"But the distribution is bimodal here because the massive upside is countered by a massive downside: You need to evade detection. Will you hide in the bathroom? Pretend you ordered the same thing? Eat it at your desk? Either way, you need to be prepared."
Pro health tip: Don't eat where you perform waste removal functions.
One of the best pieces of lore at my employer came courtesy of our "free food" slack channel. It was customary, after catered meetings, to post the location of any leftovers so the vultures could come by and enjoy a free second lunch.
Until.
Until the "cool intern" noticed food outside a conference room shortly after noon and posted it on the free food channel. Hordes of people came by to avail themselves of the food, leaving a horrified meeting organizer to fight them off while trying to post a rebuttal on slack saying that the food was NOT, in fact, available for the taking, the attendees hadn't had a lunch break yet, pleading with people to stop taking their food, etc.
The photo made me think of a common thing at my workplace -- a conference/customer visit had too much catering, and the leftovers were deposited in the break room. They usually don't stay very long.
Normalize treating someone who steals someone else’s food in the workplace the same way you would treat someone who steals someone else’s medication or telephone.
"But the distribution is bimodal here because the massive upside is countered by a massive downside: You need to evade detection. Will you hide in the bathroom? Pretend you ordered the same thing? Eat it at your desk? Either way, you need to be prepared."
Pro health tip: Don't eat where you perform waste removal functions.