Woman sabotages coworker who’s stealing her lunch by putting cayenne pepper in the food, boss takes coworker’s side, despite her being the thief: “I don’t see how I’m the bad guy for messing with my own food”

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  • 01

    AITA I got a warning at work because I tried to catch the person who kept stealing my lunch and it turned out to be my manager. She got a reaction and had to go to the hospital.

    "The manager was sick and stuck in the toilet for a while"
  • 02
    I work at a family owned company and I'm also pregnant. I have been having issues with someone stealing my lunch. In the beginning, it wasn't as ofte. I just chalked it up to it being an honest mistake. Someone could have confused my lunch with theirs. But no, it just continued happening
  • 03
    more and more. I started putting my name on it, writing passive aggressive notes on it but that didn't help. I would still find my lunchbox empty, sometimes they would just have a few bites and leave the rest. Even my half drink drinks were finished off.
  • 04
    They were relentless and it would happen a couple of times a week. I was at my wit's end because 1. I'm extra hungry because of the pregnancy 2. I am on a really tight budget so I can't even afford to replace the food, meaning I have to work on an empty stomach for my whole shift and this completely
  • 05
    enraged me. I even cried a couple of times in the bathroom because of this. It didn't happen to just me but it felt like I was targeted a lot for some reason.
  • 06
    I made a decoy lunch which I put a sh load of cayenne pepper because that's the worst thing I had in my cabinet and I didn't want to hurt them. I don't like spicy food so I never really use it. I took the food to work the following day and put it in the fridge but it was still there at the
  • 07
    end of my shift so I took it home and brought it back the next day.
  • 08
    Sure enough it was stolen and an hour ish later, there was some commotion. The manager was sick and stuck in the toilet for a while, her throat swelled up, she even had to go to the hospital. Turns out she had an allergic reaction. When she came back she blamed me because she obviously knew exactly whose food she ate and I
  • 09
    Cheezburger Image 10466746112
  • 10
    told her that it's her own fault for stealing other people's food. Even after telling my side of the story to her boss, I got a verbal warning and apparently I got off lightly. Nothing happened to the manager.
  • 11
    I don't get how I'm the bad guy for messing with MY own food but a literal thief gets away with stealing.
  • 12
    Breaking Up47 • 11h ago NTA. "You know, ever since | became pregnant, I have been having these super hard cravings for cayenne pepper."
  • 13
    LTK622 11h ago NTA. Your only mistake was being honest about your motives. Next time, you gotta pretend you wanted spicy food, and didn't know anybody allergic would try to share it.
  • 14
    virtualchoirboy • 10h ago NTA. Go to HR and file a complaint that your managers actions have potentially harmed your developing fetus due to not being able to eat regular meals. Make it a medical
  • 15
    issue, not a property issue. Separately, talk to your OB doctor about getting a prescription for liquid prenatal multivitamins. Add the required daily dose to your food. Then, if your food. is stolen or tampered with again, another complaint to
  • 16
    HR about your prescription medication being stolen/altered.
  • 17
    • RobZagnut2 10h ago. Document, document, document... Document each time your lunch was stolen AND how much it cost to replace. Nobody cares about a lunch
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    or two missing. Once you put a dollar value to it, HR can see how much it costs and now there's a dollar value associated with the thefts. Your manager could say, "I mistakenly took the wrong lunch."
  • 19
    But, if you document and show proof you can say, "It happened these 21 times on these days and cost me $200 to replace as I had no food to eat as it was stolen. I would like to be reimbursed my $200 or I'm going to file a police report for the theft of my property."
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    Cheezburger Image 10466747392
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    JellicoAlpha_3_1 • 10h ago TO ANYONE READING THIS POST AND WHO MIGHT DO THIS IN THE FUTURE Never admit to anything
  • 22
    Always play stupid In your case OP, all you had to say was I had a pregnancy craving for spicy food so I made my food spicy. I fail to see how someone eating my clearly labeled food indicates I did anything on purpose. The
  • 23
    only person who did anything on purpose was manager when they took food that didn't belong to them Never, under any circumstances, admit to sabotaging your food on purpose NTAH
  • 24
    PS: Never use laxatives. Just use spices like OP did because they can't reprimand someone for enjoying spicy food
  • 25
    YouSayWotNow 11h ago I don't understand how she isn't being disciplined for STEALING?
  • 26
    Can you report her to the police for theft or would that earn you the sack in retaliation? I realise the police won't do anything but having it on record might be worthwhile? I don't even know.
  • 27
    I'm shocked that you got disciplined and she wasn't even spoken to about blatant and repeated theft.

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