Why? Someone stole my damn Pepsi can from the break room fridge. I got it from this alumni club event I volunteered for, I brought it in last week and planned on enjoying it this week (maybe even today) with the bag of chips I got from the Vikings game Sunday. But remembering that I got a free can of Red Bull swiped from my bag at the old test scoring place, I checked again yesterday. I don't really remember where I put it -- I thought it was in the back of one of the two fridges -- but I think I looked everywhere, and it was gone.
This morning I just had to vent. So, not apropos -- I think they said "Hi" and I just launched into it -- I told the two people who are working in the same room as I (although they are not working on the same things as I) that I got my can of pop stolen from me, and wouldn't you know it, it cut open a vein with them. They went on for a good 15 minutes about stuff that they had stolen from us. This conversation confirmed something that more employers should, in my opinion, pay attention to. I know that losing a Pepsi or a Red Bull or a cookie or a frozen food meal isn't the worst thing in the world. There were times last night where I forgot that my soda was stolen from me. (Hell, I forgot just now.) But when it happens, it's extremely annoying, because you would think your stuff would be secure at your workplace, which, if you look at it in a certain way, is very intimate. It is the death of trust by a thousand cuts. One stolen item isn't going to mean you're quitting, but when it happens more than once, and when it happens to everyone on a floor, which I suspect is the case, you like your place of work a little less. And that loss of security, #firstworldproblems though it may be, is permanent.
I have to admit that I am getting a little paranoid about this. Someone stole my Pepsi, and someone knew they were stealing it; per policy, I labeled that can with my name and the date I put it into the refrigerator. No one who works here would be so stupid to not notice the label. So now I'm looking at everyone who works on this floor and trying to guess who might've taken it. Trust me, it's not very healthy to walk by someone you don't know but works on the same floor as you and think, "Oh, maybe she stole it!" and then look at a guy walk into his cubicle and think to yourself, "No, I can totally see him stealing my Pepsi!" I know I won't leave because of one can of pop, but if I keep obsessing about who might steal it, how can I stay?
The two people who are also working in this room kind of talked me down off the ledge. It may not be someone who works here. It may be -- may likely be, in fact -- that it's a temp or a member of the cleaning crew who stole it. Better than a co-worker, but it's still theft, and if it happens so often to the point people can't trust that their food will be where they put it, shouldn't employers do something about it? I don't like putting cameras in the break room or even in the fridge, but if it prevents this petty theft ... well, yeah, it's about time they do it.
In the meantime, one of them allowed me to put my creamer and any future items into a mini-fridge she keeps in her cubicle. There, my stuff should be forever safe. Maybe.
No comments:
Post a Comment