Ask HN: Help me track down a lunch thief | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Help me track down a lunch thief

8 pointsjohnnyg18 comments

Our company has been growing and we've added a lot of people in the last six months.

About a month ago, I received a report that an employees' lunch was missing from the community fridge. I've received a similar report from a second and third employee as of today. The hot pocket box was there, but alas, the hot pocket was not.

In discussions with the people affected, we agree to several things:

1. Our company has a very "one big family" vibe. Putting up "stop stealing our hot pockets" sign or mounting a camera over the fridge is not what we want to do culture wise.

2. We want to catch the one person who is stealing stuff, remove them from the company and get back to our usual way of living.

Within these parameters, we've got several ideas, none of which sound quite clever enough:

1. Buy some of that "it only shows under UV light" powder, then go around after something is stolen shining it on people. Obvious holes.

2. Put a camera inside the frige and hope we get a face and a known "honeypot" lunch taken.

3. Put some kind of RF device on the food, wait until something goes missing and walk around until it registers.

HN, I need something better. We need to turn this bad thing into an awesome crime solving event. Suggestions welcome!

Firstly, you need/want to have a supply of food to give the people who have their stuff stolen. That will add to the family feel, and let people know you're looking after them. Ask them not to tell anyone, and let them know you're dealing with the situation diplomatically.

I wouldn't go with a sign. People already know that stuff in fridges belongs to other people, a sign simply poisons the atmosphere. You can put in a secret camera, and from that you should be able to identify who it is. However, from what you say it seems that you'd prefer not to do that.

So instigate a pattern of people working from home one or two days a week. Shift the patterns around - with people's agreement - and keep a track of who is on when lunches go missing. Over time you will find that there are fewer and fewer people who are always present when things go missing.

Beware that there may be more than one thief! However, on the assumption that there is only one, you can probably narrow down the possibilities quite quickly with very careful planning.

Is there a chance that the thief reads HN? If so, you're in trouble already ...

IANAL or anything even remotely resembling one, but it seems to me that this could be begging for legal trouble if an employee was fired for this. I could be very wrong, but depending on how you go about this it has elements of entrapment, etc. all over it.

EDIT: Also seems like a very minor issue. I'm tempted to think that you're trolling. Perhaps this person wasn't aware it was someone else's? Really, I think a memo reminding everyone that their own food is their own should be enough to clear this up.

Knowing what it's like to work in a very small/close-knit company, simple notes/memos tend to come off as very passive-aggressive, and cause discord.

I can vouch that this isn't a troll question. Having worked with him for a while, he's asking a good question about how best to keep his company family intact without making everyone feel like jerks about the whole thing.

"Person who takes lunch from the fridge" isn't a protected class as far as I know, and a lot of states are basically "at-will", which means you don't really need a reason to fire anybody at any time.

Ghost Chillies (or any other sufficiently "burn-off-your-mouth" chillies) are the answer. It's not high tech, but you're guaranteed to find the lunch thief (they're the one rolling on the floor), warn them off taking food from the fridge, and not have to put your employees through the "suspicion" deal.

I'm not sure what liability would be like, but technically, they're in the wrong for taking property that's not theirs. How were you to know that someone would eat your SUPER-MEGA-HOT pocket?

I think this would "do harm" and go a little far...

I should really add it to the list though, its not the first time I've gotten the suggestion.

If your company has a 1 big family vibe, what makes you think this person is doing this maliciously? Maybe he just thinks everything is fair game for the taking.

http://www.compactappliance.com/Summit-10.1-Cu-Ft-All-Refrig...

It could be a misguided prank gone wrong. Yet you jump to the worst (find and fire) without really knowing what's going on. It could be one of your most effective employees, and all they need is a little socialization.

It could be, but I doubt it. We do not have a history of office pranks. Each person who came to me was kind of shaken up, not over the lunch per se but over "what is going on with this place that people are stealing from me."

The victims on this, imho, are the people who have built a good place to work, want to eat lunch in peace and can't.

Just saw this and thought about this HN thread: http://www.thinkofthe.com/product.php?name=anti-theft-lunch-...

This was a problem for my grandmother once. My grandmother's father made her a sandwich with some Epicac(sp?) in it and the thief went home early that day...

Small paint bomb - works for ATM's :)

You can make something that blows up when they open the container..

Binary Bisection.

Give half a personal day. Was the food stolen? If yes, give 3/4 another bonus day...

turd sandwich.

To be the devil's advocate, were the stolen lunches marked with the owner's name? Someone could be under the impression that anything in the community fridge is up for grabs.

You might not think this is relevant, but I do. Based on what you're describing, here's my guess as to the percent of market wage that you pay your employees: 18. (Just counting cash here, not any other form of compensation incl. equity.)

Am I right? Close? Honest question...

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