Office Worker Discovers Someone Threw Lunch in Trash, Has Best Response

A Toronto woman caused quite the stir among co-workers in her office after discovering someone had thrown her lunch in the trash.

Joanne, who requested that her real name be omitted from this story, took to Reddit to dish the dirt on the “office lunch drama” she created in response to her food being thrown away. The post, which was shared under the handle u/my_heirloom_tomatoes, has been upvoted over 2,500 times, with users enthralled at the turn of events she describes.

The drama began on the afternoon of August 11 when Joanne was on her lunch break. “I was about to have lunch a little late, as is often the case for me, so I went to the kitchenette and looked in the fridge to grab my tub of kimchi,” she told Newsweek.

Joanne had purchased a big, sealed tub of kimchi from a local Korean grocery store two weeks earlier and had been slowly picking away at it with her lunch every couple of days.

However, when Joanne opened the fridge, she was shocked to discover her food was nowhere to be seen. “I was disappointed to see my kimchi had disappeared,” she said. “I noticed the jar of pickles was still there on the same shelf, so I figured someone had specifically tossed the kimchi.”

Though she was vexed, Joanne had meetings and other work to attend to, so continued on about her day. It still played on her mind, though, so she asked the receptionist and office manager if they knew anything about the missing kimchi. They said no, so Joanne decided to take matters into her own hands.

Lunch breaks appear to be a thing of the past for many Americans. Last month, a poll of 2,000 U.S. workers, conducted by Talker Research on behalf of Buddig, found 55 percent skip lunch entirely on busy work days in a bid to be more productive.

This was one lunch Joanne wasn’t letting go of, though. When she failed to get the answers she needed from office staff, she decided to pen a message on a communal whiteboard in the office, demanding answers.

“To whomever tossed the box of red kimchi from the fridge,” the message began. “You probably thought that it needed to be tossed as it had been there a week. But kimchi is a pickle! It’s good for months! Please leave it next time!”

Not much happened in the immediate aftermath of Joanne penning the message. “A few co-workers stopping by to ask me if it was my note, and once I confirmed, we would have chats; stuff like where I buy my kimchi,” she said.

“One co-worker even started to tell me about his own attempts to make homemade kimchi. He said he’d bring some in for me next time. My impression was several of my colleagues were amused by this mystery and a bit invested in finding out the outcome.”

Joanne was in meetings all day the next day, but, around 4 p.m., someone came by her office to inform her that her message had gotten a response. She dashed down to read the reply, taking the picture of the whiteboard that ended up being posted to Reddit.

The response said: “OMG [oh my God] sorry it was me! I will buy you one!” There was one further twist in the tale. “The co-worker awkwardly waited for me out in the parking lot when I was getting off work to try to offer me money to buy a new box of kimchi, which I declined,” Joanne said. “I just made her promise to never throw out my kimchi again.”

Though Joanne may have caused a stir, she said she believes the experience highlights how great her workplace actually is. “A lot of stories on Reddit involve increasingly escalating drama in toxic workplaces, but this one ended with everyone being kind and understanding to one another,” she said.

“I think one comment said something to the effect of ‘if this passes for drama in your office, you have a great workplace,’ and that’s exactly true.”