The Psychological Lunchroom Experiment

For work, I bring my lunch from home four days a week & usually it’s the same thing, a lunchmeat sandwich & a shrink-wrapped fudge brownie inside a clear Ziploc baggie. Sounds kind of boring, eh?

But it’s what I like & I usually don’t have more time to prepare anything fancy, extravagant or elaborate, as usually when I get home after being at the library (it’s a great place to cool off from the heat during the summer) for several hours, I only have enough time to have a late dinner and get to bed, save for someone who might call me & keep me on the phone till midnight.

So this past Wednesday as I made my way down to the lunchroom refrigerator, I made a startling discovery; my lunch was missing! I always put it on the side door, so it won’t get squished or smashed with all the other lunches piled high like hot corned beef on rye on the main shelving units. Somehow or another, my lunch disappeared between 7:45 a.m. through 1:55 p.m. and I had no idea where it evaporated.

At first I was mad, but then I said “oh well” and knew that I had to make alternative plans for lunch. When I got upstairs and back to my desk, I told my cubicle partner what had happened & she told me she needed to break a $20 bill & in turn, offered to buy me lunch. I accepted the offer graciously, thanked her and told her I would be back in half an hour. Only one other person offered. I said thanks, but I had just accepted someone else’s offer only five seconds earlier.

In the meantime, I figured out someone had probably stolen it, which apparently some people do who either can’t afford to pay for food or were just desperately starving & couldn’t wait or felt they were entitled to it or for whatever reason, I’m not sure, it was already gone.

So I decided to run an experiment. I had a co-worker write a dictated letter by me & posted it up on the refrigerator. It read: “To Whom This May Concern: Whoever took my lunch this afternoon from the refrigerator, consisting of lunchmeat (beef) and a brownie, for your information; the meat was treated with medication for my tooth ailment (condition). Thank you very much. I hope you enjoyed it. If you experience any physical reactions, please see or call me…”

About an hour or two later, after I came back from lunch, I started fielding several phone calls regarding my missing lunch, mostly from friends who thought it was terrible, while still others who hoped that the person who ate it, would get violently ill. I had to laugh at that!

Later in the afternoon, before I left for the day, I found a message written across my post in red ink that read; “Got no reaction, thanks.” At first I was floored with that remark, but then realized someone thought they were trying to be funny & decided to put in their take on the situation. So in light of that, I decided to keep the note up overnight to see how much reaction this might gage.

The comments kept on growing. I heard from at least 10 more people asking me about my stolen lunch & felt sorry for me. Another co-worker even suggested that I had accused another co-worker of stealing my lunch, as he has a common trait of looking for food like a bear in campsites when he is hungry. He even said that co-worker was hurt that I wasn’t talking to him anymore because of it. I thought that was a little insane, but onward!

Then this morning I saw a hand-written note posted to the refrigerator. It read; “…If anyone is so desperate for food they’d steal, come to me & I’ll give you my lunch. I eat at 1 p.m. First come, first served…” I was touched and extremely pleased to see that note on the door.

My psychological lunchroom experiment worked! The elements which coupled several co-workers coming together to help me out when the situation presented itself, as well as those who called me with sympathy & revenge and even the one guy who heard or perhaps made an accusation that bore no credence to the situation at hand, all made it worthwhile. And that’s what communities are like, different people, different swings & sways, yet with enough common sense to do what is right & respectful.

As for the person who stole my lunch; hope you enjoyed the penicillin mixed in with the Orajel drops brushed upon the lunchmeat; I hear after eight hours, your stool turns green like freshly made relish.