Budget Buster - Inconsiderate Coworkers

[JENOS]

I am also flabbergasted that people call their co-workers idiots because of accident. I know you said inconsiderate but that not what you meant; inconsiderate would be them purposely leaving the door open because they don’t care about what happens to everyone’s food. Which I’m sure wasn’t the case!

 

[mrodgers]

Sounds better than someone realizing the following morning, "Oh, the fridge didn't close, I'll close it now" without saying anything and then you wondering why you are pouring chunks out of the milk onto your cereal.

My 4 year old got into the freezer one day looking for ice cream and didn't shut it properly. It was an accident and I didn't condemn her for eternity or consider her inconsiderate. It's just an accident.

 

[Hannathy]

I'm actually flabbergasted that leaving the door open slightly left it get that hot? I think the refrigerator needs to be checked. It should have had enough residual coolness inside to keep things coolish not hot. I mean you are saying hot? refrigerator light bulbs aren't that big. your containers would have had to right up next to the bulb. Having a hard time thinking in my brain how all that food got hot off a single light bulb.

And most laughing cow cheese can stay out of the refrigerator and still be good for future reference. I mail it to my DD at school.

sorry about your food but I would def. put a work order in to have that refrigerator looked at.

 

[Kycha]

It was an accident. An inconsiderate coworker is one that takes something out of the fridge that they know is not theirs. I have had sodas and whole lunches go missing, with my name written all over them. Since your communal refrigerator is new, be prepared for worse to come. Like the science experiments that some people like to grow in the fridge. One girl in my office would bring lunch to work every day. But then when the rest of us would get take out or delivery, she would order something too. And rather than eating the packed lunch the next day, she would bring another packed lunch. There was one time she had 2 weeks worth of lunches stacked in the fridge.

 

[BBandDisney]

 

[sissy_ib]

I'd be bummed too if this happened.
But I really think it was an accident.
I agree with the suggestion to only bring a day or two's worth of food.
I live alone and that is what I do at home.
I go to the grocery every two or three days because if I stock up I end up wasting food. As it is the smallest container available of the milk I buy is a half gallon and I never finish one.
I would not be mad at the person who left it open, I would try to figure out why the door is not shutting properly. Off balance, deffective, etc.

 

[Bob NC]

I'd check the magnet is clean and make sure it isn't on a tilt.

What's this "magnet" everyone keeps mentioning?

 

[bumbershoot]

OT: In the interest of preventing waste IMHO everything put into a shared refrigerator should be marked with a date after which it becomes free to anyone for the taking. Items with no date are free for the taking immediately.

No matter what, I think that policy would be hideous. Food in a fridge that isn't labeled was NOT purchased by others. it's one thing to have a policy like "this fridge is cleaned on Friday at 4pm. anything left in here WILL be thrown out." But a policy of "it's anyone's to eat" b/c of labels is ridiculous.

My husband had something similar happen where they cleaned out the fridge, apparently there was a notice up, but he didn't see it. Anything in the fridge got thrown away. They threw away his lunchbox ($20) and 2 reusable water bottles ($40, huge ones) and their insulators ($20) plus the food he had in there, ($10). I was NOT happy.

DH forgot about cleaning day once, and was sick on cleaning day once, and I was not happy about what he lost...

On the other hand, when there was food theft, the same company was serious about it. Sent an email out that it's theft and that would be a fire-able offense, and they put a camera up that was connected to the boss's computer... All theft stopped after that!

I'm actually flabbergasted that leaving the door open slightly left it get that hot? I think the refrigerator needs to be checked. It should have had enough residual coolness inside to keep things coolish not hot. I mean you are saying hot? refrigerator light bulbs aren't that big. your containers would have had to right up next to the bulb. Having a hard time thinking in my brain how all that food got hot off a single light bulb.

And most laughing cow cheese can stay out of the refrigerator and still be good for future reference. I mail it to my DD at school.

sorry about your food but I would def. put a work order in to have that refrigerator looked at.

I agree with all of that.

Cost Plus sells Laughing Cow cheese from their normal shelves; it definitely doesn't have to be refrigerated.

 

[GinnyEmma]

What's this "magnet" everyone keeps mentioning?

it is the seal thingie that goes around the door. Expensive because it isn't just a seal!

 

[Leajess99]

I'm actually flabbergasted that leaving the door open slightly left it get that hot? I think the refrigerator needs to be checked. It should have had enough residual coolness inside to keep things coolish not hot. I mean you are saying hot? refrigerator light bulbs aren't that big. your containers would have had to right up next to the bulb. Having a hard time thinking in my brain how all that food got hot off a single light bulb.

And most laughing cow cheese can stay out of the refrigerator and still be good for future reference. I mail it to my DD at school.

sorry about your food but I would def. put a work order in to have that refrigerator looked at.

Sounds like someone should really check what size lightbulb is inside. The old fridge I had in my apartment actually had damage in it because the last residents or complex maintenance guy had a very high wattage light bulb in there. It started melting the plastic.

 

[whatsup]

Oh the beauty of the old "office fridge"! Happens quite a bit and don't mention the fact that NO ONE wants to clean it! Thank GOD that at least you know what had happened. Otherwise someone could had just not said a word, closed the door the food got cool again and you went and ate it not knowing it was probably spoiled!

 

[TheRatPack]

The fridge you described is what we have in our garage as our second fridge. It's a MUST that you press the doors to close them....if you shut one side it pops open the other side. And yes, leaving it open...even just cracked overnight and the things on the top shelf are out of temp, even in a cold garage. We've had this happen a couple times and temped the meat or whatever was on the top shelf and it was a few degrees over the safe line...so we tossed it. If you leave the freezer part cracked it'll freeze up on you.....it's a MESS.

One thing I can recommend is a fridge/freezer alarm. Even just a cheap (under 5.00) door alarm would be great. Still it sounds like it was an accident....we had it happen twice Now we have to be really careful to make sure everything is completely closed.

Sorry about your food/$$$ loss That's never fun....we lost quite a bit last time our doors did that.

 

[Planogirl]

When did it become a bad thing to vent here? It was probably an accident like others have said but I'd be a bit bummed if my stuff was ruined and some people feel better when they vent.

The OP might be taking it a little too hard but I think that others are being a little hard on the OP.

 

[starrzone]

Ugh, OP, I can sympathize about fridges; ours at home was constantly making the milk curdle until we found out that it was actually broken!

If I were in this situation, I'd make myself the designated "fridge-checker" at the end of my shift and make sure the door was shut tightly. I suppose this would only work if you were one of the last people to leave the office for the day, but it's something simple that could be done until the fridge door is fixed .

 

[Mom2Ben02]

I should never be surprised at the DIS, but I always am.

I would be upset, too. Even if it was no one's fault, it stinks.

 

[GinnyEmma]

I should never be surprised at the DIS, but I always am.

I would be upset, too. Even if it was no one's fault, it stinks.

Sure it stinks. But an accident doesn't make inconsiderate. It makes an accident and a possible problem with the fridge. If it has happened over and over again it makes no sense to continue using it for long term storage.

 

[scrapquitler]

We have a full-size fridge at our office with the two doors up top and the freezer on the bottom. last night, one of my coworkers left the fridge open somewhat when they left for the night.

When I got in this morning the inside of the fridge was HOT because the lightbulb was putting out so much heat and the fridge couldn't keep up. The plastic containers in the fridge were hot to the touch. We had to throw out EVERYTHING in there.

Just an aside....it is an LG?? Is the light on the top okay or is the plastic casing around the light melted??? If so, the door probably wasn't left open.

There is a known problem with the LG french door refrigerator where the light switch malfunctions and the light doesn't turn off even though the doors are closed, and the casing around the light can melt (and the temp. inside the fridge goes up and ruins all the food inside). It happened to me about a year ago with my fridge.

It looks like this: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf62504889.tip.html
If this is actually the problem, call LG. They will send someone out to fix it.

Just at thought....

 

[angierae]

First off, thank you to everyone who understands that sometimes, you just need to vent.

Just an aside....it is an LG?? Is the light on the top okay or is the plastic casing around the light melted??? If so, the door probably wasn't left open.

There is a known problem with the LG french door refrigerator where the light switch malfunctions and the light doesn't turn off even though the doors are closed, and the casing around the light can melt (and the temp. inside the fridge goes up and ruins all the food inside). It happened to me about a year ago with my fridge.

It looks like this: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf62504889.tip.html
If this is actually the problem, call LG. They will send someone out to fix it.

Just at thought....

Nope, it's a Whirlpool, and it was left open because me and a coworker are the ones that found it open.

Thank you to the person who suggested a fridge alarm, I'm going to suggest that we install one.

 

[seashoreCM]

Just because the door gasket has a magnet does not guarantee the door will not stay slightly ajar.

Believe it or not, a refrigerator with a lot of stuff in it has a lot more residual coolness than one with just a few small items in it. A fluffed out lunch bag with just a small item in it does not count as a lot of stuff. Technically it takes more energy (more time given the light bulb that stayed on) to warm up a solid or liquid compared with air space.