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

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

#111

Post by btrettel » Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 9:49 PM UTC

sh4z wrote: post #13

Well, to me it seems plausible that the writer is not telling the whole truth. They noticed food being stolen from the fridge and he purposely put extremely hot spice in the food to harm the perpetrator. But how do you prove that. And even if you prove it, would it hold in court since the food was stolen?

Once I had some roommates who would steal my food from the refrigerator. Several years after I moved out a friend recommended making cat food lasagna as revenge as it wouldn't harm the perps, just be somewhat gross. (Note that I don't recommend this. I am just saying that if catching the perps with food is a goal then there are better options.)

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

#112

Post by gkoberger » Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 9:49 PM UTC

lutorm wrote: post #83

cortesoft wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mistakes happen. There are all sorts of ways you could accidentally eat someone else's lunch, and having a 'zero tolerance' policy is a good way to end up firing an innocent person.

Do tell, which are a couple of those ways that someone might accidentally pick someone else's lunch box, open it, and start eating some unknown food without realizing?

At our office, nobody brings lunch boxes. Our office manager is always ordering snacks for the fridge, and there's leftovers from group lunches.

It would be easy for someone to think some food was leftover from the day before, or that an apple or yogurt was meant for anyone.

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

#113

Post by poizan42 » Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 9:49 PM UTC

dpeck wrote: post #61

cortesoft wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mistakes happen. There are all sorts of ways you could accidentally eat someone else's lunch, and having a 'zero tolerance' policy is a good way to end up firing an innocent person.

| There are all sorts of ways you could accidentally eat someone else's lunch Want to give us some examples?

There's company paid lunch where the leftovers are put into the fridge for people to take it later before throwing it out. A coworker puts their own food into the fridge without putting their name on it. You take your coworkers food thinking it was leftovers from lunch.

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

#114

Post by idoh » Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 9:49 PM UTC

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?

Yes. The basic idea is that you cannot do via a trap what you couldn't do in person, which I think is sensible. If you are not allowed to shoot someone who merely sets foot on your property, then you are also not allowed to rig a shotgun to a tripwire that does the same thing.

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

#115

Post by sverige » Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 9:50 PM UTC

seattle_spring wrote: post #14

Kind of orthogonal to the story, but anyone who steals lunch or food from a co-worker should be fired immediately. There's a 0% chance that someone who steals others' stuff is a good, honest person in other parts of their life.

I agree completely. Not only does theft make their work untrustworthy, their actions have a huge impact on the morale of their coworkers.

I have fired an employee for stealing lunches (with plenty of evidence, of course). I would have fired the person in this story immediately if it were within my power.

Similarly, I have also fired people for other obvious character failures, such lying about bereavement leave to take time off. (It happened so often at one job that I ceased to be amazed when I caught it.) For example, one guy brought me an obituary for his dad that was obviously altered (fonts on dates didn't match, etc.). Google immediately informed me that his dad had died three years earlier. That was a fun conversation.

For those who think such behavior should be considered a mere mistake and that firing is too extreme, please tell me how such poor character can be corrected by actions taken by management at their workplace. If the job requires good character, then the only correct response to such behavior is to separate them from the company, as happened in this case.

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

#116

Post by garmaine » Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 9:50 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #37

yannyu wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What "records"? Unless he filed for unemployment, the only other people who would know would be his employers.

And employers rarely confirm anything other than hire and seperation dates during reference calls due to liability/litigation risks.

In fact, they are legally prevented from sharing such information, if it existed, in many states.

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

#117

Post by raverbashing » Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 9:50 PM UTC

codingdave wrote: post #28

seattle_spring wrote: post #14

Kind of orthogonal to the story, but anyone who steals lunch or food from a co-worker should be fired immediately. There's a 0% chance that someone who steals others' stuff is a good, honest person in other parts of their life.

Firing someone for a mistake is a fairly extreme response, and should be reserved for extreme mistakes. This sounds like a correctable habit, with some mentoring and coaching.

The spice was the correction. The fact that they tried to push back instead of owing up shows it's uncorrectable.

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

#118

Post by netsharc » Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 9:50 PM UTC

hughes wrote: post #32

jessaustin wrote: post #2

Your company’s HR is terrible. One suspects this could be written on every occasion.

I think it bears repeating that HR exists to protect the company , not the employee . Often, an interaction with HR will work out terribly for the employee when HR is acting in the company's best interests. That's not the case here though. They're just terrible.

Even in that role, the HR failed miserably, so much that she got fired, and the letter writer got rehired with so much more money. He should've threatened to sue and say "Let's see who the courts think is insane here.". But how it happened in the update is the best, with the HR being fired after the boss finding out about her misconduct from the lawyer. If he had threatened to sue and she realized she had no case, she would've backed down, they both would've kept their jobs, but she would have started a new medium to long term mission of figuring out a bullet-proof way to get him fired.

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

#119

Post by thomasz » Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 9:50 PM UTC

lkrubner wrote: post #46

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…

They want to pressure you to cut corners, or work crazy hours, without directly ordering you to do so.

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

#120

Post by Jtsummers » Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 9:51 PM UTC

lutorm wrote: post #83

cortesoft wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mistakes happen. There are all sorts of ways you could accidentally eat someone else's lunch, and having a 'zero tolerance' policy is a good way to end up firing an innocent person.

Do tell, which are a couple of those ways that someone might accidentally pick someone else's lunch box, open it, and start eating some unknown food without realizing?

I use the same container as a coworker. His wife packs his lunch. When I bring in chili or spaghetti he could honestly mistake it for his own. Less likely with most of my lunches though.

And that’s not a hypothetical. He hasn’t confused our lunches but we do use the same style Pyrex containers. Mine is usually in a bag with fruit and such, but occasionally I put it in the fridge by itself.