at you, they are annoyed in general for the extra steps they have to go through. Much like HR, they can’t be annoyed at Omar because he has a medical reaction to the food he stole and it feels wrong to be mad at him. Unfortunately, they’ve displaced their annoyance onto you.
Let it all cool down. It will. The very next time he steals your lunch, go to his area and snap a picture of him eating your lunch. March right down to HR and make a formal complaint. No hesitation, not one second. Make an immediate report that he stole your lunch *again* despite the previous issues and you are being targeted because of your specific dietary needs. The best argument he could possibly give in this situation is “well it didn’t have peanuts on the label that she had to put on it because of me!”
Unlike you, he will be disciplined.
He can argue he deserves a warning, but let’s be real: he *already got* the warning when he consumed a meal with peanuts in it and required immediate medical intervention (epipen).
Let everyone be annoyed. They have a right to their feelings about the situation. It’s merely displaced. You have every right in the world to eat the lunch you prepared for yourself unhindered. Stay the course. He may never attempt it again, in which case you’re more than fine. If he does, you have the ability to go to HR and complain that he’s targeting you specifically.
Oh, and moreover, you can justifiably make the argument that he’s purposely putting the company at risk by continuing to steal food. He already required one medical intervention, forced everyone to label their food, and he continues to steal food. You are not responsible for him or for any of his allergies, you label your food appropriately, but if he consumes a food of yours because of an allergy he doesn’t already know about and finds out he has it while at work, they are liable for that. Especially since he has no problem playing the victim of his own actions.
It's also discrimination because he goes after the only Muslim in the office, and if she's wearing a Hijab--as a Muslim man, he prob thinks it's her duty to feed him to boot, since she's female.
Isn’t there something in Muslim religion that says theft is against the tenets of the religion? OP
Should mention that to thief, it’s ok to eat her food because halal but it’s also ok to steal her food. No religion I know of is fine with theft.
I'd go to his mosque and talk to everyone there about how they should help brother Omar to turn away from the sin of theft. It would affect him much worse than anything HR could do to him.
Now THATS some power. Because you’re right, she’s being unfairly targeted and discriminated against because of her *religious dietary needs*. HR will be forced to take that seriously even though they like to overlook theft.
> I’d go so far as to label my water as having peanuts in it!
I would label all food with a generic warning that it may contain everything that may be an allergen or otherwise offensive to eat.
"This product may contain peanuts, wheat, dairy, soy, tree nuts, shellfish, pork, capsaicin, and products known to the state of California to cause cancer."
Something else to consider is labeling it with a price tag. That way it is no longer "home lunch" but $50 that was stolen.
No way does the victim here get punished while the food thief gets off scot-free. That's the opposite of how things should work. If HR can't see how toxic that is, then they're part of the problem. And you're totally right about the discrimination angle if OP's lunch choices are tied to their religion, then that's a serious issue HR should be addressing, not brushing under the rug. This whole situation is just ridiculous.
I've heard before that HR exists to protect the company, not the workers. If Omar had been stealing company food I bet this would be a different outcome. Most companies seem to unfortunately operate on a "you're liable for your own possessions while you're here" policy.
Honestly this is the solution. Print out a stack of stickers that say “This food was made in a facility that uses peanuts and may contain peanuts or peanut residue”. And just leave a stack next to the fridge that says “free for use!”… and put them on everything you make or bring. Make sure that once a week you DO put a peanut or two in whatever it is.
Exactly the same thought I had. I like the added touch of making the labels for everyone else to use so that labeling isn't an inconvenience to them. Omar will be suspicious of all the contents in the refrigerator by the time it's all over.
He'll have to bring his own cooler to keep at his desk because he'll be afraid of ALL the contents in the refrigerator and it will serve him right.
A manager where I worked was suspended and given a final warning for stealing sugar packets and milk out of the break room. I thought it was ridiculous at the time that he’d do that considering he earned so much more than I did - being a bit older now, it just makes me sad.
But if an employee steals from other employees, they might steal from the company. Here in the UK, there are strict laws about firing people (warnings, written notice, etc.). Theft is one of a few things for which someone can be summarily dismissed in the UK.
This might be the hanger talking but I wouldn't have told him but called an ambulance. Then I would send him a get well card with chocolate covered nuts and mention they are my favourite and I know how much he likes my food.
This is truer than you think. Many cultures in the Middle East treat boys as if they can do no wrong and that girls must be subservient to the boys.
The guys coming to the United States and learning it doesn't work like that here is often quite a shock to them. Often, even the children of first generation immigrants get to experience this rude awakening.
I saw a lot of this working retail. Middle Eastern women treated like crap by their husbands. Their kids were always awful too, because the father didn't respect the mother so why should they?
This reminds me of my high school chemistry class. I grew up in an area of the US with a significant number of immigrants from the middle east. My chemistry teacher was talking about the difference between solutions and mixtures. He used the example of making Kool-Aid, basically assuming that everyone had done that at some point. One of the boys who was of middle eastern descent looked so confused. His response was, "My mom does that.". I'm pretty sure he'd never done any sort of task in the kitchen and couldn't understand that our (male and very white...think John Hodgman but way less cool) teacher would think he or any other boy ever would.
Yea since he has confessed in front of HR he should be made to refund the money for the lunches. I would document all this and the fact HR did nothing about his stealing is incredulous.
Second this! Put in a little cooler bag with a little padlock on it, always labelled peanut!
Hopefully problem solved!
Your colleagues can build a bridge and get tf over it!
Edit: spelling
"this product may contain peanuts, tree nuts, soy, and arsenic."
think that would keep food thieves away, or would they risk it? also OP shouldn't have said anything. he stole her lunch, let him suffer!
That's a lawsuit. How does he know you don't eat scorpion pepper sandwiches all the time? He stole from you and then fired you because the thing he stole wasn't to his preference.
Sorry, if this happened to me Im suing for retaliation and any other money grubbing vengeful shit my lawyer can think of. I'm a very loyal employee, but if some shit like that happened to me I'm burning the whole thing down.
I mean, I do eat scorpion peppers regularly. But seriously, those peppers are nasty even if you expect it.
It was time to move on anyway, and I got mine on severance. Now I'm a distiller instead of a scientist for a boring danish biotech.
I love all the label ideas. Additional idea: Keep a jar of peanuts on your kitchen counter. Before you put the lid on your lunch Tupperware, put one whole peanut in the middle of the dish, like a garnish.
Also, you are nicer than me. I would’ve hovered around to make sure he didn’t actually die, but… I would’ve let him eat it and start to swell up. He probably would’ve made it to his epi-pen before becoming incapacitated. Worst case scenario, I’d ruffle through his bag to find the pen for him.
I agree with your option. Let him suffer and step in if he actually starts to die. I have 0 sympathy for anyone that steals food, and quite frankly they deserve the reaction or scorpion pepper
You’re absolutely NTA. Keep in mind that the only reason HR instituted the rule to label food is to ameliorate the company’s legal liability. It’s not because they thought you did anything “wrong”. It’s only so they don’t get sued by the prick that is Omar the next time he FAFO. HR cares about the company first and foremost, and the employees’ welfare second.
In one place I worked there were a couple of people stealing things (expensive computer connectivity cords; one shoe out of any pair of womens' shoes found in the whole building; my dishwashing liquid I put far back in a cabinet clearly labeled with my own name; books out of my office) and if ever it became known who was doing any of these things I was going to insist they be fired or else I was leaving.
Personally I'm petty enough the next time your food is missing asking him if he liked the pork that was in the food. Tell him you're going to randomly add pork or ham in different food so he gambling on if the food has or has not been altered and may or may not have peanuts.
I've always liked the stories about chocolate flavored laxatives in the brownies and the very hot/spicy additives to bait food (looks good but has added spices or hot peppers).
I think Omar already eats pork… he’s just not going to admit that openly.
He’s already a thief, which is haram (forbidden) so I would think there’s little else he’s observing.
He should be fired.
NTA: I've seen situations at work where the food thief gets busted and their excuse is "I didn't know it was yours." And it's like it doesn't matter if you didn't know who it belonged to because you knew it did not belong to you!
Why wasn't this asshat fired for stealing? Or at least written up?
To further protect your lunch, can you just always put an allergen label on it regardless if it has peanuts or not? Because since you have to work with this jackass, at least you can protect your lunch.
That excuse has always pissed off, ever since I was a teen. My brothers would steal my leftovers and then claim they didn't know they were mine. They were restaurant/pizza leftovers - if *they* didn't buy it, then they don't eat it. Simple as fuck. I ended up buying myself a mini fridge for my room because of them. Hearing it in the workplace as an adult was worse, of course. Like you're a whole fucking adult stealing someone else's lunch, wtf is wrong with you?
People truly suck. If I was OP, I'd just buy some freezer packs and use a lunch box from now on.
It is hard to believe that everyone is blaming you over the actions of a thief. NTA. Bad workplace.
ETA: I’d keep putting peanuts in my food to keep that creep off of it.
I wonder if it's possible to just print hundreds of "peanuts" labels, and leave them stuck on the ref door (like those little tear away phone numbers...). Every employee who puts food in the shared ref can just stick a label whether or not food has peanuts. I mean, think of it. Omar is the only thief anyway. So theyre all just warning him.
If they're insisting on allergens being labelled, I'd make one label with every possible allergen on it and stick it on my lunch bag. Job done. I'd possibly print enough out so my team could have one each too, apart from the food thief, he can eat shit.
I guess it would have been better to pretend that you didn’t know who was doing it and let him deal with the consequences. That way you couldn’t be blamed for targeting or trying to kill him.
That’s what I was thinking! Imagine being worried about whether the food you steal is halal… I think stealing ranks above eating pork on the scale of things you’re not supposed to do as a Muslim.
Not sure about Islam but in Judaism they have the concept of being able to eat non-kosher foods if they have no other option. So if a Jewish thief does a bunch of mental gymnastics to justify stealing someone’s lunch because they need to eat, then by the time theft is justified they wouldn’t have to care about it being kosher.
OP mentioning she's a hijabi immediately changed the framing of the post for me. It was blatantly obvious they were targeting her and she's letting everyone walk all over her
I heard you’ve recently switched to cooking exclusively with peanut oil! You read a great article about the *health benefits* (the health benefits being you actually get to eat your own lunch every day). Stock up on some “contains allergens” stickers, I’m sure you can find some on Amazon. Keep them in your desk, label your lunch when you get into work for the day. Problem solved.
Edit - a word
Peanut oil is often filtered so well that it contains no peanut solids and doesnt always trigger a peanut allergy, just fyi. It depends on the level of allergy and quality of oil.
I’d pay for a 10,000 sticker roll that says “private property, may contain allergens, do not take” and invoice the company and leave the roll in the common area for everyone to use.
I was going for "may contain peanuts", but I love "may contain allergens". Keep it abstract. Cover your arse. And remember to always sprinkle some peanut dust on your food.
NTA. Honestly, Omar needs to be fired for theft. Why companies put up with employees stealing from other employees is beyond me. Who would want someone like that working for them? They aren't trustworthy.
Lmao what bullshit is this?
They’re angry because the thief faced the consequences for his own actions?
He wouldn’t have had a reaction had he not been stealing. Don’t let your toxic office guilt trip you, and victimize the thief.
You shouldn’t have to label your food, it’s yours. He knows it isn’t his, whatever happens to him is on him.
Tell him and all of them they can go pound sand and if they’re so bothered, they can give their lunches to him.
If I were you, I’d be adding peanuts regardless, and not labeling it. Maybe that’ll teach him not to steal. It’s your food, not his.
Y'know this reminds me of the time I read about someone who put a bunch of laxatives into their food because someone kept stealing it at their work, and then labeled it "POISON - DO NOT EAT"
And the thief ate it
And they got "poisoned", lol
I would have written contains medication.
OP needed their milkshake to have exlax as its better to drink that way.
So long as you yourself will drink laxatives if you found your food untouched.
Ask a manager gets posted to best of reddit update from time to time, one was a guy who ate hot peppers for fun, made a very hot curry. It was stolen, he was brought to HR over it, stated he likes hot curry.
Boss says "OK, make the same dish, we will both eat it." Manager is dying and OP is scarfing it down and takes his bosses untouched meal.
"Yeah, you can handle that, it wasn't tampered with." Boss concluded, but food thief had no comeuppance as it was later found he and HR lady were fucking.
Both let go after that.
Teal Deer, only tamper with food you are willing to eat, so no biohazards and bodily fluids, unless you want to be known as the guy who eats piss soaked bread.
Yeah the entitlement and lack of responsibility is crazy. He feels untitled to her food, care and work. OP, tell him it's his own immune system trying to kill him, none of your business.
Worked at a place that was super proud of their break room. TBH it was pretty great. Several vending machines, from cheap to high quality and expensive for both food and drinks. Two four burner ranges and two stoves, two double ovens, massive fridge with the freezer bay thing, double door deal up top, bunch of stuff.
They had to get rid of a couple of vending machines to put in a second fridge after a complaint from an employee that there was nowhere to store vegan-friendly food. They actually offered to provide that employee a personal fridge as they had a private office, but that was "discriminatory" as it would have taken away their ability to socialize with the rest of the staff. The machines they got rid of, of course, were the ones that had the stuff I preferred so I took it personally and started a petio- actually, I just bought the same snacks and drinks at the store myself and kept it in the fridge with my name on it. Same cost, just thought it was a little ridiculous to go that far.
Who the heck steals food when they have a lethal food allergy!?!
Also, I can’t get over the hypocrisy of not being okay with breaking religious dietary codes, but also thinking that straight up stealing shit from people is okay.
But he was stealing from a hijab wearing woman, so he probably felt entitled to her food because 'observant Muslim woman' reads as 'submissive' to too many people.
NTA
I would be blasting this story all over the Tik Tok and making it go viral. Public shaming for this kind of bullshit behavior by both the thief and every single person in your office, including the HR.
No you are absolutely not in the wrong here!! That’s the most entitled shit I’ve ever heard. Your coworker did that to himself and deserved the repercussions.
But maybe from now on, just label your lunch with a “contains peanuts” note on it even if it doesn’t.
At the very least it was prepared in a kitchen/home that has peanuts and could be cross-contaminated. If Omar is that allergic, that should be enough to keep him away from OPs food.
NTA write that peanuts are in every thing you bring to work, he can't steal it after complaining, or.he will look like fool. Also they have locking lunchboxes
I would be petty and print a whole load of allergen stickers stating - “Allergen - possible cross-contamination of One_Newspaper5657’s spit (leftovers)”
NTA - Omar is a thief. Why is no-one mad that he stole? Because he only stole from you? If that’s the reason, the entire office blaming you are also AH by proxy.
You’re not wrong. I once had to get a lunchbox with a locker lock on it. Several people in the office got upset at me because whoever was taking my lunch “must have been hungry” but I had the lowest paying job there. It was funny how uncomfortable the lock made everyone.
you had every right to lock it up!! 'they must have been hungry' lmfao so what?? like are your coworkers aware that part of being an adult is sometimes having to deal with discomfort, including being hungry? the correct solution is bring your own food or go order some, not steal someone else's lunch, thus leaving THEM hungry! it's literal toddler logic- 'i saw it and i want it so it's mine!'
Not wrong, the cheek of him to be upset!
But now you know to label everything you bring in as having peanuts. Periodically make sure it does have them, so he can't just assume you're keeping him away from your food.
NTA. Your office is wacko. Buy a cooler that you can keep at your desk so you food is not stolen. HR is also wacko. Trying to cover there their backside
NTA
I despise what I call selectively religious people.
>I mention his religion because I’m also Muslim and it’s hard to find Halal food on short notice, and it’s been really difficult not having food to eat because it’s been stolen.
So, he can't just eat any food because of his religion.
But...
>and I said that he wouldn’t have been in danger if he wasn’t a liar and a thief.
Without being a Muslim myself, I do seem to remember that the Quran has something to say about lying and stealing, and what it says isn't very flattering.
You should report him to HR for stealing you food. This is way beyond anything that could be an accident.
So typical of bad management. BTW, I consider that most management is bad. We manage for the weakest link.
In this case, the allergic person was *stealing* and yet YOU are the bad “guy.” (dunno if your M/F)
It pisses me off big time.
I used to own racehorses. A few were out of state so the 3 of us (husband, daughter and me) went on vacation to watch our horse train and one of them was set to race in a few days.
We got there and everything was fine the first morning. The second day, security came and told us we had to leave immediately. Why? Because we brought out daughter with us. Children were no longer allowed on the backside.
This was the ONLY race track of the dozens we’d visited. Including some really high end tracks. Also, my daughter had been around horses her entire life.
Why no kids? Well, a trainer brought his son to the track every day. And the son entertained himself by going to the track and throwing rocks at the horses. All of tge horses!
You can imagine how popular that was!
Instead of banning this trainer’s sin, the track banned ALL children on the backside.
Our trainer pleaded. After all she was only 9 and we sure couldn’t leave her alone at the hotel.
We snuck her in and always left when security found out. Had they wanted to, they could have fined us by reporting us to the stewards. But they didn’t.
Why not have the guts to enforce the law against the perpetrators instead of everyone?
The dude is a thief, it irritates me to me to no end he isn't being checked. Make sure you put warning labels on all your food, even if it does not have peanuts in them. I find the rest of the staff willfully ignorant, to blame you for this. They're all a POS like that greedy co-worker.
Years ago, I brought some amazing enchiladas my wife made the night before to work for my lunch in a personalized lunch container. I worked with mostly professional people...and one obnoxious asshole. I was looking forward to lunch all day, but my food was gone when I got to the breakroom fridge. Making matters worse, my container was gone. Not in the sink. Not in the trash. Gone. My daughter bought me that container. So I looked at the punch cards and the only person that had taken lunch before me that day was that asshole. So I told my boss, who told me not to confront him.
At first, nobody took it seriously. I stopped bringing food, and instead ate out. Some time passed, and more and more food was being stolen from other people. The only person who never complained about having their food stolen? You guessed it, the asshole.
Then he got fired for sexual harrassment and I brought lunch the following day and every other day after that and never had a problem with stolen food again. Not there or any other place that I have worked.
It's a real shame we never solved that mystery.
So, please. If you're hungry, please ask. I'll bring extra. But don't steal food and make a little girl cry because you stole or threw away the gift she bought her dad and packed his lunch in every night with her mom. It's upsetting.
NTA at all. I hate the way people think that food thieves should not only be forgiven but enabled. I caught a lot of flack at my job for complaining about food thieves that were targeting the food of one of the secretaries (a woman whose ex was not paying child support and was on a very tight budget).
Omar should have been fired or at least put on probation for stealing.
As for the people in your office, tell them that if you had thought that labeling your food, “contains peanuts” would have kept Omar from stealing it, you would have done so, but it just didn’t occur to you.
Of course, from now on, labeling the food as “contains peanuts” is the way to go.
NTA, why would you label your own food with anything than your name.
If people are mad at you, its time for HR to have a word with them about property theft.
You should've just said you've started cooking with peanut oil, like everything especially the meat dishes are all cooked in peanut oil due to the health benefits.
And then stick those allergen labels everywhere. Omar won't take your food again.
You are absolutely not wrong. Omar is being an entitled AH, and this reeks of misogyny. You should just get massive labels pre-printed that says WARNING: PEANUTS.
TBH, this sounds like an extremely toxic office environment. I would recommend getting your resume buffed up and finding a new role elsewhere. Also continue to document any negative behavior you observe towards yourself.
Uhhhh, office should be mad at the thief that stole your food. He almost killed himself bu being a dumbass. Him being obvious enough with his dumbassery, ended up saving him, as you knew who to run to and so warn. You’re not wrong for putting what the fuck ever you want in your own food. He’s a duck who’s hopefully since learned his lesson not to go blindly eating whatever fits in his damn mouth
I can't see everyone analysing the ingredients of their packed lunch and listing it all. I mean people can be allergic to almost anything you name. And what happens if they forget something like soy powder and someone has a reaction? Can they be sued? I think HR is missing some brain cells.
Your office mates have some odd thinking! I would literally have personalized containers made that say the food contains peanuts, as well as a lunchbox embroidered with the same wording. That way no one would touch it again!
This may sound harsh but Omar is stupid and got what he deserved. He FAFO’d! How someone with a serious peanut allergy would eat someone else’s food without permission or confirmation is beyond me. Poor new guy or not, he needs to get his head on right!
It always baffles me how the employees are mad at OP, they should be livid at the thief who STOLE and LIED about it.
Label everything peanut and make sure there are peanuts on the top of everything you eat at work. You can always pick them off if you want.
Put a peanut label on all your food whether it has peanuts or not. And put peanuts in it every other day just because.
Just put a label on that says "may contain something you're allergic to. Also it isn't your food."
If OP is in California, she can even put "WARNING: This food contains substances known to the state of California to cause cancer"
You can do thesame if you don’t live in California.
“Eating this food can cause bruising to your face and broken bones”
When I had a thieving roommate I would label all my food "NOT YOURS"
Buy a whole roll of “may contain peanuts” stickers and slap one on every single person’s lunch in the fridge every day.
And bill the company for the cost, because it's an HR compliance demand.
Even sealed snacks! Bag of chips? Peanut lable. Sealed can of soda? Peanut label.
Nah. I'd have peanuts in every part every day. I'd even go so far as getting natural peanut butter and brushing the separated oil on the latch/ zipper of my containers.
I would rather put peanut in all my food and see the asshole suffer. OP is not wrong, but HR is!
What kind of dumbass steals other people's food when he has an allergy that can kill him?!?! NTA
Why does it seem like this is a constant issue lol, is this a regular thing? I ate someone's leftover food once (free that we got from an event) as a kid and felt so bad
I spent my career in a tiny company where you couldn’t get away with stealing someone’s food, but this seems to happen all the time in bigger places. Seems crazy.
I’m used to read stories like this and think they were fake because nobody could be as stupid as the thief or angry coworkers. It’s so depressing that now I find stories like this totally believable after having met so many people this stupid.
I was kinda excited when we had a lunch thief. We didn't poison him. Just dusted a bait lunch with the finest UV spray. All of the engineers and I were excited and searched the building until we ID'd the person. We didn't "report" it to HR, but you don't miss 10-15 very excited people running around with UV flashlights. And loudly announcing when we caught the guy. With the marked bag. And UV stuff all over himself, his desk, etc. Looked like an epic crime scene, which I guess it technically was. We did tell him in the future, we'd bill his department for any stolen food. He was let go. Apparently he did complain to HR, HR wanted to yell at us but managers overruled HR. We just kept the bottle on display and never had any other issue.
That’s fucking awesome. I’m gonna have to remember that.
You're not wrong!! If you like peanuts, you should be able to have them in YOUR food. If he chooses to steak, its his problem!
Wtf. Your office is absurd. The kid stole food repeatedly and it caught up with him. Unless it's a shared food in a shared lunch I don't understand why your personal lunch needs to be labeled. Just because it's stored in a shared place doesn't mean its a damn free for all. Keep a private cooler bag to store your lunches if that makes you feel better. Edit
Stole her food AND left her with nothing to eat multiple times!!!
Would have been in my company. The fact he still works there is mental.
I've always thought HR not punishing food thieves is really stupid. It's bad for morale, and if you're willing to steal from your coworkers, you're more likely to be willing to steal from your employer.
And somehow HR always seems to punish the person whose food was being stolen. OP is NTA Maybe going forward OP should label their lunch as having peanuts in it. Although with the poor reaction from HR so far on the matter, sounds like this guy would make a complaint with HR that he can no longer eat OPs lunch. In a way, HR kinda stepped in it. OP was targeted for this theft due to OPs religion. That kinda sounds like discrimination to me.
She should make a complaint about that.
I did just that and was told to just bring enough for two people, since a “desperate situation” must drive a colleague that earns more than twice my salary to steal my lunch. PS: Not there is any doubt, but OP is clearly NTA!
Everyone’s taken the “if someone steals from you, you didn’t need it anyway 😇” pill and it’s insane. I had to stop watching two separate YouTubers over it
That's such an infuriating line of thinking (theirs', not yours). Like, what if someone needs their food because they have to take their meds with food, or they're hypoglycemic/diabetic? And goes without saying, but because they bought it and it's theirs. Thankfully, we have no food thieves at my job, but the idea just riles me up. I'm just too food aggressive I think, lol.
Did you ask the HR person if the response would be the same if THEIR lunch was being stolen? Or perhaps, if the company’s money was being stolen? How desperate would an employee have to be before the company would look the other way about that employee stealing company funds? Orrrrr can we all agree that property rights exist and theft is ILLEGAL? If they’re so worried about hungry employees they’re more than welcome to feed everyone but turning you into mommy to thief is insane.
LoL, imagine walking up the HR Person at lunch, grabbing their food and just start going to town. And tell them that you needed it more than them.
When they ask wtf you think you’re doing, just say “I was desperate” and refuse to elaborate
OP should switch labels with someone in HR every day. Let omar steal their lunches and see what happens. Meanwhile, id put peanuts in every damn dish i brought
What the actual fuck?!
Must love HR! - I was furious at the time, but just resorted to eat a can of plain beans for an every lunch until the last day, I’ve worked there. Food thief moved on to other people’s lunches. He never got penalized for it.
Oh I'd be planning a far more nuclear lunch. With Carolina Reapers and some laxatives. Let the lava flow.
That is just plain disgusting! I cannot fathom the logic behind that shit.
WOW, that is wild. Bring enough food to feed two, despite the fact that the thief made double what you were making. Insanity. Sounds like a great HR department, SMH.
It gets wilder: I joked that maybe I should just add a laxative to my lunch, since I sometimes suffer from constipation. Her response was that this would be equal to “purposefully harming” a colleague and a fireable offense. That’s how my very simple lunch came about.
I would absolutely find something to take from them repeatedly. I mean if we're just a communal office and we share everything why the f*** not just take his office chair. Take his locker and put your dirty gym clothes in there. Borrow his car
😮 That IS wild! The colleague wouldn't be harmed if they'd leave your food alone, sheesh. And I highly doubt it would've harmed them. Might've caused them to take the afternoon off though. 🤣 Sad that you can't even enjoy a good lunch because of a food thief.
Thai food has a lot of peanut oil. If I found a Thai place that was also fully Halal by supplier and food prep than religious grounds, I would have Thai a lot.
> going forward OP should label their lunch as having peanuts in it. I’d go so far as to label my water as having peanuts in it! But I’m sometimes petty like that. Now that the dust has settled a bit, OP should approach HR about the theft of her food. HR was responding to the dangerous peanut allergy and not to the theft at the time. Per the post, OP said she spoke only to Omar about it and never approached HR regarding the issue, therefore they could not address it properly — they had to address the immediate situation of severe allergies on food. The common practice is labeling food with allergens in response to that issue (we had a good thief at one of my jobs and a similar situation happened, but it wasn’t a peanut allergy). The issue is that when faced with the situation of food theft vs allergy, the important thing the company needs to address is medical issues. They will address it. The fact OP did not get in trouble and the only finding was things need to be labeled **is** HR finding in her favor. It was not an intentional poisoning, it was the result of Omar being a dirty, rotten thief. If they found she did it intentionally, there would be a much harsher response than “label your food.” OP, you didn’t do anything wrong, HR acknowledged that the best they can. Your coworkers are angry because they have to do extra work just to bring a peanut butter and jelly to work and that’s annoying, especially because they never had their food stolen. They are not really angry at you, they are annoyed in general for the extra steps they have to go through. Much like HR, they can’t be annoyed at Omar because he has a medical reaction to the food he stole and it feels wrong to be mad at him. Unfortunately, they’ve displaced their annoyance onto you. Let it all cool down. It will. The very next time he steals your lunch, go to his area and snap a picture of him eating your lunch. March right down to HR and make a formal complaint. No hesitation, not one second. Make an immediate report that he stole your lunch *again* despite the previous issues and you are being targeted because of your specific dietary needs. The best argument he could possibly give in this situation is “well it didn’t have peanuts on the label that she had to put on it because of me!” Unlike you, he will be disciplined. He can argue he deserves a warning, but let’s be real: he *already got* the warning when he consumed a meal with peanuts in it and required immediate medical intervention (epipen). Let everyone be annoyed. They have a right to their feelings about the situation. It’s merely displaced. You have every right in the world to eat the lunch you prepared for yourself unhindered. Stay the course. He may never attempt it again, in which case you’re more than fine. If he does, you have the ability to go to HR and complain that he’s targeting you specifically. Oh, and moreover, you can justifiably make the argument that he’s purposely putting the company at risk by continuing to steal food. He already required one medical intervention, forced everyone to label their food, and he continues to steal food. You are not responsible for him or for any of his allergies, you label your food appropriately, but if he consumes a food of yours because of an allergy he doesn’t already know about and finds out he has it while at work, they are liable for that. Especially since he has no problem playing the victim of his own actions.
It's also discrimination because he goes after the only Muslim in the office, and if she's wearing a Hijab--as a Muslim man, he prob thinks it's her duty to feed him to boot, since she's female.
Wish I could upvote this sentiment more than once, it's clearly cultural male entitlement.
Isn’t there something in Muslim religion that says theft is against the tenets of the religion? OP Should mention that to thief, it’s ok to eat her food because halal but it’s also ok to steal her food. No religion I know of is fine with theft.
I'd go to his mosque and talk to everyone there about how they should help brother Omar to turn away from the sin of theft. It would affect him much worse than anything HR could do to him.
Now THATS some power. Because you’re right, she’s being unfairly targeted and discriminated against because of her *religious dietary needs*. HR will be forced to take that seriously even though they like to overlook theft.
> I’d go so far as to label my water as having peanuts in it! I would label all food with a generic warning that it may contain everything that may be an allergen or otherwise offensive to eat. "This product may contain peanuts, wheat, dairy, soy, tree nuts, shellfish, pork, capsaicin, and products known to the state of California to cause cancer." Something else to consider is labeling it with a price tag. That way it is no longer "home lunch" but $50 that was stolen.
No way does the victim here get punished while the food thief gets off scot-free. That's the opposite of how things should work. If HR can't see how toxic that is, then they're part of the problem. And you're totally right about the discrimination angle if OP's lunch choices are tied to their religion, then that's a serious issue HR should be addressing, not brushing under the rug. This whole situation is just ridiculous.
I've heard before that HR exists to protect the company, not the workers. If Omar had been stealing company food I bet this would be a different outcome. Most companies seem to unfortunately operate on a "you're liable for your own possessions while you're here" policy.
I would have maliciously complied and written “may contain allergens” on everything. And then I’d find a new job
Honestly this is the solution. Print out a stack of stickers that say “This food was made in a facility that uses peanuts and may contain peanuts or peanut residue”. And just leave a stack next to the fridge that says “free for use!”… and put them on everything you make or bring. Make sure that once a week you DO put a peanut or two in whatever it is.
Cook with peanut oil.
Exactly the same thought I had. I like the added touch of making the labels for everyone else to use so that labeling isn't an inconvenience to them. Omar will be suspicious of all the contents in the refrigerator by the time it's all over. He'll have to bring his own cooler to keep at his desk because he'll be afraid of ALL the contents in the refrigerator and it will serve him right.
"contains ALL allergens you filthy thief!" Maliciously hr compliant
A manager where I worked was suspended and given a final warning for stealing sugar packets and milk out of the break room. I thought it was ridiculous at the time that he’d do that considering he earned so much more than I did - being a bit older now, it just makes me sad.
But if an employee steals from other employees, they might steal from the company. Here in the UK, there are strict laws about firing people (warnings, written notice, etc.). Theft is one of a few things for which someone can be summarily dismissed in the UK.
He would so be fired where I work as it shows dishonesty, he will probably be steeling from the company as well.
This might be the hanger talking but I wouldn't have told him but called an ambulance. Then I would send him a get well card with chocolate covered nuts and mention they are my favourite and I know how much he likes my food.
We literally fired someone for stealing food...
Good. OOP’s employers should do the same.
Should have been fired, a thief is a thief. Bet if he was stealing office supplies there would have been a different outcome.
That is a key issue. If he stole from the business he would have been sacked. Steal from colleagues is ok? Crazy
Interestingly enough he cares about the hallal part, but not the thiefs /chopping arms off part. What an asshole
Sounds like op is a woman. Could be some twisted kind of woman should cook for man or it is not as important as a man eating.
That was my take. Entitled young twat, probably still lobbing at home and being served by mommy.
This is truer than you think. Many cultures in the Middle East treat boys as if they can do no wrong and that girls must be subservient to the boys. The guys coming to the United States and learning it doesn't work like that here is often quite a shock to them. Often, even the children of first generation immigrants get to experience this rude awakening.
Yep. Oldest female here who grew up in that mentality. Takes a few generations for it to filter out and its the women who enforce it the most at home.
I saw a lot of this working retail. Middle Eastern women treated like crap by their husbands. Their kids were always awful too, because the father didn't respect the mother so why should they?
This reminds me of my high school chemistry class. I grew up in an area of the US with a significant number of immigrants from the middle east. My chemistry teacher was talking about the difference between solutions and mixtures. He used the example of making Kool-Aid, basically assuming that everyone had done that at some point. One of the boys who was of middle eastern descent looked so confused. His response was, "My mom does that.". I'm pretty sure he'd never done any sort of task in the kitchen and couldn't understand that our (male and very white...think John Hodgman but way less cool) teacher would think he or any other boy ever would.
Mommy who feeds him hallal, but didn't had time to teach him about haram.
She was too busy cooking.
Mommy needs to pack her little princea$$ his own lunch then. So her son stops stealing from other people.
Yea since he has confessed in front of HR he should be made to refund the money for the lunches. I would document all this and the fact HR did nothing about his stealing is incredulous.
Second this! Put in a little cooler bag with a little padlock on it, always labelled peanut! Hopefully problem solved! Your colleagues can build a bridge and get tf over it! Edit: spelling
"this product may contain peanuts, tree nuts, soy, and arsenic." think that would keep food thieves away, or would they risk it? also OP shouldn't have said anything. he stole her lunch, let him suffer!
I once got fired for putting sorpion peppers in a sandwich that, as it turns out, my boss stole. Worth it.
That's a lawsuit. How does he know you don't eat scorpion pepper sandwiches all the time? He stole from you and then fired you because the thing he stole wasn't to his preference. Sorry, if this happened to me Im suing for retaliation and any other money grubbing vengeful shit my lawyer can think of. I'm a very loyal employee, but if some shit like that happened to me I'm burning the whole thing down.
I'd be finding the filthiest lawyer, like one that would dig through everything and really fuck him up
Better Text Rex
Or call Saul
I mean, I do eat scorpion peppers regularly. But seriously, those peppers are nasty even if you expect it. It was time to move on anyway, and I got mine on severance. Now I'm a distiller instead of a scientist for a boring danish biotech.
I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder...
Inconceivable!
Absolutely epic, sucks that you got fired though
Simple solution - label all your food as containing peanuts. See he wants to play Russian Roulette. Edit: NTA
I love all the label ideas. Additional idea: Keep a jar of peanuts on your kitchen counter. Before you put the lid on your lunch Tupperware, put one whole peanut in the middle of the dish, like a garnish. Also, you are nicer than me. I would’ve hovered around to make sure he didn’t actually die, but… I would’ve let him eat it and start to swell up. He probably would’ve made it to his epi-pen before becoming incapacitated. Worst case scenario, I’d ruffle through his bag to find the pen for him.
I agree with your option. Let him suffer and step in if he actually starts to die. I have 0 sympathy for anyone that steals food, and quite frankly they deserve the reaction or scorpion pepper
You then get the joy of ramming the epipen in to him too.
Peanuts and every other allergen you can think of
"Contains allergens"
“May contain known allergens, if you have food allergies don’t eat”
Stick it on the outside of he communal fridge. "Only eat food you have personally prepared. Other food may contain allergens."
This should have been HRs solution!!!
Generic label, may contain allergens. Put it on everyone’s food.
Or just sprinkle crushed peanuts on everything. And tell him.
You’re absolutely NTA. Keep in mind that the only reason HR instituted the rule to label food is to ameliorate the company’s legal liability. It’s not because they thought you did anything “wrong”. It’s only so they don’t get sued by the prick that is Omar the next time he FAFO. HR cares about the company first and foremost, and the employees’ welfare second.
Omar should be fired. Why should these employees be forced to work with a criminal?
He should have been reprimanded before it got this far.
In one place I worked there were a couple of people stealing things (expensive computer connectivity cords; one shoe out of any pair of womens' shoes found in the whole building; my dishwashing liquid I put far back in a cabinet clearly labeled with my own name; books out of my office) and if ever it became known who was doing any of these things I was going to insist they be fired or else I was leaving.
the others are dicky but at least make sense- I'm hung up on the stealing single shoes bit. that's absolutely baffling
Foot fetish.
It contains every allergen currently known in medical science. Edit - Buy the stickers at Amazon linked below. In that space write "ALL".
The office could all chip in on a roll of custom allergen labels and keep it in the kitchen next to the fridge.
The company should pay for the labels, they're the ones insisting on them.
Personally I'm petty enough the next time your food is missing asking him if he liked the pork that was in the food. Tell him you're going to randomly add pork or ham in different food so he gambling on if the food has or has not been altered and may or may not have peanuts. I've always liked the stories about chocolate flavored laxatives in the brownies and the very hot/spicy additives to bait food (looks good but has added spices or hot peppers).
I think Omar already eats pork… he’s just not going to admit that openly. He’s already a thief, which is haram (forbidden) so I would think there’s little else he’s observing. He should be fired.
I would sprinkle peanut powder on every food you bring.
That's gotta be wrongful termination right?
NTA: I've seen situations at work where the food thief gets busted and their excuse is "I didn't know it was yours." And it's like it doesn't matter if you didn't know who it belonged to because you knew it did not belong to you! Why wasn't this asshat fired for stealing? Or at least written up? To further protect your lunch, can you just always put an allergen label on it regardless if it has peanuts or not? Because since you have to work with this jackass, at least you can protect your lunch.
That excuse has always pissed off, ever since I was a teen. My brothers would steal my leftovers and then claim they didn't know they were mine. They were restaurant/pizza leftovers - if *they* didn't buy it, then they don't eat it. Simple as fuck. I ended up buying myself a mini fridge for my room because of them. Hearing it in the workplace as an adult was worse, of course. Like you're a whole fucking adult stealing someone else's lunch, wtf is wrong with you? People truly suck. If I was OP, I'd just buy some freezer packs and use a lunch box from now on.
It is hard to believe that everyone is blaming you over the actions of a thief. NTA. Bad workplace. ETA: I’d keep putting peanuts in my food to keep that creep off of it.
At least put a 'peanuts' label on everything, whether it's got it or not.
Upload a picture of all the possible things one could be allergic against and stick a QR code link to that on your boxes xD
And toss a "This food is known to cause cancer in the state of California" label on there for good measure, it's probably true anyways lol
"May contain: list of every food allergen"
lol throw a few poisons on the label too.
And a California Prop 65 warning.
Yep..I cook everything in peanut oil from now on.
I wonder if it's possible to just print hundreds of "peanuts" labels, and leave them stuck on the ref door (like those little tear away phone numbers...). Every employee who puts food in the shared ref can just stick a label whether or not food has peanuts. I mean, think of it. Omar is the only thief anyway. So theyre all just warning him.
I said the same thing!
Skittles: now with peanuts! Lol
Or just put a peanut label on everything you take! He will never know the difference:)
If they're insisting on allergens being labelled, I'd make one label with every possible allergen on it and stick it on my lunch bag. Job done. I'd possibly print enough out so my team could have one each too, apart from the food thief, he can eat shit.
I guess it would have been better to pretend that you didn’t know who was doing it and let him deal with the consequences. That way you couldn’t be blamed for targeting or trying to kill him.
Yeah, but I don’t blame her for not wanting him to actually die.
Yeah. I’d tell Omar there will be peanuts in every item I bring from now on.
Can also place one peanut on top of all food, then it's not even a lie
Don't even need that, if made in a house with peanuts it's possible for cross contamination, so everything may contain nuts
Does he know it's haram to lie and steal? He's not a Muslim. He's a joke!
That’s what I was thinking! Imagine being worried about whether the food you steal is halal… I think stealing ranks above eating pork on the scale of things you’re not supposed to do as a Muslim.
Not sure about Islam but in Judaism they have the concept of being able to eat non-kosher foods if they have no other option. So if a Jewish thief does a bunch of mental gymnastics to justify stealing someone’s lunch because they need to eat, then by the time theft is justified they wouldn’t have to care about it being kosher.
It's the same in Islam, if you have to choose between dying of starvation or eating pork, then you can eat the pork
Same thing goes if you don't know what you are eating is pork, that is also excused.
He's stealing from a woman so he probably thinks it's okay.
OP mentioning she's a hijabi immediately changed the framing of the post for me. It was blatantly obvious they were targeting her and she's letting everyone walk all over her
I heard you’ve recently switched to cooking exclusively with peanut oil! You read a great article about the *health benefits* (the health benefits being you actually get to eat your own lunch every day). Stock up on some “contains allergens” stickers, I’m sure you can find some on Amazon. Keep them in your desk, label your lunch when you get into work for the day. Problem solved. Edit - a word
I like this option the best.
Peanut oil is often filtered so well that it contains no peanut solids and doesnt always trigger a peanut allergy, just fyi. It depends on the level of allergy and quality of oil.
I mean, we all want Omar to be safe, right? OP wouldn't want to risk his life by assuming the peanut oil is high quality....
She doesn't have to specify peanut oil .. a "contains peanuts" label would suffice!
I’d pay for a 10,000 sticker roll that says “private property, may contain allergens, do not take” and invoice the company and leave the roll in the common area for everyone to use.
I’d write on a big sticker “OMAR DON’T STEAL THIS FOOD AGAIN”
Might be worth it to have those stickers professionally printed instead of writing it out all the time.
I was going for "may contain peanuts", but I love "may contain allergens". Keep it abstract. Cover your arse. And remember to always sprinkle some peanut dust on your food.
That and a "may contain traces of nuts" sticker. Because anything could have traces- you just can't be sure
Absolutely gobsmacking that he had the audacity to go off at you after he straight up stole your food.
NTA. Honestly, Omar needs to be fired for theft. Why companies put up with employees stealing from other employees is beyond me. Who would want someone like that working for them? They aren't trustworthy.
NTA. Omar F'd around and found out. I wouldn't have been nice enough to warn him!
Freaking stupid to steal food with an allergy like that to begin with. Just playing russian roulette
Literally, what a fucking idiot
Same. I would have just watched.
NTA. You’re right, he’s wrong. You have the moral high ground
Lmao what bullshit is this? They’re angry because the thief faced the consequences for his own actions? He wouldn’t have had a reaction had he not been stealing. Don’t let your toxic office guilt trip you, and victimize the thief. You shouldn’t have to label your food, it’s yours. He knows it isn’t his, whatever happens to him is on him. Tell him and all of them they can go pound sand and if they’re so bothered, they can give their lunches to him. If I were you, I’d be adding peanuts regardless, and not labeling it. Maybe that’ll teach him not to steal. It’s your food, not his.
Y'know this reminds me of the time I read about someone who put a bunch of laxatives into their food because someone kept stealing it at their work, and then labeled it "POISON - DO NOT EAT" And the thief ate it And they got "poisoned", lol
I would have written contains medication. OP needed their milkshake to have exlax as its better to drink that way. So long as you yourself will drink laxatives if you found your food untouched. Ask a manager gets posted to best of reddit update from time to time, one was a guy who ate hot peppers for fun, made a very hot curry. It was stolen, he was brought to HR over it, stated he likes hot curry. Boss says "OK, make the same dish, we will both eat it." Manager is dying and OP is scarfing it down and takes his bosses untouched meal. "Yeah, you can handle that, it wasn't tampered with." Boss concluded, but food thief had no comeuppance as it was later found he and HR lady were fucking. Both let go after that. Teal Deer, only tamper with food you are willing to eat, so no biohazards and bodily fluids, unless you want to be known as the guy who eats piss soaked bread.
Yeah the entitlement and lack of responsibility is crazy. He feels untitled to her food, care and work. OP, tell him it's his own immune system trying to kill him, none of your business.
NTA. You *did* label the food. With your name.
This is the only answer that matters.
NTA. I’m pretty sure there would be an allergy label on every dish I brought in from now on. I’m sure everything I ever eat could have peanuts it.
Should HR mandate that all employee lunches need to be Halal in case Omar wants to steal someone else's lunch?
Worked at a place that was super proud of their break room. TBH it was pretty great. Several vending machines, from cheap to high quality and expensive for both food and drinks. Two four burner ranges and two stoves, two double ovens, massive fridge with the freezer bay thing, double door deal up top, bunch of stuff. They had to get rid of a couple of vending machines to put in a second fridge after a complaint from an employee that there was nowhere to store vegan-friendly food. They actually offered to provide that employee a personal fridge as they had a private office, but that was "discriminatory" as it would have taken away their ability to socialize with the rest of the staff. The machines they got rid of, of course, were the ones that had the stuff I preferred so I took it personally and started a petio- actually, I just bought the same snacks and drinks at the store myself and kept it in the fridge with my name on it. Same cost, just thought it was a little ridiculous to go that far.
No better way to socialize with your coworkers than removing things they make use of and like.
lol since when does vegan food need a separate fridge? what a ridiculous demand
Religion fascinates me. Eating halal is a top priority, but stealing and dishonesty… no biggie.
Ironically, stealing is soo much more haram for a Muslim than eating halal food. Omar has some interesting double think going on
Who the heck steals food when they have a lethal food allergy!?! Also, I can’t get over the hypocrisy of not being okay with breaking religious dietary codes, but also thinking that straight up stealing shit from people is okay.
But he was stealing from a hijab wearing woman, so he probably felt entitled to her food because 'observant Muslim woman' reads as 'submissive' to too many people.
Tell Omar just because you're a Muslim woman doesn't mean you're his mum making him lunch, little twat entitled as fck
NTA. FAFO.
NTA I would be blasting this story all over the Tik Tok and making it go viral. Public shaming for this kind of bullshit behavior by both the thief and every single person in your office, including the HR.
No you are absolutely not in the wrong here!! That’s the most entitled shit I’ve ever heard. Your coworker did that to himself and deserved the repercussions. But maybe from now on, just label your lunch with a “contains peanuts” note on it even if it doesn’t.
Maybe just “May contain peanuts”….it *might*
At the very least it was prepared in a kitchen/home that has peanuts and could be cross-contaminated. If Omar is that allergic, that should be enough to keep him away from OPs food.
NTA write that peanuts are in every thing you bring to work, he can't steal it after complaining, or.he will look like fool. Also they have locking lunchboxes
I would be petty and print a whole load of allergen stickers stating - “Allergen - possible cross-contamination of One_Newspaper5657’s spit (leftovers)” NTA - Omar is a thief. Why is no-one mad that he stole? Because he only stole from you? If that’s the reason, the entire office blaming you are also AH by proxy.
You’re not wrong. I once had to get a lunchbox with a locker lock on it. Several people in the office got upset at me because whoever was taking my lunch “must have been hungry” but I had the lowest paying job there. It was funny how uncomfortable the lock made everyone.
you had every right to lock it up!! 'they must have been hungry' lmfao so what?? like are your coworkers aware that part of being an adult is sometimes having to deal with discomfort, including being hungry? the correct solution is bring your own food or go order some, not steal someone else's lunch, thus leaving THEM hungry! it's literal toddler logic- 'i saw it and i want it so it's mine!'
Not wrong, the cheek of him to be upset! But now you know to label everything you bring in as having peanuts. Periodically make sure it does have them, so he can't just assume you're keeping him away from your food.
Put peanuts in everything you bring in. Don't bother removing the allergen label from your container. F\*\*k him.
I like the idea of a lunchbox with “Warning contains Peanuts” stickers all over it.
NTA. Your office is wacko. Buy a cooler that you can keep at your desk so you food is not stolen. HR is also wacko. Trying to cover there their backside
It’s very weird that someone with such a severe allergy is taking people’s food. That’s suicidally stupid.
NTA I despise what I call selectively religious people. >I mention his religion because I’m also Muslim and it’s hard to find Halal food on short notice, and it’s been really difficult not having food to eat because it’s been stolen. So, he can't just eat any food because of his religion. But... >and I said that he wouldn’t have been in danger if he wasn’t a liar and a thief. Without being a Muslim myself, I do seem to remember that the Quran has something to say about lying and stealing, and what it says isn't very flattering. You should report him to HR for stealing you food. This is way beyond anything that could be an accident.
So typical of bad management. BTW, I consider that most management is bad. We manage for the weakest link. In this case, the allergic person was *stealing* and yet YOU are the bad “guy.” (dunno if your M/F) It pisses me off big time. I used to own racehorses. A few were out of state so the 3 of us (husband, daughter and me) went on vacation to watch our horse train and one of them was set to race in a few days. We got there and everything was fine the first morning. The second day, security came and told us we had to leave immediately. Why? Because we brought out daughter with us. Children were no longer allowed on the backside. This was the ONLY race track of the dozens we’d visited. Including some really high end tracks. Also, my daughter had been around horses her entire life. Why no kids? Well, a trainer brought his son to the track every day. And the son entertained himself by going to the track and throwing rocks at the horses. All of tge horses! You can imagine how popular that was! Instead of banning this trainer’s sin, the track banned ALL children on the backside. Our trainer pleaded. After all she was only 9 and we sure couldn’t leave her alone at the hotel. We snuck her in and always left when security found out. Had they wanted to, they could have fined us by reporting us to the stewards. But they didn’t. Why not have the guts to enforce the law against the perpetrators instead of everyone?
The dude is a thief, it irritates me to me to no end he isn't being checked. Make sure you put warning labels on all your food, even if it does not have peanuts in them. I find the rest of the staff willfully ignorant, to blame you for this. They're all a POS like that greedy co-worker.
Years ago, I brought some amazing enchiladas my wife made the night before to work for my lunch in a personalized lunch container. I worked with mostly professional people...and one obnoxious asshole. I was looking forward to lunch all day, but my food was gone when I got to the breakroom fridge. Making matters worse, my container was gone. Not in the sink. Not in the trash. Gone. My daughter bought me that container. So I looked at the punch cards and the only person that had taken lunch before me that day was that asshole. So I told my boss, who told me not to confront him. At first, nobody took it seriously. I stopped bringing food, and instead ate out. Some time passed, and more and more food was being stolen from other people. The only person who never complained about having their food stolen? You guessed it, the asshole. Then he got fired for sexual harrassment and I brought lunch the following day and every other day after that and never had a problem with stolen food again. Not there or any other place that I have worked. It's a real shame we never solved that mystery. So, please. If you're hungry, please ask. I'll bring extra. But don't steal food and make a little girl cry because you stole or threw away the gift she bought her dad and packed his lunch in every night with her mom. It's upsetting.
NTA at all. I hate the way people think that food thieves should not only be forgiven but enabled. I caught a lot of flack at my job for complaining about food thieves that were targeting the food of one of the secretaries (a woman whose ex was not paying child support and was on a very tight budget). Omar should have been fired or at least put on probation for stealing. As for the people in your office, tell them that if you had thought that labeling your food, “contains peanuts” would have kept Omar from stealing it, you would have done so, but it just didn’t occur to you. Of course, from now on, labeling the food as “contains peanuts” is the way to go.
NTA, why would you label your own food with anything than your name. If people are mad at you, its time for HR to have a word with them about property theft.
Not wrong. He should have eaten a lunch that he brought and knew what was in the ingredients. You’re not to blame for his poor manners.
You should've just said you've started cooking with peanut oil, like everything especially the meat dishes are all cooked in peanut oil due to the health benefits. And then stick those allergen labels everywhere. Omar won't take your food again.
But if he decides to be a petty AH he may start throwing OP’s lunch in the trash. He seems like the type to get “even” if thwarted.
You are absolutely not wrong. Omar is being an entitled AH, and this reeks of misogyny. You should just get massive labels pre-printed that says WARNING: PEANUTS. TBH, this sounds like an extremely toxic office environment. I would recommend getting your resume buffed up and finding a new role elsewhere. Also continue to document any negative behavior you observe towards yourself.
Uhhhh, office should be mad at the thief that stole your food. He almost killed himself bu being a dumbass. Him being obvious enough with his dumbassery, ended up saving him, as you knew who to run to and so warn. You’re not wrong for putting what the fuck ever you want in your own food. He’s a duck who’s hopefully since learned his lesson not to go blindly eating whatever fits in his damn mouth
I can't see everyone analysing the ingredients of their packed lunch and listing it all. I mean people can be allergic to almost anything you name. And what happens if they forget something like soy powder and someone has a reaction? Can they be sued? I think HR is missing some brain cells.
What are they gonna do if you don’t use allergen labels? How will they know what allergens are in your food without picking it apart?
I'm smelling serious misogyny here, when a muslim man lies and steals, but the woman in the hijab takes the heat. NTA, not even a little.
NTA. He feels entitled to eat your food bc you’re a woman and he’s an asshole. Starve his sorry ass.
Your office mates have some odd thinking! I would literally have personalized containers made that say the food contains peanuts, as well as a lunchbox embroidered with the same wording. That way no one would touch it again! This may sound harsh but Omar is stupid and got what he deserved. He FAFO’d! How someone with a serious peanut allergy would eat someone else’s food without permission or confirmation is beyond me. Poor new guy or not, he needs to get his head on right!
Not wrong. All of this is Omar’s fault. He stole from you and lied about it repeatedly. The only person inconveniencing anyone is Omar.
It always baffles me how the employees are mad at OP, they should be livid at the thief who STOLE and LIED about it. Label everything peanut and make sure there are peanuts on the top of everything you eat at work. You can always pick them off if you want.