Boss eats employee's lunch without asking, fires him for getting angry about it: 'The more I think about it, the more I don't like you. I don't want to see you at the office anymore.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Aug 19, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

There's something particularly egregious about stealing somebody's lunch out of the shared work fridge. They packed that lunch specifically to eat on that day, and some genius took it thinking that they wouldn't miss it! IMHO, it's much worse than accidentally stealing something from your roommates' shared fridge. At least in that case, it makes sense that you might mistakenly think one of the three packages of provolone cheese is yours. If your roommate leaves a pizza box full of uneaten pizza from the night before on the countertop, you can probably assume that they didn't care much about it being preserved for the next day: otherwise, they would've wrapped it up and put it in the fridge. Obviously, with roommates, you can't just assume that the food they specifically prepared is up for grabs, unless you've already discussed it. 

If you've worked in an office with ample snacks and beverages, you know that there's a big difference between snacks for everyone and a lunch that one specific person obviously packed. If you can't figure that out, you might not be the brightest crayon in the box. 

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  • Cheezburger Image 10543921152
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The boss in this story is completely ridiculous. He stole his employee's lunch and was fired when confronted about it. He felt entitled to the food of one of the four people who work for him and expected him to accept it, which might go to show that this wasn't a company worth working for in the first place. 

  • So my boss fired me cause I got upset that he ate my food

    So my boss just fired me cause | got upset that he ate my food that I payed for and did not offer him. I brought it up, he said that he ate it and asked if it was a problem. I said it is a problem, he quote unquote said " you're not riding with me you, anymore". Fine by me, and I went about my business. When we left
    via u/WillyWonka092
  • the job site, he said that I'm now on leave for at least two weeks and that I need to find a new job. Fine by me, I started looking for jobs. 5 minutes later, he quote unquote said "The more I think about it, the more I don't like you. I don't want to see you at the office anymore." I'm wondering if I have a good case for wrongful termination as it's going to take me at least a month to find another job.
    via u/WillyWonka092
  • malicious_joy42 Nothing in your post comes close to the legal definition of wrongful termination. It's a basic at-will termination with no legal recourse. File for Ul and find a new job.
    via u/malicious_joy42
  • Wonka092 OP I didn't think about unemployment. Definitely going to be doing that
    via u/WillyWonka092
  • GearAble9372 and your boss will hate that so def dont sleep on it. im pretty sure they are the ones who have to pay into unemployment programs but dont @ me.
    via u/GearAble9372
  • ophydian210 curious why he'll hate it? He's already paying whatever state unemployment insurance and any claim depending on length would be like a maximum $100 a month extra.
    via u/ophydian210
  • LdiJ46 He will hate it because his unemployment tax rate will go up because he had a claim. A company's rate starts out high and then gets lower and lower the longer they go without a claim. Once they have a claim that gets paid out, it starts raising back up again until they go through another long period without a claim.
    via u/LdiJ46
  • NewLeave2007 Wrongful termination is when you get illegally fired. Not wanting to share your lunch is not legally protected.
    via u/NewLeave2007
  • EdPozoga Not wanting to share your lunch is not legally protected. I would think an employer stealing from an employee and then firing that employee for refusing to accept the theft, would be illegal?
    via u/EdPozoga
  • NewLeave2007 It would have been if OP had gone through the appropriate channels, such as reporting the theft to HR instead of confronting the employer directly. Now OP has no hard evidence that the boss was the lunch thief and no paper trail to prove that they reported it at all, and he could easily counter with the "disgruntled ex employee" line.
    via u/NewLeave2007
  • Wonka092 OP That's the problem, there is no hr as it's a privately owned business and there's only like 4 employees there now
    via u/WillyWonka092
  • Rsee002 Report the theft to the police.
    via u/Rsee002
  • Alarmed-Speaker-8330 No-don't do that.
    via u/Alarmed-Speaker-8330
  • Rsee002 Why? Then he has a report of the stolen lunch. Police will interview co workers. Firing someone because they were a victim of your crime is probably unlawful termination.
    via u/Rsee002
  • Alarmed-Speaker-8330 The po po won't come out for stolen lunch-quit being ridiculous. They'll laugh.
    via u/Alarmed-Speaker-8330
  • Grayscale photograph of a smiling police man
    via Nauman Abdul Hafeez

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Wonka092 OP Well he fired me cause I got upset about him eating my lunch. Could that be considered retaliation or no?
    via u/WillyWonka092
  • NewLeave2007 With such a small company, it's harder to say. You should stop by your local department of labor office. Worst they can say is "no".
    via u/NewLeave2007
  • Wonka092 OP Ok yeah I'll look into it. I'm just tired of the disrespect he's shown me the entire time I've worked there
    via u/WillyWonka092
  • WhyAreYuSoAngry At will employment basically means you can only file for wrongful termination if you have evidence that you are being fired for something egregious. For example, if your boss accidentally sent you an email proving he was stealing or abusing power and fired you for thinking you were going to turn him in. It usually has
    via u/WhyAreYuSoAngry
  • to be something stupid and egregious. Even if you have 10 straight years of perfect reviews, at will means they can literally fire people for literally anything, or nothing at all. I think a lot of companies like glass door got more successful due to at will employment. People can do more research into potential employers, and it might force them to be more straightforward.
    via u/WhyAreYuSoAngry
  • AYamHah If he's that bad of a boss, get another job in the industry and poach all his clients. Any small business like this, keep track of all the people you do work for so you can call them and pitch yourself. Make sure you get face time with them on every job.
    via u/AYamHah
  • Glittering-List-465 If he's stealing your food, then the company is probably going under anyways.
    via u/Glittering-List-465
  • Finances saving economy concept male accountant or banker calculate the cash bill
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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getting fired bad boss employee fired employed fired terrible-bosses fired story lunch employees toxic-boss Office horrible boss bad bosses office lunch got fired
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