I live in the university dormitory. In the beginning of term I left a cake in the fridge and the next day I discovered it had been stolen. Recently, the thieving has intensified. Only last week someone stole my food three times. Some other students have had it even worse. Pizza, fruits, desserts, yoghurt and eggs have vanished from our fridge. What’s more, a cettle and a frying pan have also been stolen from the kitchen. Some senior students said it was the same thing a year ago, and they had no idea whether it was someone from the school or an outsider. This gets everyone annoyed to the max and the atmosphere between students is tense. Can anyone suggest anything that could be done?
1. Buy some strong laxative. 2. Place something tempting in the fridge with your name on it. 3. Lace the tempting item with the laxative 4. Wait. You may or may not catch the person but you will make whomever it is/was much more careful about the practice.
The spycam is a good idea. The problem with the laxative (or hot sauce, or pharmaceutical of your choice) is you run the risk of doing someone real harm for a relatively minor offense despite how aggravating it is and how violated you may feel. You don't know the medical history of the culprit. Maybe a pouch of food coloring would be relatively safe and mark the guilty party for a few days. Another option is to get one of those small dorm fridges in your room and put a lock on it.
I had a teacher colleague that did something similar. He had a bunch of high school students who repeatedly stole snacks out of his desk. He intentionally left a bunch of Atkins Chocolates in there. They have artificial sugar or something that can cause a laxative effect. The thieves stole the candy, but I think they learned their lesson because he said they stopped stealing stuff from him. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Stealing is wrong. In some cultures you'd get your hand chopped off. Getting diarrhea is a much better alternative. -Matt
:iagree: You can save the video on a secure remote server so that even if the setup is found out, they can not destroy the evidence. :haha::iagree::haha:
We had a Sergeant who was famous for stealing food out of the fridge, namely pizza. So one day we took two slices of pizza. The first piece was strategically placed in the toilet and photographed. The remaining piece was placed on paper plate with a paper towel underneath, the picture under the towel, and then the whole paper plate was wrapped in cellophane. End result, the Sergeant ate the last slice of pizza, and upon doing so, when he attempted to discard the plate (AFTER HE ATE THE PIZZA) he discovered the photograph and immediately began to dry heeve. That solved our problem, lol.
I soo wish I could credit for that, but it was another cop that I worked with idea, and I just was there for moral support, lol.
Thumbs up for not making him eat the contaminated slice for real :You_Rock_Emoticon: did anyone ever tell him it was just a gag?
I like the laxative idea best and the camera then you can know who took them all. I think the culprit deserves a little lesson for taking everyone's food. I mean come on, a whole cake.
I'd like to think that most of us are civilized beyond cutting off a hand and would prefer not to do real harm for a relatively minor offense. When made aware of the potential of harm we might inflict I hope most of us will agree two wrongs don't make a right, or at least will try to make the punishment fit the crime. The pizza plot was great. The spy cam is a fine idea. Marking the package or food with food coloring to mark/stain the person seems like it might be harmless.
This may be crazy of me, but I might consider posting a notice saying, "Please stop taking my food without asking me." -=Steve=-
I like this idea, but I'm not sure it would work. In my workplace we use to have a donation can by the coffee. It was clearly marked. Occasionally people would "borrow" from it rather than contribute. I tossed the can and continued to buy the coffee. I'm OK giving stuff away, but I am really irked when someone takes/steals from me. I've had roommates borrow toothpaste and food from the fridge and never replace anything. When confronted they would say that they didn't know whose it was. I wonder if they knew it wasn't theirs and that there is no toothpaste fairy. I think some people are simply inconsiderate and setting them up without doing real harm is needed to get through. But I like your idea of first simply putting up a notice.
