Woman Installs Camera In The Shared Fridge To See Who’s Stealing Her Food, Is Blamed For “Invading Privacy”

Boundaries are vital for any relationship—whether professional, romantic, or other—to flourish. But when it comes to food, boundaries aren’t just important, they’re sacrosanct. You simply do not steal another person’s food! In the immortal words of Joey Tribbiani from the hit TV series Friends, “Joey doesn’t share food!” and you shouldn’t have to put up with anyone who takes yours without asking.

Alas, some food thieves have no morals and will continue to pilfer and pillage your carefully prepared meals and precious milk without any shame, even when they know someone’s getting suspicious of them.

Redditor u/Not_entirely_sure, a 20-year-old living in a shared house with 3 other women, asked the AITA community on Reddit for a verdict regarding a snack-snatching situation. She explained that someone has been constantly stealing her food from the shared refrigerator. The woman finally had enough and secretly installed a fridge camera. Scroll down to have a read about what happened next, in the redditor’s own words. When you’re done with the story, let us know in the comments who you think was in the wrong here.

When she realized that someone kept stealing her food from the communal fridge, one woman decided to catch the thief red-handed

Image credits: nrd (not the actual photo)

Here’s what she did and what happened next

Image credits: Not_entirely_sure__

As it turns out, it was the housemate who always got defensive when the topic of theft came about, ‘Kate,’ who was caught red-handed (or rather food-handed). She had a huge emotional meltdown and accused the redditor of violating her privacy.

One of the housemates also sided with the angry thief, which in turn inspired redditor u/Not_entirely_sure to start the AITA post in the first place. She was no longer sure whether or not she did the right thing because she was being blamed quite a bit.

However, the AITA community has a habit of giving people an outsider’s perspective and presenting a more objective, cold, rational view of the situation. This time was no exception. Redditors stressed the fact that the author of the post should not apologize and should not engage with the accusations.

Or, as one internet user accurately and sarcastically put it, “How dare you procure evidence of my stealing to back off your charges? This is an outrage!!” Personally, I agree that open and honest communication has to happen: the aggressor has to know that what she’s doing is wrong and this needs to stop. Now. She might try to change the script and turn the tables so you’re the one feeling guilty, but you have to stay firm and on message: this needs to stop. Now!

Certified relationship coach Alex Scot explained to Bored Panda that the closer you are to a person, the more flexible your boundaries ought to be to make them sustainable. So, for example, we would give our romantic partners the benefit of boundaries that are more flexible than those of our roommates or our colleagues.

Nonetheless, the expert highlighted the need to have some sorts of boundaries set up even with the people closest to us, emotionally.

“Without them, we live our lives at the expense of ourselves. The mindset for many when it comes to setting boundaries is that they feel selfish, or that they aren’t being a good partner when they implement them, so they avoid doing it altogether,” she told Bored Panda that boundaries are “extremely important.”

Not having boundaries can lead to feelings of resentment and one person (or even both) feeling overwhelmed. “Boundaries are there for us to be able to take care of and to protect ourselves so that we can show up and operate within our lives as successfully as possible.”