‘I confronted them’: Employee keeps getting her lunch stolen at work, catches the culprit in the act and calls him out, but wholesome interaction ensues

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Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Dec 19, 2024 9:00 AM EST

When it comes to drama at work, it's really a toss of the coin which way it can end up. Is your co-worker an entitled Karen and will respond negatively to any sort of call out or criticism? That is unfortunate. But perhaps your co-coworker is actually pretty chill. If that's the case, good for you! Gotta appreciate a good co-worker. Because when office drama strikes, it's good to have a co-worker who knows how to communicate. For example, this whole lunch debacle told on Reddit. A woman who only came into the office a few times a week was getting her lunch stolen often. She didn't understand why or how. Finally, one day, she catches the theft in the act! He's sitting at the lunch table already eating her lunch. She goes up to him and confronts him immediately and he was confused at first. He thought she must've been mistaken, but after being able to discuss it and think like rational humans, he found out she was right. He had accidentally been stealing her lunches because they had similar lunchboxes. He felt so bad, he ended up getting her some gift cards to make up for all the lunches he accidentally stole. A beautifully wholesome ending! 

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  • 01
    "I found out who has been stealing my lunch!"
    via Unsplash+ (and Monika Grabkowska)
  • 02
    I found out who has been stealing my lunch Since October, once every couple weeks or so, my lunch was going missing. I'm a hybrid worker and only in the office a couple days a week, if that, so it was still a pretty high rate of theft.
    via JetPlane_88
  • 03
    I work in a small organization where everyone knows everyone so it struck me as especially odd. This week I spotted the person eating my lunch! I confronted them, it was someone I knew but not well, and they insisted it was their lunch.
    via JetPlane_88
  • 04
    After a minute of back and forth they realized I had no incentive to make something like that up. We looked into it and to make a long and tedious story short, they got an identical lunchbox as mine around October.
    via JetPlane_88
  • 05
    Their wife packs their lunch so they didn't recognize it as not being their food. They never know exactly what they're getting in their lunch.
    via JetPlane_88
  • 06
    He apologized and said he'll buy me lunch for the next couple weeks. I told him it wasn't necessary but he was nice about it and dropped off a gift card anyways. Mystery solved!
    via JetPlane_88
  • 07
    SuperNa... Do you eat lunch at different times? Did you ask them why they didn't notice they're taking home a full lunchbox on days they ate your lunch?
    via SuperNa7uraL-
  • 08
    Existing_Propos... The fact that he was taking home a full lunch box tells me the guy knew what he was doing. He just didn't like whatever his wife packed him that day and decided to eat OP's lunch instead. If he was ever caught, he would claim it it was a mistake. Most likely
    via Existing_Proposal655
  • 09
    the very first time was a mistake..maybe even the second, but after that you know it was on purpose. He should have just fess up and asked if you would like to trade lunches that day or grow some balls and tell his wife he doesn't like a particular lunch so stop making it for him. Or go the easy route and buy lunch.
    via Existing_Proposal655
  • 10
    Madmanmelvin So, they have similar lunchboxes. Okay. So he will take the wrong one every couple weeks. Still makes sense. But.... It seems like maybe once in a while, it might be incredibly different from what his wife usually packs him? Or he would have some awareness of what's
    via Madmanmelvin
  • 11
    in his own fridge? Like "Honey, you packed me a tuna sandwich, and um, well, I hate tuna, and we've never had it in the house". Or 'Hey, those peanut butter oreoes were really good, where did you get those"? Wife-" are you talking about." I mean, okay, the lunches could be extremely similar. And some
    via Madmanmelvin
  • 12
    guys aren't exactly real thinkers. This seems like the kind of thing my grandfather would have been capable of doing. He didn't really "think" about where food came from. He worked, and the kitchen was Grandma's business. At least the inadvertent thief was nice about it.
    via Madmanmelvin
  • 13
    Kind-Vermicelli4437 Kindergarten rules apply - write your name on your lunchbox
    via Kind-Vermicelli4437
  • 14
    gOldMcDonald Ha. Thats actually funny. Can't be mad at a genuine mix up. That dude was probably like 'hmmm wife never made me beef stroganoff before, this is odd, but delicious'
    via gOldMcDonald
  • 15
    Sugarpuff_Karma Lol, I went into the break room to heat my lunch, there was already a queue. I noticed my lunchbox wasn't in the right spot, took it out, it wasn't mine. Microwave dinged, I turned around & this guy was taking out my lunch box. I walked over,
    via Sugarpuff_Karma
  • 16
    handed him his & said, thanks for heating my lunch, he said he wondered why it smelt nicer than he remembered
    via Sugarpuff_Karma
  • 17
    ppnuri Lol. This made me chuckle. I'm glad it was just a mix-up of lunch boxes. But I'm curious: Was your entire lunchbox going missing at the end of the day? Or was it just a paper bag? How did you guys continuously have the same lunchbox at lunchtime, but then make it
    via ppnuri
  • 18
    home with the correct lunchbox later to have this mix-up multiple times following? And how did he not realize the weight difference on the days he ate your lunch when he took the correct lunchbox home?
    via ppnuri
  • 19
    TheLadyRica I love stories like this where there is no "Bad Guy" and the ending is peacefully resolved.
    via TheLadyRica
  • 20
    Narrow-Natural... Weird! What a nice twist to the story. So often, someone does outright steal food. This was happening at my workplace for a few months, then a guy left, so it was prolly him. He even took the ice I brought in for my drinks! Whatever.
    via Narrow-Natural7937
  • 21
    Snoringdragon This is why you just gotta go get the most 80's collector lunchbox you can find. I double dog dare someone to match it. And if someone touches it, you can go ballistic. WHO WAS TOUCHING MY DUKES OF HAZZARD LUNCHBOX?! I can hear the echoes of it through the halls...
    via Snoringdragon

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management wholesome lunch break mystery solved funny employee problem solved jobs work drama employee coworker stories manager job employees co worker Reddit office lunch funny co worker coworker funny office drama
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