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A coworker stole my spicy food, got sick, and is blaming me (2016)

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Re: A coworker stole my spicy food, got sick, and is blaming me (2016)

#41

Post by dchapp »

sh4z wrote: post #20
seattle_spring wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They noticed food being stolen from the fridge and he purposely put extremely hot spice in the food for the purpose of getting back at the perpetrator. Even if that were the case (which I doubt), why is that wrong? On what planet is it OK to defend the actions of the thief?

Is it not always wrong to cause someone harm? edit: If he would have poisoned the food and the thief died, would that be ok? I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if he did purposely contaminate the food in order to get back at the thief, instead of just talking to him about it, the talk with HR seems justified.

Maybe it is "always wrong" given a particularly rigid and simplistic code of ethics, but in American society at least we are very comfortable with the notion of causing deserved harm (whether physical, financial, or merely emotional) to wrongdoers as a deterrent to others.

Re: A coworker stole my spicy food, got sick, and is blaming me (2016)

#42

Post by chrischen »

jobowoo wrote: post #4

There's an update to the original post. What a lovely ending to the story. http://www.askamanager.org/2016/10/update-a-coworker-stole-m...

I wonder how it would have been different if the boss and the coworker were the ones romantically involved.

Re: A coworker stole my spicy food, got sick, and is blaming me (2016)

#44

Post by komali2 »

pm90 wrote: post #21
jobowoo wrote: post #4

There's an update to the original post. What a lovely ending to the story. http://www.askamanager.org/2016/10/update-a-coworker-stole-m...

It is a lovely ending! What I fear for is that the termination will be in his records and he will have to explain this extremely bizzare story to whoever asks or is interested. I'm glad it all worked out so well for him. Hopefully that silly detail will not affect his future.

Not sure why there's three replies asking about "records." It's right there in your resume - date you worked at a company, huh weird, only 2 months, what happened?

The alternative is having whatever you had on your resume before + 2 month gap, which if anybody asks about you I guess lie. It's not a nothingburger though.

Re: A coworker stole my spicy food, got sick, and is blaming me (2016)

#45

Post by aqme28 »

wgerard wrote: post #16

My guess is this falls under the same purview as booby-trapping your house: Yeah, they're committing a felony by breaking into your house, but you're not allowed to setup a "Home Alone" defense system (if nothing else because first responders might need to get into your home). It's dumb in this case because the "booby trap" likely isn't one at all, but at a very cursory glance I could buy that someone would make thei…

Exactly how I read it.

Except it wasn't a booby trap. It's like a thief complaining because they crashed the car they stole from you.

Re: A coworker stole my spicy food, got sick, and is blaming me (2016)

#46

Post by lkrubner »

One mystery that continues to fascinate me is when people at work say things to me that are obviously irrational -- are they sincere or is it some kind of manipulative power play?

I've had managers ask me things such as "When will the rebuild of the website be done" and I answer "In two months" and they say "You have two weeks" and I say "Maybe 6 weeks, but not 2" and then they repeat "You've got two weeks." I wonder if they realize they sound crazy? I can imagine a few possibilities:

1.) Possibly they feel that they won a concession by getting me to shift from "two months" to "maybe 6 weeks" and they think they will get more concessions from me if they just keep pretending that two weeks is the only allowed answered?

2.) Is it a threat? What are they are going to do when we miss the obviously impossible deadline?

3.) Are they pretending to be serious about two weeks, or do they really think it is possible? Perhaps they are paranoid and they think that every worker is lying to them all the time?

I run into deeply irrational behavior at work all the time. I find the amount of it to be surprising. I was thinking about this when I wrote "The accusation that you are irrational -- is it the truth, or a manipulative power play" but there I focused on personal situations, and I mostly leave is as an exercise to the reader to imagine how it extends to work situations.

http://www.smashcompany.com/philosophy/the-accusation-that-y...

Re: A coworker stole my spicy food, got sick, and is blaming me (2016)

#47

Post by toss1 »

1_800_UNICORN wrote: post #18

The update is far more delicious than the original: http://www.askamanager.org/2016/07/a-coworker-stole-my-spicy... I'm not sure that the original advice given was ideal. I'd recommend consulting with a lawyer first before giving any information to HR given that OPs job was at risk. But I'm happy for OP that it all worked out in the end.

Very cool ending

I was just about to start typing about potential legal action -- the thief basically admitted the theft (despite HR stating" there's no evidence of theft"...)

Totally agree with the other poster that lunch theft should be a firing offense, as, if they're not honest about that, they're not honest.

Re: A coworker stole my spicy food, got sick, and is blaming me (2016)

#48

Post by mattnewport »

sh4z wrote: post #20
seattle_spring wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They noticed food being stolen from the fridge and he purposely put extremely hot spice in the food for the purpose of getting back at the perpetrator. Even if that were the case (which I doubt), why is that wrong? On what planet is it OK to defend the actions of the thief?

Is it not always wrong to cause someone harm? edit: If he would have poisoned the food and the thief died, would that be ok? I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if he did purposely contaminate the food in order to get back at the thief, instead of just talking to him about it, the talk with HR seems justified.

It's not always wrong to cause someone else harm, either legally or ethically. The principle of legal self defense using reasonable force is well established in many legal systems and is considered ethical in many ethical philosophies for example. Where the line of "reasonable" lies is often a subject of debate however.

Re: A coworker stole my spicy food, got sick, and is blaming me (2016)

#49

Post by cortesoft »

njharman wrote: post #39
wgerard wrote: post #16

My guess is this falls under the same purview as booby-trapping your house: Yeah, they're committing a felony by breaking into your house, but you're not allowed to setup a "Home Alone" defense system (if nothing else because first responders might need to get into your home). It's dumb in this case because the "booby trap" likely isn't one at all, but at a very cursory glance I could buy that someone would make thei…

Is it illegal to booby trap your property?

It is very illegal. Like, violating the Geneva Conventions level illegal:

https://definitions.uslegal.com/b/booby-traps/

Re: A coworker stole my spicy food, got sick, and is blaming me (2016)

#50

Post by rubinelli »

wgerard wrote: post #16

My guess is this falls under the same purview as booby-trapping your house: Yeah, they're committing a felony by breaking into your house, but you're not allowed to setup a "Home Alone" defense system (if nothing else because first responders might need to get into your home). It's dumb in this case because the "booby trap" likely isn't one at all, but at a very cursory glance I could buy that someone would make thei…

If you think you need a locked lunchbox, then what you really need is a job with better coworkers.
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