Office lunch thief eats birthday cake meant for employee's daughter, employee loses it: 'Your boss ate the cake'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Jan 8, 2025 8:00 AM EST

Office lunch thieves are a frequent occurrence that can make the drudgery of going into the office all the more frustrating. That being said, most lunch thieves would not go so far as to eat the personalized birthday cake a coworker was saving for his daughter's special day. Some mooching is forgivable, but this was just heartless.

Of course, one of the biggest ways to combat this kind of occurrence is by labeling one's food in a communal fridge, but even that only goes so far. When people operate from a place of hunger and desperation, they are unlikely to stop and carefully read a label. They are going to eat whatever their selfish hearts desire. 

Now, one might consider another solution that would eradicate office lunch thieves: advocate for free lunch for every employee. This is, of course, a pipe dream, but it would certainly solve the problem and could prevent any more tension among coworkers on top of the tension that surely already exists. 

Finally, a third solution would be to advocate for more remote days, so this kind of thievery wouldn't even be a possibility. OK, we realize we are getting ahead of ourselves here. Keep scrolling below for the full story!

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    Cheezburger Image 10451353600
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The person who really suffered the most here would be the daughter, who didn't get her birthday cake because of the selfishness of a fully grown adult. Her father was made to feel like his subsequent outburst in the office was uncalled for, which led him to consider if his boss was the real culprit.

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    It's my daughter's birthday this weekend. I had to pick up her birthday cake yesterday before work so I put it in the shared fridge with the intention to take it home when I knocked off.
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    HAPPY BIRTHDAY
    via Unsplash+ (Maryam Sicard)
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    Although we have had a few incidents with stolen lunches, I didn't think it would be an issue. It was a custom made birthday cake with my kid's name on it afterall.
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    So you can imagine my shock when I went to retrieve my lunchbox from the fridge and noticed that someone had cut themselves a slice of the cake. I
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    lost it and went around questioning everyone and no one admitted to it. No one saw. anything either and there aren't
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    any cameras in there. I loudly said that whomever the culprit was, they were a worthless piece of sh but my boss didn't appreciate that.
    via OcelotUpstairs7876

  • Several members of the online community weighed in on whether or not the employee's outburst was justified. Here's what they had to say!

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    nevitable_Pie95... NTA. Who DOES that? Absolutely unmistakably a special cake from a bakery for an occasion. That selfish pig knew it wasn't theirs, ruined it, knew they were ruining it, didn't care. People are awful.
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    Creepy-Stable-6... Your boss can not appreciate it all he wants. Someone stole a piece of cake from you. I would file a formal complaint.
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    eeingdog Your boss ate the cake.
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    CocoaAlmonds R... Your boss is either a thief or a worthless himself. Complain to HR. sh
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    IslandOfMisfitP... NTA Everyone who is saying "BuT iT's A sHaReD fRiDgE" needs to remember that the FRIDGE is shared, not the FOOD. And a child's birthday cake should be pretty obviously off limits.
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    And everyone who is saying "BUT yOu Shouldn't Have CuRsEd" needs to really put themselves in OP's shoes. If they had to bring the cake to work, they likely are on a time crunch with life and work and birthday plans.
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    They might not have time or money to replace the cake. I know that, as a kid, I would have been really upset if my birthday cake had a chunk missing out of it. The emotional outburst is not ideal but is an absolutely understandable response.
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    Mechya NTA, they ruined a child's whole cake. Tell your boss instead of getting mad at your anger, do something about the workplace theft that is taking place. If they want to then they can buy
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    the cake off you and share it with the whole workplace, but the fact is that you are out a full cake because someone committed theft at your workplace. I'd actually
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    offer to apologize for my harsh words if they paid for the cake, but my apology would definitely be along the lines of "I'm sorry that I used harsh words, it really upset
    via OcelotUpstairs7876
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    me that you ruined my child's birthday cake and I couldn't hold in my anger knowing how heartbroken she was going to be".
    via OcelotUpstairs7876

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aita workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace AITAH job birthday work lunch Office Horrible Bosses company toxic-work-environment
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