Ask HN: Help me track down a lunch thief

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4049853
by johnnyg • 14 years ago
8 18 14 years ago

Our company has been growing and we've added a lot of people in the last six months.

About a month ago, I received a report that an employees' lunch was missing from the community fridge. I've received a similar report from a second and third employee as of today. The hot pocket box was there, but alas, the hot pocket was not.

In discussions with the people affected, we agree to several things:

1. Our company has a very "one big family" vibe. Putting up "stop stealing our hot pockets" sign or mounting a camera over the fridge is not what we want to do culture wise.

2. We want to catch the one person who is stealing stuff, remove them from the company and get back to our usual way of living.

Within these parameters, we've got several ideas, none of which sound quite clever enough:

1. Buy some of that "it only shows under UV light" powder, then go around after something is stolen shining it on people. Obvious holes.

2. Put a camera inside the frige and hope we get a face and a known "honeypot" lunch taken.

3. Put some kind of RF device on the food, wait until something goes missing and walk around until it registers.

HN, I need something better. We need to turn this bad thing into an awesome crime solving event. Suggestions welcome!

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