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There's an update to the original post. What a lovely ending to the story. http://www.askamanager.org/2016/10/update-a-coworker-stole-my-spicy-food-got-sick-an

There's an update to the original post. What a lovely ending to the story. http://www.askamanager.org/2016/10/update-a-coworker-stole-my-spicy-food-got-sick-and-is-blaming-me.html http://www.askamanager.org/2016/10/update-a-coworker-stole-m...

chrischen 8y ago
I wonder how it would have been different if the boss and the coworker were the ones romantically involved.
xir78 8y ago
It’s so far over the top, it’s hard to see returning rather than thanking them for the mela cupola and moving on.
- ggambetta 8y ago
  I think you mean "mea culpa". It's Latin, meaning literally "my fault". Very close to the Spanish version, "mi culpa".
pm90 8y ago
It is a lovely ending! What I fear for is that the termination will be in his records and he will have to explain this extremely bizzare story to whoever asks or is interested. I'm glad it all worked out so well for him. Hopefully that silly detail will not affect his future.
- SwellJoe 8y ago
  What "records" do you speak of? One can choose to include or not include references on your resume, and your former employers can choose to say whatever they want to people checking refs (but, by convention, and to avoid legal trouble, will usually just confirm dates of employment). And since he was re-hired and is on good terms with the owner and his boss, I don't see any reason to even include anything about leaving the company, at all.
- cortesoft 8y ago
  'Records'? You mean, like the 'permanent record' teachers talk about to scare kids in school? Just an FYI, there is no such thing. There isn't going to be a record that he was fired.
- komali2 8y ago
  Not sure why there's three replies asking about "records." It's right there in your resume - date you worked at a company, huh weird, only 2 months, what happened? The alternative is having whatever you had on your resume before + 2 month gap, which if anybody asks about you I guess lie. It's not a nothingburger though.
  - larkeith 8y ago
    As the update covers, they were rehired shortly after being terminated.
- namank 8y ago
  The gap in the callback was only a week. The HR person might not have filed it with the government. Internal company records don't matter for shits.
- s2g 8y ago
  That would suck, but it's a good story. I'd hope the owner of the company would be willing to provide a reference explaining that he was the victim of misconduct.
  - paxy 8y ago
    I'm 100% certain the owner will be eager to just pretend it never happened.
- yannyu 8y ago
  What "records"? Unless he filed for unemployment, the only other people who would know would be his employers.
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    And employers rarely confirm anything other than hire and seperation dates during reference calls due to liability/litigation risks.
    - s2g 8y ago
      Not every place is so insane, this sounds like a small company with an involved owner.
    - garmaine 8y ago
      In fact, they are legally prevented from sharing such information, if it existed, in many states.
teilo 8y ago
Even just reading the original article, it was painfully obvious that there had to be some sort of emotional entanglement between the offending party and someone in HR, either romantic or (less likely) blackmail.
tabtab 8y ago
Re update link: "As much as I hate to go based on office talk, it seemed that the HR woman and the food thief may have been romantically involved." That explains why it sounded like HR had an ulterior motive by appearing to side with the thief without seeming interested in the spice-fan's side of the story.
solarkraft 8y ago
> I’d rather have not gone though the whole thing at all though. I just hope I never have to experience this kind of thing again. For doubling your pay? Insane!

chrischen 8y ago

I wonder how it would have been different if the boss and the coworker were the ones romantically involved.

xir78 8y ago

It’s so far over the top, it’s hard to see returning rather than thanking them for the mela cupola and moving on.

ggambetta 8y ago
I think you mean "mea culpa". It's Latin, meaning literally "my fault". Very close to the Spanish version, "mi culpa".

pm90 8y ago

It is a lovely ending! What I fear for is that the termination will be in his records and he will have to explain this extremely bizzare story to whoever asks or is interested. I'm glad it all worked out so well for him. Hopefully that silly detail will not affect his future.

SwellJoe 8y ago
What "records" do you speak of? One can choose to include or not include references on your resume, and your former employers can choose to say whatever they want to people checking refs (but, by convention, and to avoid legal trouble, will usually just confirm dates of employment). And since he was re-hired and is on good terms with the owner and his boss, I don't see any reason to even include anything about leaving the company, at all.
cortesoft 8y ago
'Records'? You mean, like the 'permanent record' teachers talk about to scare kids in school? Just an FYI, there is no such thing. There isn't going to be a record that he was fired.
komali2 8y ago
Not sure why there's three replies asking about "records." It's right there in your resume - date you worked at a company, huh weird, only 2 months, what happened? The alternative is having whatever you had on your resume before + 2 month gap, which if anybody asks about you I guess lie. It's not a nothingburger though.
- larkeith 8y ago
  As the update covers, they were rehired shortly after being terminated.
namank 8y ago
The gap in the callback was only a week. The HR person might not have filed it with the government. Internal company records don't matter for shits.
s2g 8y ago
That would suck, but it's a good story. I'd hope the owner of the company would be willing to provide a reference explaining that he was the victim of misconduct.
- paxy 8y ago
  I'm 100% certain the owner will be eager to just pretend it never happened.
yannyu 8y ago
What "records"? Unless he filed for unemployment, the only other people who would know would be his employers.
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  And employers rarely confirm anything other than hire and seperation dates during reference calls due to liability/litigation risks.
  - s2g 8y ago
    Not every place is so insane, this sounds like a small company with an involved owner.
  - garmaine 8y ago
    In fact, they are legally prevented from sharing such information, if it existed, in many states.

teilo 8y ago

Even just reading the original article, it was painfully obvious that there had to be some sort of emotional entanglement between the offending party and someone in HR, either romantic or (less likely) blackmail.

tabtab 8y ago

Re update link: "As much as I hate to go based on office talk, it seemed that the HR woman and the food thief may have been romantically involved." That explains why it sounded like HR had an ulterior motive by appearing to side with the thief without seeming interested in the spice-fan's side of the story.

solarkraft 8y ago

> I’d rather have not gone though the whole thing at all though. I just hope I never have to experience this kind of thing again. For doubling your pay? Insane!