The Best Part Of The Work Day
For a lot of people, the best part of the workday is lunchtime. Getting to take a much-needed break from a hectic day while enjoying some yummy food is the perfect way to relax, even if it’s for a few minutes. Unfortunately, there can be an unseen foe in the form of an office food thief that can ruin those few precious moments of peace. We all know the type; the co-worker who either never brings their lunch, or sees someone else’s lunch and decides they deserve it more.
One Reddit user named “Amber” is all too familiar with this issue. Due to special dietary restrictions, Amber has to bring certain types of lunches with her to work every day. However, much to her anger, Amber soon learned someone was helping themselves to her exclusive foods. But when she discovered this was happening, she immediately took action into her own hands to serve this thief some necessary justice.
~
Things Seemed Off
On top of having some pretty specific allergies, Amber had just given birth to her daughter, “Moira.” As thrilled as she was to have a beautiful daughter, some challenges did arise; Amber was constantly forgetting her lunch and snacks at home, and she was hungry. Like, starving. All the time too, making matters even worse. So, in order to stave off her hunger pains and to make sure she had something to eat every day, Amber began bringing suitable foods to her allergies to store in her office. Although these foods were acceptable for her to eat, they didn’t taste nearly as good as the real thing. In addition, these foods were a little pricier than normal food due to the special ingredients. However, Amber was happy to shell out the extra money; she was a hard worker and deserved to have some treats for herself, even if there was a noticeable difference in taste.
These snacks were on Amber’s mind when she walked into her office on her first day back after maternity leave. However, as she opened up the drawer of her stash of goodies, she couldn’t help but notice something was different. It seemed as though her supply was rapidly depleting.
“Boxes of candy were running out faster than I thought I was eating them. I’d come in the morning and things wouldn’t be where I’d left them,” Amber recalled. “At one point I brought a bag of chips to work, folded the rim of the bag down so I wasn’t plunging my arm elbow-deep into a grease pit, and then put a bag clip on it when I went home. When I came in the next morning, the bag was unrolled and re-clipped. I thought, wow, I must be more tired than I thought and rolled the bag back down. But the next morning, it was unrolled again!”
At first, Amber chalked it up to the post-baby brain. She had not been feeling like herself lately and thought it was because of all of the stress of a newborn baby. That is until a revelation came to light a few weeks later.
~
The Schemeing Begins
It was nearing that time of the year, the dreaded flu season. The time of year when it seems like everyone falls sick, and has to stock up on medicine, soup, and tissues to feel better. Unfortunately, Amber was not exempt from this and was out from work for an entire week. Before she left, Amber placed a box of her favorite cookies, Enjoy Life (which, weren’t really all that enjoyable), on her desk so she could look forward to a sweet treat when she returned. Before she had taken her sick leave. Amber was able to enjoy a couple of the $5 cookies with cinnamon sprinkled on top. Although she was convinced it was the baby-brain at work, she distinctly remembered having 12 cookies in the box before she left. However, that is not what awaited her when she returned to the office.
There was one. Only one cookie remained! To top it all off, an open box of candy Amber left on her desk was also missing. In its place was a new box of the same candy. However, Amber knew for a fact she was not the one who opened this box; the thief followed the “push here to open” instructions instead of just ripping one end of the box open as Amber does. One would think the thief would not make such a tiny error like this, seeing as they had been stealing Amber’s food for a couple of months at this point.
At this point, Amber was seeing red; someone had the nerve to not only finish her candy but to open up a fresh box? Was nearly finishing off her box of expensive specialty cookies (that were not even that good) not enough for this person? It’s not like Amber could run out to the nearest fast-food place and grab some grub if she was hungry; she needed these snacks because they were some of the few things she could eat!
Armed with her empty cookie box as proof, Amber approached her boss about the situation. After hearing some vague promise about how he would check the security cameras to see if he noticed anything suspicious, Amber took matters into her own hand by going straight to Amazon.
~
Setting The Trap
Nanny cams are a useful tool for many reasons; parents are able to keep tabs on their newborns, and can quell any unease they may have. Or, in Amber’s case, they can be used to catch the dirty thief stealing food from one’s office.
Everything was going smoothly; the nanny cam arrived a few days before Valentine’s Day, giving Amber the perfect opportunity to test it out. A day filled with candy and other sugary treats was just what Amber needed to set the trap. To sweeten the pot, Amber bought herself a box of chocolates and made sure to leave the box open so there was no way the snack stealer would be able to resist. After strategically placing some more food on her desk and placing the nanny cam on a cabinet facing her desk, Amber headed on home, feeling very confident in her plan,
When the next morning arrived and Amber sauntered into her office, she was delighted to see everything had worked out in her favor. Apparently feeling very confident they had yet to be apprehended, the snack thief had the nerve to fully dive into the food spread on Amber’s desk.
“Individually wrapped things had been dumped out of their boxes,” Amber recalled of the carnage. “Bits of the packaging had been thrown away. And, yup; they’d eaten some Valentine candy.”
Although she was still furious over the arrogant attitude of whoever was stealing from her, Amber knew the end was almost near. Grabbing the camera carefully placed on top of the file cabinet, Amber sat back in her desk and played back the video, waiting to finally uncover the identity of the thief.
~
Learning Who It Was
For the first few minutes, everyone was quiet on the tape; As Amber watched the sun slowly setting through the windows, a shadow suddenly appeared. Amber knew this had to be the person; this was definitely the person who for some reason thought they had a right to devour whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
Strutting into her office was no other than the night janitor. At first, Amber thought he was just there to clean up around her office. But, as she watched in horror, the janitor proceeded to plop down in her office chair and turned his hungry gaze to the feast before him.
“I started taking screenshots,” Amber said of the joyous moment. “I got him shoveling candy into his mouth with full palm-to-lips intensity. Pouring things out onto the desk to pick his favorite flavors. Not even bothering to put them back where he found them. And yes. Eating my freaking Valentine’s candy.”
Thrilled with her findings, Amber sent the screenshots to her boss. Even though she had just emailed him, Amber couldn’t help it; she approached his door and slyly asked if he had seen her email. Assuring her he had, Amber was promised a strongly worded email was going to be sent to the cleaning company, and that particular janitor was no longer welcome at their office.
Amber was ecstatic she would finally be rid of his guy and his stealing ways, and soon came to learn she was not the only one.
~
Justice Was Rightfully Served
Still celebrating her take-down of the janitor, Amber was relishing in the fact she would no longer have to share her pricey treats when she was approached by the girl who worked in the concession stand in the lower level of the building. She also had a few run-ins with the janitor, as his shift would be starting just as hers was ending. Thinking he was as smooth as the chocolates he had stolen from Amber, this guy was constantly trying to swindle his way into getting free coffee. But he wasn’t coming off the way he intended and was thoroughly creeping out the poor girl. Yet this never derailed him, as he continued to stalk and harass this poor girl.
Apparently, this wasn’t a one-time occurrence. A few hours later, a receptionist came by with the same story of his creepy behavior. As word of the janitor’s stealing ways and uncomfortable behavior spread around the office, more and more women came forward to express their appreciation.
To commemorate her victory, not only for her precious snacks but for the women in the office, Amber joyfully told her husband about how she took down the treacherous night janitor once and for all. At first, her husband chastised her for leaving food at the office.
“You really shouldn’t be leaving food at work, then,” He firmly told her.
But after she came home with the nanny camera and recited what the other women in the office told her, he could not have been more proud.
“You know, I think this is the first time I’ve seen you stand up for yourself. I’m proud of you!” He happily said to her.
After finally unraveling the identify of the person who had been munching on her treats and riding the office of a disturbing man, Amber couldn’t help but agree with him.
~