Here Are Some Foolproof Ways To Figure Out Who's Been Stealing Your Lunch From The Office Fridge

Every workplace seems to have one: The lunch thief. This is the person who thinks it's okay to steal a sandwich that someone took the time to make right out of the office fridge, without giving any thought to the person who will now be going lunch-less. Well, this certainly can't stand, and there are a handful of ways to catch this evildoer, or at least make sure he or she will never do it again.

First, there are the relatively tame approaches. You can set up a spy cam to wirelessly broadcast a live shot of the fridge to your desktop, and pass the video over to HR (or add a little note to the sandwich that says "Smile!"). Two, you can bring a cooler bag and keep your lunch at your desk, bypassing the fridge altogether. Three, you can put a lock on the fridge door, and only share it with your co-workers (If things continue to vanish, the pool will be pretty small). Four, you can build a lunchbox alarm. Five, you can keep your lunch stowed in a lockable box. Six, take a bite out of your sandwich before stowing it in the fridge.

If all else fails, you might be tempted to try, shall we say, the nuclear option: making a decoy sandwich that's loaded up with insanity-level hot sauce, or laxatives. We'd advise against this for a few reasons. One, if there's the intent to cause injury, you could end up being sued. Two, while the perpetrator may be punished, you may never know for sure exactly who it is. And three, they might be stealing food not because of sheer maliciousness, but can't afford to buy their own lunch.

So, there are plenty of ways to root out the lunch thief. And if that happens to fall on the day when you decide you want your lunch to be extra-extra spicy, well, lucky for you.