AITA for eating the food in my coworker’s fridge?

A 28-year-old woman dog-sat for her coworker over the weekend and ate some frozen vegetables from the coworker’s fridge, consuming three out of eight packs. Upon being confronted about it, the coworker expressed anger, claiming she had saved the food for her lunches and asked for $50 back, stating the payment included extra for food.

The woman finds this unreasonable and wonders if it’s worth the hassle to pay her back. read the original story below…

‘ AITA for eating the food in my coworker’s fridge?’

My coworker (32f) asked me (28f) to dogsit for her for the weekend while she and he husband spend a weekend away. They paid me $150 and I left just this morning. I’ve been there since Thursday. While I was there, I ate some of their food.

They didn’t have much in their fridge, but they had a few pack of frozen vegetables that you can microwave. There was a total of like 8 of them, and the three days I was there, I ate 3. My coworker just texted me and asked if I ate their food.

I said yes, and she kind of started going off on me about how she was saving that food for her lunches, etc. She also asked me to pay her $50 back since she paid me “extra” so I could order food instead of eating hers. I feel like this is so ridiculous.

I told her I would just buy her some frozen vegetables and she said to forget it and sent me her venmo information. I see her every day at work. Is it worth it for $50? AITA for eating her food while I was dogsitting for her? WIBTA if I don’t pay her back?

Here’s the feedback from the Reddit community:

Inside_Owl_9536 −  I’d buy her 3 bags of the veggies you ate, and then never help her out again. That’s ridiculous to ask for $50

vingtsun_guy −  NTA I had a dog sitting business before COVID. $150 for a weekend that you stayed at her home is not “extra money”. 3 bags for frozen vegetables are $15-20 at best – and I’m pushing here, because you can find nice frozen vegetables for $2.50 per bag.

You should definitely replace her food, as it sounds that meals were not a discussed part of the deal. And then wish her good luck in finding responsible and reliable in-home care for her dog next tims.

Squiggles567 −  ESH. No one expects a paid helper to eat their food unless that has been expressly agreed or offered. $50 is too much for frozen vegetables. So petty. 

Dunesgirl −  ESH. You should not have eaten her food without asking and she should not be asking for $50 for three packs of frozen vegetables.

prairiemountainzen −  NTA. You did her a huge favor (it’s not always easy to find trustworthy people to watch your pets/house sit) and she’s flipping out over you eating frozen vegetables while you were staying there? Ridiculous.

If she’s that unbelievably stingy and n**rotic, she should have been much more clear in her instructions to you. Give her the $50 back (again, absolutely ridiculous), don’t \*ever\* help her out again, and steer clear of her as much as possible from this point forward.

allbitterandclean −  NTA and kind of surprised so many people in the comments find it unusual to eat the food of the person you’re sitting for when you stay there. As a broke college kid, I did a LOT of housesitting.

It was both a spoken and unspoken agreement that you are invited to eat the food of the person you are sitting for. After all, the majority of the food would likely go bad by their return, and it’s not like you’d invite someone to “eat whatever you want, oh but don’t touch the frozen stuff.”

Whenever my sister-in-law housesits or babysits, we even buy extra food in advance to feed her. I’ve also housesat and explicitly been told, “we’re giving you extra money to order Seamless,” so if that conversation wasn’t had, she’s also an AH there.

Unfortunately though, like others have recommended, you probably just want to send her back the $50, include the memo “lesson learned” in the transaction, and never do her a favor again. Then just move on.

[Reddit User] −  NTA. I think it’s reasonable to ask for food to be replaced, but unless you ate more than the frozen vegetables, $50 is an insane amount to ask. Even the organic frozen veggies in the bougie food co-op near me aren’t more than $5 a bag.

omeomi24 −  Pay the EXACT cost of the replacement food….and tell her to find someone else to help her next time.

Foreign-Royal983 −  I don’t think anyone is necessarily an AH in this situation, I just think there was some things not communicated prior to this arrangement. For instance, I’m confused about the rate? Was that discussed prior?

Or did she just offer an amount, and is now claiming to have paid you “extra”? Use the “extra” to replace the veggies. You should now be even. Or if you were to stay there, there are generally discussions on expectations for that.

Like, “You have to really jiggle the handle on the toilet in the guest bathroom” “The shower knobs are actually backwards, so hot is cold, and cold is hot.” “This door doesn’t close properly, so you really got to slam it.” “don’t go in the 3rd door down the hallway, it is forbidden.”

“The screaming in the basement starts at 2am, here some earplugs to get you through the night.” “Help yourself to anything in the kitchen!” “Please don’t use my $100 shampoo” In the future, I’d be more likely to cover my bases and ask rather than assume things in the future.

People can be weird about their stuff as is evidenced by this post. At least she’s not charging for toilet paper used… And you don’t sound like you found their secret s** dungeon. 

Sionnach_Dhu −  ESH. This is something that should have been discussed beforehand. She should have been clear with you about whether or not you were allowed to eat food in the refrigerator – and what food was available to you – or were expected to supply your own.

If she didn’t say anything, you should have asked permission before eating food out of her refrigerator. Without having had any discussion beforehand, yta to just assume you could take food and not replace it.

At a bare minimum, you should have communicated with her about what you had taken so she would have been prepared instead of being caught by surprise when she went to fix meals and her food was missing.

She is also ta for the overreaction of asking you for $50 to replace three bags of frozen vegetables. However, in my opinion she is less so than you, because she was upset at not being able to prepare meals as she had expected.

What do you think? Should she pay the $50 or stand her ground? Share your thoughts below!