Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Brad Johnson on December 19, 2023, 12:50:26 PM
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We have a food thief in the building. Drinks and food regularly disappearing from desktops and break room fridges. We want an inconspicuous self-contained camera we can mount somewhere in the room, or even in the fridge, to try and catch the sorry SOB. Game cams are right out due to most of them being fairly obvious, plus it needs to capture video in at least 1080p/30 or higher.
Suggestions for something that won't break the bank?
Brad
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Just out of curiosity, what are you going to do once you catch him/her?
I ask because we had a food thief once. He stole a lot of other stuff too, computers and other valuables, so the missing lunches was just an annoyance. Security was called once, they just laughed.
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Whatever you do don't put a box of brownies made with chocolate ex-lax in the fridge, the poor thief might miss a day or two of work due to . . . "intestinal distress." :angel:
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Sandwiches made with Carolina Reaper peppers.
Sandwiches made with Syrup of Ipecac mixed in with the mayo.
Add a little Polonium-210 for a bit of kick(the bucket).
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Well, I'm sure that when the thief is caught, your HR department will give him a 3-day suspension, with pay, to think about what he's done.
We had a food thief when I was at the newspaper. Everyone knew who it was. Big fat Italian sports writer. He was told repeatedly not to take food out of the fridge. He didn't listen.
I lost half of a VERY good sub to him, so I waited a while and... made a big ass bowl of chocolate ex lax pudding.
Bastard was out for a couple of days. Then I put a note on his desk letting him know that, if he continued the error of his ways, he might be risking another case of "stomach flu."
He finally got the message.
I'd say try coating something irresistible in Ghost Pepper infused oil, but you're in Texas. Person may like it.
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Why don't you figure out what he/she/they/them steal the most and then prepare a trap. It is easy enough to cause mild to severe discomfort and also make it obvious by the use of different peppers with different levels of capsaicin in order to make it quite obvious to the thief it has been found out and also to the people affected by its shenanigans from the howls of discomfort. If it is reported just have everyone deny any knowledge but the odds of it being reported are slim because then they have to admit they are stealing the food.
bob
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As much as I would love to use the Capsaicin Trap method, it's already been tried on campus and the trapper got in more trouble than the trappee.
If nothing else, we can have the person banned from entering the building. We have that much building-level authority. Not sure what Campus will do, but Custodial and their parent department seem to take a dim view of thieves and liars. All the thief may get on a first offense is an official HR-level reprimand, but I'll let them deal with it so long as the person never sets foot in here again.
Brad
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I read one of those stories in Facebook about someone who kept losing their food, so he prepared a really HOT set of wings.
The thief took the bait and started screaming and vomiting and, of course, filed a complaint.
Person with the hot wings was confronted by the powers that be and was told intentionally poisoning someone was a fireable offense or whatever, so he simply picked up one of the wings and ate it. Said he didn't see a problem with them, ate another one, and said it wasn't his fault that he was preparing his food the way HE liked it, and it certainly wasn't his fault if a food thief couldn't handle is preferred spice level.
True or not, no clue. But I've known people who could pull that off with some of the stuff that they eat.
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https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mini-Wireless-Security-Camera-Full-HD-1080P-Portable-Small-Nanny-Cam-Night-Vision-Video-Record-Motion-Detection-Home-Car-Drone-Office-Outdoor-Use/321731683?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=18988&adid=22222222222000000000_3614603750_pla&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=e&wl1=s&wl2=c&wl3=10352200394&wl4=pla-1103028060075&wl5=&wl6=&wl7=&wl10=Walmart&wl11=Online&wl12=321731683_10000020145&wl14=best%20nanny%20cams&veh=sem&msclkid=144a7fde38dc1998adf61a5c783734ac&gclid=144a7fde38dc1998adf61a5c783734ac&gclsrc=3p.ds
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z3P14BF?tag=georiot-us-default-20&th=1&psc=1&ascsubtag=dcw-us-5585943473608864000-20&geniuslink=true
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Cool. I have not been keeping up with what is common tech for that stuff.
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As much as I would love to use the Capsaicin Trap method, it's already been tried on campus and the trapper got in more trouble than the trappee . . .
Don't tell me the trapper put his name on the hot lunch . . . :facepalm:
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We called the PD to see if they had any surveillance equipment, but ended up having them start an investigation. Turns out ours wasn't the only affected location. They had a couple more reports and were able to filter down by commonalities, finding a person of interest in less than an hour.
After reviewing our internal security cameras I'm relatively certain its one of two persons, neither of which would surprise me. We'll see.
Brad
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I had a labeled lunch bag disappear once, but it was a one-time thing. We had a rule that you had to label stuff in the fridge mainly so if if it was forgotten and it went stinko, we could contact the stinkerator.
Nothing formal, no "lunchroom monitor," just a kind of community standard. I guess if you saw everyone else's stuff labeled, you start doing it automagically.
I got questioned once on popping the button to open the µwave oven door and I explained that I did that to keep it aired out. Over time I noticed it was also being left open kind of routinely.
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https://nypost.com/2023/12/20/lifestyle/a-school-bully-kept-stealing-my-daughters-lunch-so-i-laced-her-food-with-laxatives/
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Last time I took anything out of the work fridge that wasn't mine was about a year ago.
In fact, I took a TON of stuff out of the fridge that wasn't mine...
And I threw it out.
I got into work on a Monday morning, went to put my lunch in the fridge, and the whole thing was room temperature. It had been off the entire weekend. It was on a power strip and it got bumped and turned off, I'm guessing when the exterminator did his biweekly inspection.
I shitcanned anything that was open, in a lunch container, etc. The only thing I left in the fridge was sealed drinks.
Then I hung a sign on the fridge telling people what happened and left the containers on the counter for people to pick up.
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Need to protect your office food!
(https://sivator.com/uploads/posts/2017-06/1497416982_1497331399174681365.jpg)
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I had one of these for a lunch bag when I worked at the Target RDCs.
https://www.amazon.com/Fred-M-T-Emergency-Transport-Insulated/dp/B007M2OHEY/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=lunch+box+organ&sr=8-5 (https://www.amazon.com/Fred-M-T-Emergency-Transport-Insulated/dp/B007M2OHEY/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=lunch+box+organ&sr=8-5)
It seemed to keep the pilfering down.
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^
Very sudden laughter resulting in coffee "spit take."
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There's a known lunch thief where I work.
He stole my lunch once, two years ago. I knew it was him; after some investigation regarding who was working the night shift in that building accompanied by some carefully-asked questions, it couldn't have been anybody else. I also found my food container in a trash can that sits right in front of the punch clock where there is a camera. I went to the company owner about it and he said "there's nothing we can do". I told him he could check the camera footage and see who tossed my container, but he replied "that wouldn't prove anything". I threw a big enough fit over it that the facilities manager bought me lunch the next day, and a supervisor bought me lunch the day after that.
Company rules are enforced according to skin color where I work; if you aren't white, you won't get in trouble for, or even questioned about, minor infractions like lunch theft or showing up to work 5 minutes late every day.
If I were to get caught habitually playing around on my phone during work hours, I'd get called into the office, lectured, and possibly get written up. If a non-white person is doing it, management stops the whole operation, gathers us in a circle, and gives the whole crew a lecture on how "we can't be doing this".
Indeed, that is what happened when a non-white employee thought it would be funny to tack weld the door shut on an employee restroom with people inside, and it was caught on camera.
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Talking to a beer buddy yesterday and found out he'd tagged a food thief with a single tortilla chip. Someone at his office was helping themselves to his chip bag. He bought a Paqui One Chip Challenge and put the chip in his bag. Said it was funny as hell when they found the guy. He was dripping sweat, puking in a trash can, and sobbing "Oh God! Oh God!" over and over.
Brad
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Talking to a beer buddy yesterday and found out he'd tagged a food thief with a single tortilla chip. Someone at his office was helping themselves to his chip bag. He bought a Paqui One Chip Challenge and put the chip in his bag. Said it was funny as hell when they found the guy. He was dripping sweat, puking in a trash can, and sobbing "Oh God! Oh God!" over and over.
Brad
I love these feel good stories! :rofl:
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If I were to get caught habitually playing around on my phone during work hours, I'd get called into the office, lectured, and possibly get written up. If a non-white person is doing it, management stops the whole operation, gathers us in a circle, and gives the whole crew a lecture on how "we can't be doing this".
There is little that I hated more at any job I've ever had than the lowest common denominator management style of, "You 99 other people should know better!!!".
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Need to protect your office food!
(https://sivator.com/uploads/posts/2017-06/1497416982_1497331399174681365.jpg)
I could pick those combination "locks" in seconds with no tools and without damaging them. They are only slightly better than useless! Oh, and the key lock? Got a paper-clip?
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Indeed, that is what happened when a non-white employee thought it would be funny to tack weld the door shut on an employee restroom with people inside, and it was caught on camera.
Pull a fire alarm and send that *expletive deleted*er to prison.
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"Indeed, that is what happened when a non-white employee thought it would be funny to tack weld the door shut on an employee restroom with people inside, and it was caught on camera."
Let me guess... he got promoted, while everyone in the restroom was docked pay for taking an extended break.
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Let me guess... he got promoted, while everyone in the restroom was docked pay for taking an extended break.
Ha! No. BUT, he has since been suspended for sexual harassment AND habitual tardiness (1/2 hour to an hour late), and still has his job. Well, he'll resume his job after his broken foot heals up from dropping a 400-lb weldment on it a few weeks ago.
Can you tell it's a union shop?
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Hey Brad, was it you who told us a story a couple of years ago about you wanting to deal with someone for gaming their sick leave or something like that, and HR offered the "punishment" of giving the person two days suspension... WITH pay?
YES! It was! https://armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=55054.50
Maybe when you finally catch up with your thief HR will give him a bunch of restaurant vouchers to punish him... :rofl:
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I'd forgotten about that. :rofl:
I haven't had to deal with direct-report issues for almost half a decade now. It's been... nice.
Brad
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I'd forgotten about that. :rofl:
I haven't had to deal with direct-report issues for almost half a decade now. It's been... nice.
Brad
I have always said the optimum healthcare administration job is one in which I have no direct reports and don't have to deal with patients. I have had no direct reports now for a year and likely won't have any by the time I retire in 2025. Still have the patients, though.
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Ever find your thief, Brad?
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No updates since we turned it over to campus PD, but also nothing else stolen.
Brad
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No updates since we turned it over to campus PD, but also nothing else stolen.
Brad
APS DEMANDS A HEAD ON A PIKE!
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APS DEMANDS A HEAD ON A PIKE!
Does it need to be a specific head because I know a guy
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A head's a head, I guess.
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APS DEMANDS A HEAD ON A PIKE!
(https://preview.redd.it/d6cav650jf4z.jpg?auto=webp&s=3d6baba94bbf632e8385b26a6cf1ffa60b43d376)
(surely everyone here gets the reference.)
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Actually, I don't get the reference.
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Actually, I don't get the reference.
Reflection, surprise, terror. For the future.
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The hairdo looks like the count's hairdo in Bram Stoker's Dracula from the 1990s...
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Actually, I don't get the reference.
Babylon 5
this one first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0n2vurSBIQ&pp=ygUYQmFieWxvbiA1IHZpciBhbmQgbW9yZGVu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0n2vurSBIQ&pp=ygUYQmFieWxvbiA1IHZpciBhbmQgbW9yZGVu)
then this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47DfQcHMYLY&pp=ygUYQmFieWxvbiA1IHZpciBhbmQgbW9yZGVu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47DfQcHMYLY&pp=ygUYQmFieWxvbiA1IHZpciBhbmQgbW9yZGVu)
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I have a cow orker, theoretical subordinate, who is a pink and green-haired perpetual victim.
We made her work today! Yay.
Still did less than everyone else.
I may do the chip thing. She strikes me as a lunch thief...
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Babylon 5
this one first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0n2vurSBIQ&pp=ygUYQmFieWxvbiA1IHZpciBhbmQgbW9yZGVu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0n2vurSBIQ&pp=ygUYQmFieWxvbiA1IHZpciBhbmQgbW9yZGVu)
then this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47DfQcHMYLY&pp=ygUYQmFieWxvbiA1IHZpciBhbmQgbW9yZGVu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47DfQcHMYLY&pp=ygUYQmFieWxvbiA1IHZpciBhbmQgbW9yZGVu)
OK, that explains that. I watched part of the first episode of Babylon 5, didn't like it at all, and that was that.
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(https://preview.redd.it/d6cav650jf4z.jpg?auto=webp&s=3d6baba94bbf632e8385b26a6cf1ffa60b43d376)
(surely everyone here gets the reference.)
And it is sad to think that Stephen Furst died 7 years ago just over a month after he turned 63 from diabetes related problems.
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OK, that explains that. I watched part of the first episode of Babylon 5, didn't like it at all, and that was that.
Too bad. With the cast they had and (some of) the writing, it was a good show.
But the actors that were on the show have not had such good luckl. As I mentioned above, Furst died in 2017.
Mira Furlan - Delenn - died 2021, age 65 complications of West Nile virus;
Andreas Katsulas - G'Kar - died 2006, age 59, lung cancer;
Jerry Doyle - Garibaldi - died 2016, age 60, complications of alcoholism, (he married Andrea Thompson, the tall blonde PsiCorp telepath);
and Michael O'Hare - Cmdr. Sinclair - died 2012 of a heart attack. According to IMDB, B5 creator J. Michael Straczynski confirmed that:
By the time O'Hare passed away in September 2012, he hadn't had a role in over a decade, nor had he been seen out in public for years, fueling speculation he was gravely ill for the last several years of his life. Only upon O'Hare's death (and at his request) did close friend and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski confirm that he had, in fact, been battling an increasing debilitating case of schizophrenia. Straczynski also confirmed that O'Hare's difficulty with the illness was the primary reason he was forced to leave Babylon 5 at the end of the first season, a decision which was mutual and very amicable. JMS even went so far as to delay the filming of the series several months to try and accommodate his condition, but O'Hare declined, citing that the delay would adversely affect the rest of the cast & crew, and insisted that they should continue without him. O'Hare would eventually return for a brief cameo in the second season, as well as a guest role in the third season that concluded his character's story in the series.
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Too bad. With the cast they had and (some of) the writing, it was a good show.
But the actors that were on the show have not had such good luckl. As I mentioned above, Furst died in 2017.
Mira Furlan - Delenn - died 2021, age 65 complications of West Nile virus;
Andreas Katsulas - G'Kar - died 2006, age 59, lung cancer;
Jerry Doyle - Garibaldi - died 2016, age 60, complications of alcoholism, (he married Andrea Thompson, the tall blonde PsiCorp telepath);
and Michael O'Hare - Cmdr. Sinclair - died 2012 of a heart attack. According to IMDB, B5 creator J. Michael Straczynski confirmed that:
Quite a few more actors from the show have passed, according to https://www.imdb.com/list/ls023048945/
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OK, that explains that. I watched part of the first episode of Babylon 5, didn't like it at all, and that was that.
I don't even remember the first episode. First season was a lot of scene setting and foreshadowing. Second season things ramp up.
The two video clips are separated by years, in real life TV seasons and in the story arc.
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I don't even remember the first episode. First season was a lot of scene setting and foreshadowing. Second season things ramp up.
The two video clips are separated by years, in real life TV seasons and in the story arc.
I just realized I haven't rewatched the series or movies in many years now. I need to rewatch the whole shebang again.
If I hadn't stuck it out past the first few episodes of season 1, I might have missed out on a good thing. Season three was pretty phenomenal. It was a shame how the network jacked JMS around for the last two seasons. Even with that, he did a good story arc.
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Quite a few more actors from the show have passed, according to https://www.imdb.com/list/ls023048945/
True, but many of those were guest stars on just 1 or 2 episodes. I was referring to the main cast.
Thanks for the link as I was unaware that both Zack Allen and Richard Biggs had also died.
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Despite the satisfaction of applying swift and terrible justice (e.g., in the form of "poisoning" one's food to catch a thief), it is against the law here in Colorado to use booby traps or mantraps to protect property. I assume this is because it ultimately denies the suspect to a fair trial and proper punishment regarding his/her guilt.
Be that as it may, the Colorado Constitution provides:
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ARTICLE II
Bill of Rights
Section 3. Inalienable rights. All persons have certain natural, essential and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; of acquiring, possessing and protecting property; and of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.
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This would seem to render unconstitutional the mantrap and booby trap laws. Yes? No?
Worth kickin' around, but I have it on second-hand but quasi-reliable authority that a person whose business had been repeatedly burgled "got off" under that Constitutional provision after the shotgun he had rigged on his door killed the repeat offender.
The matter, I was told informally, was swept under the rug with a plea deal and some other legal maneuvering since the authorities did not want it to be generally known that there was an apparent conflict between "The Law" and the Constitution... a problem which seems to be general around the nation.
Now you understand that this information was gleaned by innocent conversation over coffee over twenty years ago with a person who was closely associated with the matter, so should not be considered definitive.
I just wonder if the "poisoners" in this thread, while sort of guilty of setting a "mantrap" (or "student-trap") might have been able to apply the right "of acquiring, possessing and protecting property" if it had occurred in Colorado.
Funny how Constitutions can be casually ignored by the whim of Legislators and authoritarian twits.
Me go now.
Terry, 230RN
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True, but many of those were guest stars on just 1 or 2 episodes. I was referring to the main cast.
Thanks for the link as I was unaware that both Zack Allen and Richard Biggs had also died.
The guy who played Zathras (yeah, only a few episodes) also died.