Why do people steal stupid stuff????

[PrincessKitty1]

I used to work in a large state agency that had a chronic food theft problem. It was so bad, some people brought coolers to work rather than use the refrigerator. I actually had a Taco Bell burrito stolen out of my lunch bag once (they left the other things in the lunch bag). How desperate can you get??

When I worked on a locked psychiatric unit, we had bottles of hand sanitizer in little holders on the wall outside of each room, and they were constantly stolen by employees.

 

[bellacam]

Someone used to steal our food, so we laced it with Ex-Lax and found out that a security guard missed work for two days with diarrea! We could never prove it was him, but nothing was ever taken after that.

OMG!!! We did this too! I felt so guily afterwards but I never lost another lunch!

 

[EltonJohn]

I moved into a new office two weeks ago, different building than where I was before, a whole new set of people.

I keep in my drawer a box of tea. I have a cup in the morning and maybe a cup in the afternoon if I'm feeling chilly. I noticed the other day that I have been going through alot of tea lately, but didn't think much of it. When I came in yesterday there were three tea bags left I took one and threw the other two in my drawer. I know when I left yesterday, they were still there. Come in this morning all my teas gone!!!

Now if you want tea, just ask. I will share anything with anyone. Just don't steal it!!!

Perhaps you should invest in a small box and lock.

 

[jim and meesie]

And finally, not sure if this counts as stealing per se, but when my office holds its twice-yearly parties, there is a certain group of people who always attend with large bags. They go to all the food stations and fill up ziplocs with the hors d'oeuvres to take home. Of course, they do this at the beginning of the party! This same group also likes to walk off with the centerpieces--again, about halfway through the event.

These are the same people who "load up" at the Concierge Floor Snacks when they are on vacation!!!!!

As far as offices go, I own and manage two office buildings. I started to notice that our cleaning company was billing us for tampax and sanitary supplies. Strangely, our bathrooms don't have dispensers and we don't provide them. I'm not talking about just a couple of dollarsworth, this was running into hundreds of dollars a month??? When I investigated I found that the cleaning person was ordering the supplies and then taking them home when they were delivered each month! We're talking thousands of these things, what was he doing with them, it's not like it's something he could sell on Ebay!!!! Unfortunately that has led to my occassionally needing to do a TP (toilet paper usage audit)!!!! Fortunately we haven't reached the point where we need to lock the TP dispensers but you would be shocked to learn how much TP we go through on a per person basis!!!

By the way, I started out with the nice super cushy TP thinking "why would I provide TP that I myself wouldn't want to use?" Big mistake!!! First of all we went through way more rolls per month (assumption being that employees probably would borrow a few extra rolls of the good stuff here and there). Secondly we ran into huge plumbing expense with people using too much and clogging up the toilets. (the same reason we don't provide sanitary supplies!) Once we converted to the less cushy industrial variety TP we used way fewer rolls per month and didn't have clogged toilets as often. Go figure!!!

 

[delilah]

I have had so many stupid things taken it is ridiculous. Apparently, cleaning ladies like the nail polish I have. Twice different women haven taken my bottle of my favorite shade. Both were a nice bright red. A different cleaning lady stole two rolls of state quarters I had been saving for my son. That time, I asked her if she knew anything about it. She blamed it on her son, who she brought into my house with her when she cleaned. I would have given either of them $20, but, they were proof state quarters--worth lots more than $10 per roll, but not enough to call the police. The same lady also stole my husband's pewter beer steins--one each for the Univ of Florida and Ohio State national championships, and one from his little brother in the fraternity at college. The one from college baffles us. It was engraved with his name, and had a glass bottom that was broken.

Of note, my office manager is my ex-cleaning lady's sister. I saw her stealing "Zoo Books" that I had put in the waiting room for patients to see. We also have a big problem with people stealing things from the office refridgerator. I never put anything in there. People have stolen leftovers from lunch that had my name on them--picked over, half eaten stuff. Yuck.

 

[Mish19]

At my old job I left a bottle of hand lotion on my desk and some jerk stole it! A nice big bottle too, I walked around the office wondering loudly about it but never did find it.

 

[AnaheimGirl]

OMG! I can't believe you stole my petrified pumpkin pie! You owe me $5 for having to buy a twinkie for dessert.

 

[Beth76]

My dad had a spare tire he didn't want anymore, so he put it in the front yard with a box that said free. He had a brick holding down the box. Not only did someone take the tire - but they also took the brick!

What do you do with one brick?

Maybe they were going to use it to hold down a box.

 

[SeeDisney]

I remember when I worked at a law firm, someone was stealing toilet paper!!!

 

[Vijoge]

My boss brought me some gourmet dog biscuits which were packaged in containers similar to the ones for Chinese take-out. I put them on the counter in the breakroom and forgot to take them home. When I came back for them there were quite a few missing. I wonder if my co-workers prefer the peanut butter or the cheese?

I started to notice that our cleaning company was billing us for tampax and sanitary supplies. it's not like it's something he could sell on Ebay!!!!

Actually quite a few tampons, as well as the dispensers, for sale on eBay!

 

[Mari annie]

Lock your drawers at work!

Sometimes greedy people think the world owes them things, these are the same people who stiff people on everything.
I have inlaws like this. HORRIBLE!

 

[Serena]

There are people at work that steal lunches pretty often. We know who it is, they both have gotten caught, why they are still there I don't know.

But at the store we have people stealing every day. Stupid cheap stuff. I mean, why risk jail time and a record for a piece of costume jewelry. I mean, if I were going to steal something it'll be darn worth it. Like a Brinks truck or something.

We had an old man stealing men's cologne testers last week.

 

[FroggyinArk]

i once had a customer take several cans of paint off of my truck, then complained when i billed him for them, hey it was an off color, not normal and while i was working on the portch his den suddenly turned that color,,i've had people take items out of my service truck at work to take home several times,, my favorite was hte time i retreived a duck call from a stopped up toilet at local sporting goods store, suspect it came from a shop lifter that got caught, we rinsed it off, and were takjing it in to add to the collection of "stuff we have retrieved,(quite a strange set of items in its own right)" when it dissapperaed,,, a couple days later one of the other guys returned it to me, and told me i should return it to the store cause the reed was bad a nd he couldnt get it to sound right should have seen his face when the boss told him where i got it...lol

 

[jim and meesie]

I started to notice that our cleaning company was billing us for tampax and sanitary supplies. it's not like it's something he could sell on Ebay!!!!

Actually quite a few tampons, as well as the dispensers, for sale on eBay!

Just when I thought I had heard everything!!!! I am a big ebay buyer and seller but.... I would never even imagine that was something that would be on ebay!!!!!!

 

[Stacerita]

When I had my first car in high school I had to park it on the street. Not right in front of the house, just at the end of the driveway. Well, one morning I got up to go to school and my roof (soft top roof of a Susuki Samuri) was undone and lifted. And then I saw a bunch of "trash" on the sidewalk by my car. Didnt think much of it till I got in the car to turn the radio on and couldn't. Some jerk broke into my car and stole the knobs off my stereo! They didn't take the stereo, just the knobs. Oh, and the cigarete lighter. Thats when I realized the "trash" on the sidewalk was my "trash" from the glovebox. Jumped out of my car to trash collect and saw that it was a few tapes, napkins ad vaious other important items of mine. Along with a note my bf at the time had given me. Whoever broke into the car also threw the stuffed bear he game me under the car, in the gutter. UGH! I was so irritated by the whole thing. Heck, you gonna break into an easy car to break into fnie. At least try to take the car, or the radio, or something of value. Dont take the knobs off the radio. What in the world are they gonna do with those?

Another time I had someone steal the top off the car. Since its a soft top its pretty easy to take on and off. I left my car in the parking lot of the college, went in, when i can backout, half my car was gone! Someone just came by, unzipped my car, and took the top. Jerks!

 

[disney50fam]

Do you remmber all you had to do was take the toy out of a box and a child could play with it?? Now there is all the plastic wires and even screws and all kinds of fun stuff just to get a toy out of a simple box...

 

[laurie31]

Omgosh - and I thought my co-workers were bad for stealing the breast milk I'd pumped!

Just when I thought I had heard everything!!!! I am a big ebay buyer and seller but.... I would never even imagine that was something that would be on ebay!!!!!!

Now this thread has led me to find THIS: Tampon Angels. (need to combine these two smilies!)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Birthstone-Birt...ryZ33851QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Now I'm waiting for someon to post that they're RECEIVED one of these as a gift. Maybe the person with the MIL who gives odd things?



Laurie

 

[Val]

I have a former student who has been stalking me....over Christmas break he called and demanded some scrap wood that he had left in our lab three years ago. Okay, whatever, it's been three years but we found it and left it out in the hall for him to pick up after hours (I will not have ANY face to face contact with him). He picked it up- and then stole my old TV and microwave that was on a cart in the hall. Funny thing is- neither work very well! We listed them as "stolen" (although I told the officer that if he finds them he is NOT to bring them back).....the officer interviewed the student and he admitted he took them. This means he is now banned from campus. And to think that for six months I have been meaning to get rid of that tv and microwave!!!!! Sometimes a theft is a blessing in disguise!!!!!

 

[Servants of Evan]

When I was in college I worked at a particular concert facility well known in these parts. Members of "the house band" would regularly come in to the maintenance storage room and steal toilet paper and lightulbs by the case. You'd catch one with a loud, "EXCUSE ME" and they'd just laugh and continue carrying stuff right past you. Now this "house band" is very well known and the members each made a minimum $112Gs a year -- and this is back in 1985!

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

My parents vans were broken into right in our driveway a few years ago. (Well they left them unlocked, really stupid.) We found out it was middle school kids from down the block. They didn't take the many cd's or cd player from the van. Or anything else of value. They took 2 pairs of prescription sunglasses! I really wished I could see them walking around in my parents very large, 80's looking sunglasses.

When I worked retail people would always steal really stupid things. Almost empty perfume testers were stolen often. People would also steal 1 small hairclip from a set of 2. People have stolen $1 hair combs and 25cent bathbeads. Also high in the theft market was used makeup testers. Lipstick none the less. How gross!

The best was when the store used to sell condoms. No one would ever actually purchase them. We would constantly find them stolen. But not a whole box at a time. No no. Most of the time I found the box lying on the shelf opened and only like 2 stolen. I guess I can at least be happy they were using them.