Office Food Theft: Never a Victimless Crime

Yes, many in my workplace (including me) have been reduced to passive, aggressive, or passive-aggressive notes regarding food theft.  There are thieves among us!

We're not richly compensated enough that this becomes "no big deal."  And most of us are generous and would (and do) share happily if asked.  Stop eating our food in secret, mysterious thieves!



In my office, if it isn't coffee, tea, milk (one specific brand, easily identified), or half-and-half, it's not public property.  Sometimes fruit and baked goods are left out on the counter or table for all to share, but those offerings are pretty easy to identify.  Yet lunches, leftovers, and more go missing -- again and again.



The worst part is that I am straight-out quite fond of pretty much everyone I work with, which makes it awfully hard to point fingers.  But clearly there are a) thoughtless and/or b) mean and/or c) porky and/or d) starving people among us.  

Boo, food thieves!  Boo!

Does personal food go missing in your workplace?

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Presentation counts.

Here's an example of a cute package for a homemade snack. Inside? A small loaf of chocolate chip banana bread made by Melissa. I ate the payload too quickly to get a photograph, but you can take my word for it.

Olivia Newton-Cream Cheese

The cream cheese tub at work today (Mondays and Thursdays are bagel days) was too cute. It's like I can have a little bit of the Eighties on my bagel. It's spreadable headbands and legwarmers and aerobics and Tab.

It's not just the design, either. The name kills me with adorable.

Go on, temp tee. Tempt me!


p.s. I have got to get Punky Brewster on DVD.

Feeling fruity

Impressions of the Gummy Choco Apple (by Meiji)
(purchased in Chinatown, NYC, but not from Aji Ichiban)



1. Thanks, Dan. Wait. What are these? Weird. Wait. I want one.
2. Smells kind of like a malted milk ball. Or one of those speckled chocolate easter egg candies. About the size of a raisinette.
3. Yeah. It's gummy all right. But not chew-resistant. But not dissolving right away, either. While the chocolate melts in my mouth I'm chewing some gummy thing.
4. Pretty apple-y inside. Not bad. I'd eat another. The sweet apple flavor lingers.
3. Hey! If I just bite off the top, the "apple" inside this chocolate thing is white, not red as the packaging suggests.
4. Apple juice is on the ingredients list, so I guess it's not all artificial flavoring.
5. Well, now. A serving is 27 pieces. How refreshing. I can afford to share a few. Or eat a few more.
6. I could put pencils in this tube.
7. Are those chickens wearing chocolate hats?
8. Wait. That chicken's blue.
9. Those chickens (?) look pretty happy.
10. I'm pretty happy. Way to go, candy.



p.s. The odd appearance of these gummy choco apples are due to them slightly melting and sticking together in the tube, which rubs some of the surface chocolate's gloss off in round patches.

n.b. Informative and interesting note from Eva on Flickr: "I like the muscat flavor. However, the odd thing is if you look at the ingredients they just list "lacquer" straight up. As in, from the lacquer beetle."