The San Diego Union-Tribune

April 3, 2000

THEFTS EAT AWAY AT OFFICE

The homemade cheesecake with "Happy Birthday" emblazoned on it was placed in the office refrigerator to await the festivities planned for later in the day. When the party for the co-worker was to begin, though, the worst was discovered: The cake was no longer there.   "It had simply vanished.  It has never been seen since," says one employee at the company in Sacramento. 

     Such tales of pilfering from the communal refrigerator are common.  It is a sad but true fact that in many American workplaces, one's bologna sandwich is not safe from one's colleagues. 

   Consider the case of Donna's tub of chocolate-chip cookie dough, which she bought for a school fund-raiser.  She put tub in the office refrigerator with the intention of taking it home that night, but when quitting time came, the tub had vanished.  Donna's name has been changed for this story.  For that matter, all who were interviewed requested anonymity out of fear their offices would be forever branded as hotbeds of stolen yogurt. They all spoke with disgust, however.  Such crimes of the stomach are not soon forgotten or easily forgiven.  People steal from company refrigerators, according to experts, because: The thieves are lazy and rude; they think everyone else is doing it; they rarely get caught; and they think no one would ever suspect them. 

   "This just rationalizes and justifies their behavior.  It doesn't mean it's right.  It just gives (them a) reason for doing it," says Frank Bucaro, the author of "Taking the High Road: How to Succeed Ethically When Others Bend the Rules."  "Part of the problem is they don't realize what the effect (theft has) on those around them," Bucaro says.  "I equate the decision (to steal) to throwing a rock in a pond.  No matter how small or big the rock is, or thus the decision is, it makes ripples.  It affects other people."  If someone is brazen enough to steal a banana, what else is he or she taking? Bucaro wonders.  "That's what I call the 'moral spiral.' One issue leads to another, leads to another leads to another, leads to another." 

   A survey last year by Michael G. Kessler & Associates, an international investigative and forensic accounting firm in New York, turned up some pretty astounding facts on office theft of all kinds. About 79 percent of employees steal from their employers to the tune of more than $120 billion a year.  In fact, the study concluded that "not only do employees steal, they out-steal shoplifters." 

   Nan DeMars, an office ethics expert and columnist for OfficeClick.com, asks how much is too much?  "We all know that we take pens.  We use the telephones for personal calls and the fax machines and the copy machines," she says.  "I go down to two words: reasonable use." Most companies, she says, would say things can be "used" by personnel if it is "reasonable."  Taking someone's croissant would be over the line, she says.  "Stealing somebody's lunch probably isn't reasonable use," DeMars says. 

No one asked Lisa, an administrative assistant for a Sacramento nonprofit company, if her Snapple could be taken.  That happened several times.  One day, someone swiped two bottles of Snapple. "I wrote my name on them, but people were still helping themselves.  It would happen during business hours, which meant it was one of my co-workers," she says.  "When you go to grab one in the afternoon and it's not there, you get a little upset," Lisa says.  "I put a note up on the refrigerator: 'Whoever stole it, no questions asked, just please replace them.  You don't have to tell me who you are.  Just leave them on my desk.' Of course, I got no response." 

  The types of things taken without permission from the office fridge are quite baffling: At one office building, a worker brought in some muffins only to later discover that someone had eaten all the tops. One woman partially ate one half of her sandwich before rewrapping it and putting it back in the refrigerator.  Someone unwrapped it, took the uneaten half and rejected the nibbled portion. Another worker was looking forward to the won-ton soup at lunch, but someone drank the broth, leaving the noodles behind. One person even sent out an office e-mail: "Would the person who keeps stealing my lunch out of the office fridge please let me know if you need the money.  I'll be happy to pay for your lunch.  Just leave mine alone."