Employee calls out coworker after her 12-year-old son kept eating her lunch in the office: 'Now I'm afraid I'm seen as the Karen'

This lady was not going to let her coworker's kid continue to eat her food without permission!

Look, in communal office spaces, it is common for certain food items to go missing in the kitchenette. Sometimes, it truly is just an accident. A coworker might have thought that something unlabeled was free for them to take, or they simply might not have known to check or ask if that appealing carton of yogurt belonged to anyone. However, one can only extend one's sense of understanding so far. After a while, it becomes clear that an office lunch thief is likely to be blamed, and yes, they are probably aware of what they are doing.

In this instance, the culprit was a 12-year-old kid, who frequently came to the office with his mother (an employee at the company) for the last hour of the workday after he finished school. Sure, the kid might not have known any better, but the person whose food kept missing deserved to figure out what was happening. After all, she was never unkind to her coworker's kid. She didn't even confront him directly. Instead, she went straight to his mother, who was, at that point, a friendly face in the office.

The confrontation went about exactly as one should have expected. The employee asked her coworker if she'd make sure her son would stop eating her food. She promised that her food items in the office refrigerator were always labeled, so it was clear which items were hers and which were fair game. The employee even thought the interaction went well… that is, until the next day at work.

Following what the employee perceived to be a minor and successful confrontation, it turns out that after that, the entire energy of the office changed from that point forward. The coworker became immediately unfriendly to the employee, who was just trying to save her lunch so she could avoid eating out and wasting money. Apparently, protecting what was already her own food was a bridge too far for the coworker.
We understand that the coworker may have framed her cold behavior as a defense mechanism after she felt her kid was called out. Still, the fact that she couldn't possibly understand the employee's motivations here just goes to show that some parents truly think their kids are untouchable.
"[Am I wrong] for stopping my coworker’s kid from using my lunch fridge?"

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