Woman Using Peanuts to Catch Allergic Office 'Food Thief' Cheered

It might be hard to believe that there is such a thing as food theft at work. After all, most offices are populated by adults, who ought to understand that stealing is never acceptable. Still, that doesn't stop some people from eating another person's lunch.

One woman recently turned to social media for advice following multiple incidents that have occurred in her office that forced her to take matters into her own hands.

Posting on the popular r/AmITheA****** subreddit by user One_Newspaper5657, the woman wrote: "Am I wrong for putting peanuts in my food and not putting an allergen label on it, knowing that the food thief is allergic?"

Shared on Monday, the post has amassed over 21,000 upvotes and an overwhelming amount of support.

The woman begins the post by saying a young man recently joined the team and shortly afterward she noticed her food started to go missing from the refrigerator.

However, when she approached the colleague, he denied all knowledge of its whereabouts and played "dumb." So she brought in leftovers that contained an ingredient that she knew he was allergic to—peanuts.

"I made sure to label the package clearly with my name, but I didn't think to include any label about it having peanuts in it. No one else in the office uses allergen labels for their food; it didn't even cross my mind," she wrote.

At lunchtime, she noticed her food was missing so she immediately went to his desk and found him tucking into her lunch.

"I told him that the lunch that he stole had peanuts in it," she said. "His eyes got really wide and he went for his EpiPen, and thank goodness he injected himself before the reaction got really bad."

But once he calmed down, he went ballistic.

"He said that I could have killed him, and I said that he wouldn't have been in danger if he wasn't a liar and a thief. He told me that it was my fault for not putting an allergen label on the packaging, and I said that I'm lactose intolerant, but I don't expect everyone to put labels on their dairy because I don't steal other people's food!

"He said that that's different because milk won't kill me, and I said it was the same principle," the poster wrote.

HR backed the woman but implemented a new rule in the workplace, so now all staff members must add an allergy label to their lunches. Meanwhile, the entire office has turned on the woman and accused her of targeting the man.

Newsweek reached out to HR expert David Rice, who lives in Atlanta and hosts the People Managing People podcast for people managers and culture creators who want to lead better.

"This is an interesting story," he said. "HR needs to make it clear that stealing is stealing. She has no obligation to protect anyone from her food. It is not targeting simply because she didn't take into consideration his allergies for food she intended to put in her body.

"He chose to take it and has to live with the consequences. HR has made the correct decision in this case and should reprimand him for violating the trust that exists between employees in break rooms," Rice told Newsweek.

So far, the post has amassed over 7,000 comments, and the top one alone has 5,300 upvotes.

It said: "Your office is absurd. The kid stole food repeatedly and it caught up with him. Unless it's a shared food in a shared lunch I don't understand why your personal lunch needs to be labeled. Just because it's stored in a shared place doesn't mean it's a damn free for all. Keep a private cooler bag to store your lunches if that makes you feel better."

Another user wrote: "I once got fired for putting [scorpion] peppers in a sandwich that, as it turns out, my boss stole. Worth it."

A third commenter said: "What kind of dumbass steals other people's food when he has an allergy that can kill him?!?!"

Newsweek reached out to u/One_Newspaper5657 for comment and could not verify the details of the case.

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