I think they drank my BM...

[nickle730]

I recently returned to work, just a few shifts a fortnight. I work for a large organisation and I work in a different location each shift so I don't always know the people at the location I am working from. Yesterday, I was the only female at the location apart from my direct partner.

Yesterday, I worked a 10 hour shift and I expressed in the middle, about 200mls (yay!). So, I put my bottle of BM in the communal fridge, bottom shelf, back corner. Off I went to do a job and I didn't return until finish time. I went to collect my bottle of BM.... and found the bottle and lid in the dish rack drying, all nice and clean - and EMPTY!!!

I asked around and got a few giggles but no direct answer's as to what had happened to my milk. Until someone suggested it had been used for coffee's as a practical joke.

I'm not sure whether I am peeved that my milk was wasted, worried that there will be some sort of repercussion which will reflect on me or mildly entertained at the juvenile behaviour of 'grown' men!!

Ultimately, I took my empty bottle and went home, threatening to return with my starving, screaming baby at 3am (in good humor).

How would you feel??

[Arimeh]

Umm I'd be peeved!!!

[Heaven]

I'd be ****ed off they wasted my BM!!!!!!!!!!!

I would be amused if someone used it by accident. But not deliberately using it knowing what it was.

[misty]

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I'd be ****ed off they wasted my BM!!!!!!!!!!!

I would be amused if someone used it by accident. But not deliberately using it knowing what it was.

Yeah that!

[Sunny Love]

Your workmates sound like real douche-bags!! I'd be making one hell of a hardcore complaint!! EBM isn't off the shelf, you have to work hard to attain it, store it and deliver it to your hungry baby/infant/child. How anyone (male or female) in this day and age thinks its acceptable/humourous/not much too worry is beyond me! I'd kick them, pretty damn hard, where the sun doesn't shine. Perhaps then they might never make the mistake again.

Seriously though, a complaint is very much warranted as I see this as an act of bullying. Taking something from another (with maliciousness/immaturity) is not on. I wouldn't have it in my classroom with the kids, so having staff do it to me wouldn't be tolerated either.

[*EJ*]

Makes you wonder if any of those involved have had a partner/loved one breastfeed a child and know of the challenges some can face to be successful?? If any had i wonder if they'd have gone ahead with touching someones elses property???

[onthefly]

That's RUDE! They stole your baby's milk?!

[Just Me]

I'd be peeved! BM is more precious than gold, especially to a hungry baby. It's not like it is that easy to supplement something else for it. I think it was really inconsiderate of them. If it was an accident, fair enough but if they purposefully used your milk for coffee, I would be so cranky.

Why should it reflect badly on you? You did nothing wrong but knowingly taking someone else's BM and putting it in coffee is the same as stealing to me.

Can you tell I have strong opinions about this

[Traveller]

knowing how difficult it is to express that much milk I would be livid! Will you say something to management to make sure it doesn't happen again incase "spiking the coffee" becomes an office joke?

[Just Me]

Find out the going rate of BM ... I don't think it that cheap, and invoice whoever stole it. There was an ice cream shop in the UK buying it for 20 pounds for 8 ounces ... that makes what they took worth about $25.

[Artechim]

Did they actually drink the coffee? With someone else's bodily fluid in it? To me that would be on the same level as someone spitting in my drink - yuck!

And I would be annoyed that they just used it knowing that it wasn't theirs, even it it was just normal milk.

[Floweryfields]

Do you know it was intentional? If it was, they all need to grow up, if not, well accidents happen and it might make for interesting conversation at this years Chrissy party!

[Just Me]

I just told DH about this ... he works in recruitment. He has just done a whole heap of training around the new sexual harrassment laws and he reckons that not only do you have a massive reason to complain to HR (and even file a case against them) but so does anyone that drank the BM. He said not that there is anything wrong with your BM but it is about creating a safe workplace for you and for the other people that you work with. As your BM is a bodily fluid, other people drinking it without their knowledge also creates a whole heap of issues.

I am pretty sure that under the new laws, even leading you to believe that other people drank your milk is enough for there to be a complaint. You have the right to feel safe at work as do you collegues and what has happened is a huge breach of that right for you and other people who are unknowingly involved.

[blessedatlast]

Sorry but I had a giggle.. Although I'd be annoyed it was wasted!! I bet everyone is re assessing the taste of their coffee and is horrified at the thought of drinking it!!

ETA: I should add, that if someone used it on purpose I would be annoyed.. Especially if you expressed for a feed, and not just because you were full..

[Epacris]

I think I would feel all of what you’ve described but mostly really angry because that milk was meant for my baby. I have no idea what I would do if that happened to me.

Huge hugs in any case.

[peanutter]

I'd be making a formal complaint. I find it very difficult to believe that it was an accident. So practical joke or deliberate action, it's theft of your baby's sustainence.

That's not on.

I understand your milk wasn't labelled - but c'mon, the milk was in a bottle, and not a milk carton, and was clearly not their milk. Surely it's not policy at your work that it's ok to steal each others' food?

Also, I hate to say it but my first thought was that perhaps someone thinks it's "gross" for your boob juice to be in the fridge, and so they've piffed it out to make the point.

I sincerely hope that isn't it, but either which way my view remains: it's theft, it's not ok, I'd be making a complaint and sussing out what your employee is required to provide you - not because you're necessarily going to demand it all, but so that if there is any negativity towards you, you know what your entitlements are.

Also, check out what employers are required to provide for lactating mothers - in some states, employers are *required* to provide breaks, a quiet location with running water, use of a fridge, etc...

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

I'd be peeved! And honestly, I'd be taking it to management - how completely inappropriate!

ETA - If it was an accident, I get that these things happen. But to use it in a practical joke, knowing what it was, is so wrong on so many levels. Sounds like they need a quick lesson in just what expressing entails and how difficult it can be.

[Sammiejane]

I'd be ****ed off they wasted my BM!!!!!!!!!!!

I would be amused if someone used it by accident. But not deliberately using it knowing what it was.

Exactly that!
If it was unintentional, it's a bit funny... But seriously, I'm sure you didn't have it in a rev carton!
I would be exceptionally pi55ed!


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