210th Good Thing about Unemployment

The refrigerator bandit doesn’t steal your sack lunch.  

A few years ago, I worked at a health clinic where we only had a half-hour for lunch, so we didn’t have enough time to go to a restaurant and there was no fast food nearby. We all stored our lunches in an old refrigerator in an unoccupied room.   

This practice was successful until someone began taking one of our lunches each day. The thief seemed to be indiscriminate for a while and many of us, including myself, were victims. We grumbled and tried to share when someone came up short. Then, one day, our greedy boss was hit, and we all privately cheered the bandit.  The boss went from office to office, exclaiming her astonishment that her lunch was not in the refrigerator. I don't believe she was offered even a replacement mint.

(This boss, by the way, would often eat her lunch during 1:00 p.m. staff meetings, even in front of our Muslim medical director during Ramadan.) 

Somehow, that week, the odds were against the boss and she was hit several times until she began to store her lunch in her office.

The bandit moved on—our turnover rate was over 50%—and those of us who remained mourned his evident departure.