AITA for putting my coworker in the hospital and almost killing her?

Have you ever been so fed up with a situation at work that you decided to take matters into your own hands? Well, one Reddit user did just that when their coworker kept stealing their food for months.

But after a bold move to stop the thief, things took a wild turn, leading to hospital trips, a lawsuit, and one of the messiest workplace dramas you’ve ever heard. So, did they go too far, or was it all justified? Let’s dive into this chaotic story!

‘AITA for putting my coworker in the hospital and almost killing her?’

I don’t consent to my post being featured or talked about in any podcast or YouTube video without my approval. For the past 3 months someone at my job has been consistently stealing my food that I bring from home so I don’t have to use the snack machine or walk across the street to McDonald’s like the majority of my coworkers do.

July:

In the first month, I noticed someone had been gradually taking some of my food. 1 out of 3 slices of pizza gone, 20% of my soup gone, Cheetos bag completely gone, etc. Didn’t think much of it and simply decided to now attach a “please don’t touch” paper sign on my stuff.

August:

In the second month, at start of the month, my food became untouched but progressively went back to the usual.

September:

At the beginning of the 3rd month I asked coworkers if they had taken or knew who was taking my food and no one had a clue, which is kinda believe-able as most of us take our lunches separately. I decided to eat McDonald’s or go to 7 eleven and stop bringing food but then it started fucking with my financial stability. 10 days a paycheck (14 day paycheck) consistently buying food?

October 3rd (Thursday):

I decided to take matters into my own hands. Last week my friend told me about an Instagram Reel that she saw where a girl put laxative into her own food to see who was the culprit and that’s exactly what I did today. What I wasn’t expecting was for the girl (late 20s) to have an allergic reaction to an ingredient and ended up going to the hospital.

After work all of us went to visit her in the hospital where we all talked about what happened and admitting to putting laxative into my own food. 6/8 coworkers (all girls) were disgusted by my actions and were on her side. One girl was whatever about it and the last guy said she shouldn’t have been touching my food to begin with. I told the girl that I hope she gets better and went home but I didn’t apologize for what I did and I’m not going to.

October 4th (Friday):

Today (day off) I received a phone call from our supervisor, who I spoke to about my issue between after the 1st month and told me she can’t help me there because she’s not “our mom”, and essentially told me I had to apologize to her or else I wouldn’t be able to come back to work until I do. And I’m assuming if I take too many days I’d just be fired for not coming to work.

Update #1: just received a text from my SV telling me the coworker doesn’t need to apologize and it’s up to her discretion if she chooses to apologize or not for stealing my food.

Update #2: im a male for those who keep referring to me as a ‘she’ even though I never mentioned my gender lol

Update #3: male coworker who was on my side told me the girl is going to take legal action for attempting to “kill her”. He overheard the girls talking today at work

Update #4: many of you ‘YTA’ voters are forgetting the fact that my “please do not touch” sign never left. Even though it stopped working eventually, I still kept it there, so when she took my laxative food from my plastic bag, the sign “please don’t touch my food” was still on it

Update #5: my supervisor is HR. There’s no one else in the “HR department”

Update #6: it was pretty late last night (4am) and was talking to family members to see what my options are. Whether I should apologize and stay at my job or leave but fuck that. I’m not apologizing.

And here’s a little more info about my work to give more insight: I work at a senior facility where I work as a medicine technician. My coworkers are nurses, caretakers and front desk. The girl who stole my food is front desk. We have an obsolete no food or drinks rule outside the break room that’s pretty small. We cant use the kitchen to store our food due to fear of cross contamination. I sorta have a desk to put my stuff but like I said, there’s a rule and the HR/SV is pretty strict on that.

The SV called me about an hour ago telling me she’s with the girl in the hospital and now’s my time to apologize or I can come in person to do it and I said “absolutely not.” She kept insisting but in a tone where I was 100% at fault, not her, who has been stealing my food for 2 and half months straight.

Update #7: have been reading more comments with a lot of question so I’ll answer them here so everyone can see. She’s not poor. She drives a 2020 (at least) Lexus SUV lmao. My supervisor is HR. Our other manager works from home and only comes once or twice a week to meet with the elderly’s families. Yes, I could’ve spoken to him but knowing him, as he’s not around much, would tell me to reach out to the HR lady as she’s in a higher position than him.

I live in South California but not LA. Doctors said the allergic reaction might’ve been the laxative or my food which was chicken noodle soup that I made from scratch at home the morning of. They’re still running tests. She didn’t go to the hospital because she was shitting herself senseless from the laxative, she went because she complained of a huge stomachache and a rash line from below her belly button to between her 2 rib cages. Shifts between employees and sometimes managers always align for those saying how we could all go to the hospital. You either work 6am-2pm, 2pm-10pm or 10pm-6am.

Update #8: one of my coworkers is now in the hospital for the same conditions: big stomachache and rash line down the stomach lining. Doctors are now certain it wasn’t the laxative as she didn’t eat my soup compared to the first girl.

Update #9: someone from home office (HQ) is being sent down tomorrow morning to figure out what’s going on as our HR has a huge shit stain on her hands. Doctors are running tests for the second girl and trying to figure out why 2 coworkers are having the same issues. They’ve (HR, Doctors and male coworker) now ruled out my soup as the cause of all this.

Update #10: both girls are now under quarantine and no one is allowed to visit them until the hospital clears that they’re not contagious. I’m required to report to work tomorrow for a meeting between myself, HR, some of my coworkers and the home office rep

Update #11: The home office rep called me to inform me that I’m formally being sued tomorrow by the first girl and her husband although she’s unsure what I’m being sued for.

Update #12: just answering some more questions about this whole situation

I contacted a family lawyer this morning but he’s currently out of town until Monday morning so I’ll be speaking to him soon. I told him the gist of what’s happening including being sued for unknown reasons until I’m served my papers. Both girls are fine. Light diarrhea and the rash seems to be going away after giving them Benadryl, Pepto and vitamins through an IV. Some people think they’re on their deathbeds although it’s quite the opposite lol. From what my male coworker has told me, I wasn’t the only victim of getting their food stolen by this girl. The only difference is, I’m the only one calling her out on it.

October 5th (Saturday):

Update #13: finished my meeting with my supervisors and coworkers. The HR lady is now under investigation and his been put under temporary leave. The first girl will be fired by the end of the day although I’m still being supposedly sued and we’re still trying to figure out how they got sick. We’re trying to talk to second girl on what could’ve happened but she doesn’t want to say anything.

Update #14: not long after my last update, the first girls husband was sent to the hospital and quarantined for the same symptoms as the other 2. The doctors are 90% sure that whatever is causing this, is transferable by bodily fluids. It makes sense for the husband to be sick in this case, but we have no idea how the second girl is sick. All 3 are now under quarantine. HR has been fired. First girl has been fired. HR lady is going to sue the company for psychological trauma and distress according to my coworkers lol

Update #15: I’m currently at work for the time being and the home office rep is in charge. For those dumb enough to ask and question how we know all this, the doctors are keeping me and the home office rep informed as I’m still considered the starting root cause of all this. On top of that, the first girl is still gossiping to my coworkers. Do phones not exist now? lol

Side note: I have yet to be served any papers. I’ve never been sued before so I’m not sure how long this takes or if the girl has even started the process. HR only gave me a heads up yesterday that she’s going to, not that she already has.

Saturday Night

Update #16: alright, this has been a long 2 days for me and this might be the last update, at least for now, until this whole thing blows over. I’ve been trying to make sense of everything that has happened lately, but now I don’t know where to begin so I’ll try my best.

As I said earlier, the HR lady was being investigated and during the investigation they found out she had the same symptoms 3 weeks ago and quietly checked herself into a hospital but is now almost fully recovered. I don’t think she quarantined as she hasn’t missed work since her last vacation earlier this year. Apart from that, she also confessed to having sexual relationships with both girls in the hospital for the past 2 months and both girls having no idea of the other’s sexual relation with HR. The home office rep believes the husband got sick via the wife as he’s never stepped foot into the facility and has never met any of his wife’s coworkers or supervisor.

The HR lady has been arrested for knowingly spreading an infectious disease without the knowledge of the other person, twice. The hospital will be contacted by the company to inform them of this incident and see what medications/treatment she was given-as HR goes to a fancier hospital-and what they’re dealing with. HR has possibly dropped legal action unless they were empty threats from the beginning.

Monday morning I’ll be talking to my lawyer to sue the wife and rest of the 6 women for emotional distress and lying as it seems none of this was my fault to begin with and I’m still not going to apologize for anything. I’ve been standing my ground since day 1. I think I’ll do one more update once everyone is cleared from the hospital and everything is back to normal.

October 6th (Monday Night)

update #17 (finale update): unfortunately, someone that knows me or what’s going on at the company that I work for finally saw my post and sent it to home office, resulting in them firing me as California is an at-will employee state. After talking things over with my lawyer and the company themselves, I could’ve sued them and the girls for all the chaos that transpired and they would’ve countersuit. Basically, their reputation (as I haven’t revealed the employer) vs me being in debt as I don’t have the funds to go against an entire company or the time, so I decided to let it go. I was going to start looking for a new job anyways once this shitshow (literally) was over.

As for everyone else, both girls and the husband have now been released from the hospital but are advised to stay home. The infection was found out to be Viral Gastroenteritis (stomach flu) or something very close it, which would explain the stomachaches, diarrhea, fever and it being highly contagious, but not the rash and why it took so long for them to get sick.

The HR lady was never arrested as I originally assumed, but was questioned and at some point called the wife to tell her that she confessed everything, including that she was seeing the second girl behind her back, but she loved her (the wife) and wanted to be with her. The wife told her it was over and that she’s with her husband as the husband was right next to her at the time of the call.

Unfortunately for her, the husband is going forward with the divorce and in the meantime, has kicked out the wife from their home. The wife had a huge nervous breakdown, started throwing shit around the house and admitted to not only having a sexual relationship with HR, but the second girl from the hospital without HR’s or anybodies knowledge for the past year. Which is hard to believe and she might just be saying shit to get the last laugh. Nevertheless, the wife is now staying with a relative an hour away to figure things out and calm down.

The husband, myself and the male ex-coworker are currently at the husband’s house helping clean the mess she made. packing up the wives belongings and sharing each others side of the stories as we might all be sick already anyways. We’ve been here for the past 10 hours laughing our asses off and drinking margaritas. I showed them my Reddit post as it doesn’t matter anymore now that I’m fired.

Come to find out, the husband’s a pretty chill guy, unlike his crazy soon to be ex-wife. He offered me his place to stay for free if I have a hard time finding a decent job and lent me the Lexus his wife was using as I’ve been taking Uber for awhile after my car broke down a year ago and haven’t been able to save up from how expensive Uber is. This is why I was packing my lunches.

I’m going to start looking for a new job tomorrow and hopefully put this whole mess behind me. This weekend me and the boys are planning to get drinks and watch some football at our local sports bars if we’re all in good health. Thank you to all those who supported me and rode this wild, batshit crazy, rollercoaster with me.

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

Captivebreadbakery – In shared refrigerators I put a label that says “CAUTION CONTAINS MIRALAX LAXATIVE” Have I ever used or even bought miralax? No. Does my food get stolen anymore? Also no.

Haunting-Nebula-1685 – Do not admit to doing it to catch a food thief. Only admit to putting laxative in your food for your own stomach issues. Otherwise you could potentially be held liable.

Rhubarbalicious – All you have to do is tell HR, “Those laxatives were for MY use. I do not like the taste of it, so I mixed it into my food. I WARNED YOU that someone was stealing food, but you decided it was a non-issue.

sfwmandy – She could be allergic to literally anything in food she didn’t prepare, she’s the one playing with her own livelihood.

Turbulent_Ebb5669 – Anyone who takes other people’s food is an asshole, doing so with allergies makes you stupid.