A story about a missing lunch of shrimp fried rice that is captivating social media is shedding light on an often overlooked but highly contentious aspect of office politics: fridge etiquette.
Eddy Ng, a professor at Dalhousie University鈥檚 Rowe School of Business, says interactions around the office refrigerator 鈥� replete with passive aggressive Post-It notes and decomposing leftovers 鈥� reveal human behaviour in the workplace.
He says the shared fridge is a microcosm of office dynamics, serving to accentuate interpersonal skills, communication styles and personality types.
It鈥檚 also the scene for a comical tale about stolen shrimp fried rice that has gripped social media for days and spurred an online exchange of woes from cubicle-land.
Zak Toscani, a writer and stand-up comedian from Los Angeles, took to Twitter last week after his co-worker鈥檚 lunch was stolen.
Co-worker got his lunch stolen and they鈥檝e agreed to let him watch the security camera tape. This is the most excited I鈥檝e ever been at any job ever. Ever.
鈥� Zak Toscani (@zaktoscani)
He joked that the missing food was shrimp fried rice, escalating the crime from a misdemeanour to a felony, and mused that it was a 鈥減rofessional hit no doubt鈥� due to the lack of a shrimp smell in the microwave or kitchen.
Toscani said his hungry co-worker asked to view security footage of the communal fridge, and detailed to his online followers how the investigation unfolded.
His sensational account of the office drama 鈥� he quipped that it was the most excited he鈥檇 ever been 鈥渁t any job ever鈥� 鈥� went viral, garnering hundreds of thousands of likes and re-tweets.
The workplace spat appears to have hit a nerve among workers affected by the seemingly unscrupulous actions of self-appointed fridge police.
The Canadian Press
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