Man praised for ‘embarrassing’ office ‘lunch thief’ who he caught eating his food

An office worker has shared how they put a “lunch thief” in their place.

After spotting someone else tucking into their lunch at the office, the worker confronted them and snatched it away.

But afterwards, others slammed their behaviour.

Taking to Reddit’s Am I The A**hole forum, the worker explained that they’ve recently started a job where they work in a small studio, but share the kitchen space with others in the building.

When they popped out to make coffee, they spotted their lunchbox in the sink - empty.

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The Redditor turned around to see a stranger sitting down with their food on his plate. He even went to the trouble of reheating it.

They felt “mad”, and sat beside the man and said: “Hey that looks good, mind if I try it?”

Instead of waiting for an answer, the Redditor then “yanked” the plate away from him and “snatched” the fork from his hand.

“He just blinked in shock as did the other people there as I started eating,” they wrote.

“He then, quite loudly, asked what I thought I was doing and I replied 'huh you know this was actually much better when I first cooked it, it probably lost some flavor in the fridge.'

“He caught on quickly that it was my food and went a lil' red. I then asked him where he got the gall to steal someone else's lunch and then ask them what they were doing when they took it back.

“He stuttered out some nonsense about not knowing it was mine and I replied 'well you knew it wasn't yours right?' He just mumbled something like an apology and I said 'that's no problem it was nice he'd warmed it up for me at least', in an admittedly b****y tone, and then he just got up and left and the people there just stared in silence.”

Two people who witnessed the confrontation told the Redditor that they were “rude”, and suggested there were nicer ways to go about it.

But the Redditor told them to imagine how they would feel if someone ate their food.

Ever since lunchtime has been awkward, and the Redditor feels that people have been speaking about it behind their back.

The comment section was firmly on the Redditor’s side.

The top comment, with 38,000 upvotes, reads: “You. Are. An. Absolute. Baller. Honestly, you handled it in an epic fashion. Don't think anybody is going to mess with you from now on. Don't worry about the 'whispers' I reckon most likely people will deep down respect you more. Well, at least I would if I worked there.”

Another commenter said there is “no reason to be polite” to someone who steals a lunch, especially as the owner would have gone hungry if the thief wasn’t caught.

Others are living vicariously through the Redditor.

One wrote: “Someone stole my lunch last week and I am not ashamed to admit that I burst into tears and it ruined my whole shift. The catharsis I am feeling while reading this is amazing.”

However, one comment, which was downvoted seven times, said as the Redditor didn’t know the lunch thief’s living or financial situation, it may have been better to pull him aside and politely tell him it wasn’t theirs to eat.

But the original poster responded to say although they see where they’re coming from, “he doesn’t know my financial situation either”. They said since moving into a new apartment, they have been short on money and have had to dip into their savings.

They added: “It's very unfair to put a stranger’s financial situation ahead of mine when I cook in bulk to save money and sometimes eat the same food for lunch all week.”

In an update on the post, the Redditor thanked everyone for their comments. They added that they can’t go to HR because the studio doesn’t have one and “the perp doesn’t work for the same place”.

They added that they’re still new there and on probation, so they don’t want to rock the boat.

The lunch theft particularly irked them because the lunch the man took was enough for two days and he didn’t even wash the lunchbox.

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