Fridge Bandit enjoys the fruits of labour

WORK colleagues of a particular inner-city Toowoomba office (which shall remain nameless) have fallen victim to what has been dubbed The Fridge Bandit.

Three times in a one recent week, young lady staffer had approached the refrigerator in the staff canteen to retrieve her lunch, only to be left hungry and angry when it was discovered the eagerly anticipated feast she had placed in the fridge earlier that day had gone missing.

Initially, she had passed off the missing meals as a colleague simply mistaking the lunch boxes.

However, when her prized caramel apple treats disappeared, she concluded a food fiend was afoot.

Usually a quiet, reserved type, her disappearing delectables had prompted a darker personality to rise up within the lass who fired off an all-of-staff email threatening the as-yet unmasked Fridge Bandit with a series of potential penalties, some of which had been outlawed since the middle ages and others that I would have thought were anatomically impossible.

That’s just the problem with young, healthy women of today, they eat too well.

There’s no way any food fiend on a clandestine fridge raid is going to give a second glance to my three-day-old left-over pepperoni pizza slices when there’s vegetable lasagne, beef stroganoff or caramel apples on offer.

But how bold - and hungry - must some people be?

Surely, standing at the fridge with the door open while you scan up and down the shelves all the while mumbling “Mmmmm” to yourself would have to appear suspicious at least.

It’s not the first time this particular inner-city office has fallen victim to a Fridge Bandit either.

Many years ago in a former building, Friday staff raffle meat trays used to regularly go missing from the staff fridge while the winner was up the road at the pub enjoying end-of-week drinks with colleagues - as was the custom in those days gone bye.

More than a few suspected one particular staff member who just happened to work the night shift.

Those suspicions were increased when a raffled seafood tray, left in the staff fridge over the weekend, went missing during the Sunday night shift.

While the tray was gone, the unmistakable smell of not so fresh fish remained in the fridge and when the suspect called in sick with food poisoning a shift or two later, the collective eyebrows of staff went north.

Yet, you know, despite all this, I reckon I could do with a regular visit from a Fridge Bandit of my own.

Some of the stuff in my fridge at home has been in there so long I’m not game to touch it.

I mean, food that’s green and furry might be okay if you’re into kiwi fruit but I’ve never bought such fruit in my life and some of the stuff in Tupperware containers in my fridge are certainly of like colour and texture.

Maybe I should put out an all-of-staff email myself in the hope The Fridge Bandit will accept the invitation to my home in the ghetto.

❝bold But how - and hungry - must some people be?