MetaChat - Help me avoid staircase wit: tell me what to say to Desk Rummager and Snack Thief!

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25 May 2012

Help me avoid staircase wit: tell me what to say to Desk Rummager and Snack Thief! I just learned that a supervisor in my workplace (not my supervisor, but a boss-level person) has been getting food (mixed nuts) out of my desk drawer and eating it when I'm not around.→[More:]

Am I overreacting or is this really not cool? It seems like a failure on several levels: he's invading my privacy*, stealing (admittedly this is not Grand Theft Snackfood but still...) and an complete failure of noblesse oblige. Bosses are supposed to bring food for their employees, not steal it from them.

I've started locking my drawers when I leave at night but I haven't said anything to him. Bunnies, what should I say?

*I know desks aren't really private, but IMO you need a better reason to go looking around in someone else's than "I'm a bit peckish and she'll never notice."

post by: workerant at: 11:00 | 9 comments

This seems like one of those very rare occasions in which a can of those springy snakes might be the correct answer.

posted by occhiblu 25 May | 11:11

Ask A Manager had a question last year about stolen food -- the original post and the reader update. The comments are always interesting (and generally respectful).

Personally I'm very non-confrontational so I wouldn't say anything and just keep the desk locked.

posted by bluesapphires 25 May | 11:24

I also immediately thought of the can of springy snakes.

posted by Specklet 25 May | 11:44

Yeah, not cool, but since it's a boss... the locked drawer seems a good solution. (Or perhaps the person who implicated the boss is the real culprit -- I've been watching too many conspiracy movies.)

posted by Pips 25 May | 12:02

mixed nuts soaked in syrup of ipecac?

That's likely a little overboard, but dammit, mixed nuts are expensive!

posted by richat 25 May | 12:09

Naah. In our company culture it would be very weird if I didn't say something. Apart from maybe ongoing bad jokes, there would be no risk to me if I said something. Previous eating-someone-else's-food episodes (which involved different people) resulted in a a bit of genuine outrage and then the whole office teasing the guilty party for a while.

posted by workerant 25 May | 12:20

Talk to nutty nut thief privately. Just say that you'd noticed the nuts you keep in your drawer were disappearing and someone else said that Ms/Mr. Thief had been enjoying them. That should be enough to draw apologies and end the behavior. If Ms/Mr Thief denies or asks who told you, just say you're glad it isn't so (and decline to say who told you), and add that of course you'd really like to be present and asked before anyone else consumes your snacks.

Keep it light, but be direct. And don't mention it again after this discussion, to your tippee, the boss, or anyone else.

Also, keep locking your desk.

posted by bearwife 25 May | 12:27

Get a gun.

posted by y2karl 25 May | 15:24

No, wait. Remember those photoelectric green frog yard alarms ? That would croak when one stepped near one ?

You can get one, preferably at a yard sale. Or your folks' garage. Strip that down to the bare the bare essentials, which should be around the size of a box of Altoids.

Contrive how to set that up so you can arm it as you leave, and leave it in the drawer in the dark.

Drawer opens ? Loud croaks ensue. Hilarity is go for orbit.

posted by y2karl 25 May | 15:29

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