Tim Tam note saying ‘help yourself’ sparks outrage, accusation of theft

A packet of caramel-flavoured Arnott's Tim Tams in a communal office fridge in Australia has sparked thousands of comments online. Photo / @TheMuffinMan347

An Australian office worker has gone viral after accusing a colleague of eating their Tim Tams from the communal work fridge, then inviting the rest of the office to join in.

“Someone at work put a ‘help yourself’ note on a pack of Tim Tams that I bought,” the employee shared on Reddit last week.

An accompanying photo shows an opened packet of caramel-flavoured Arnott’s Tim Tams with a sticky note attached that featured a smiley-face emoji.

Enraged social media users described the behaviour as “diabolical”, “belligerent” and “villainous”.

The original poster said they “chuckled” at the offender’s audacity and “continued working”, opting not to escalate the incident to avoid “drama” within the four-person office.

The post attracted more than 117,000 likes and close to 4000 comments, most expressing outrage on the worker’s behalf.

An office worker has been left bemused after a work fridge Tim Tams incident. Photo / arnotts.com

“It is so absolutely wild to me that working professional adults steal other adults’ food at the office,” one wrote, bemused at the alleged thief’s lack of courtesy.

“I just find that to be so insane, the guilt I would feel is absurd and I’d be worried for my job,” they continued.

“The level of belligerence is impressive in these kinds of situations,” another said, suggesting the alleged thief may have been a repeat offender.

“You have their handwriting,” a third said. “Now go find them and make them suffer.”

A fourth called the act “the epitome of entitled”, while a fifth joked, “someone is getting a Tim Tam slam for this”.

A Reddit user shared a post to ask whether padlocking your milk is a step too far. Photo / @Vented55

The incident is far from the first shared office fridge debacle to get online comment threads pumping.

In 2023, Redditors were asked the question “petty or justified?” after an office worker posted a photo of a bottle of milk secured with a padlock.

“Having had someone steal my food at work, I totally agree,” one commenter said.

“Nothing worse than making a cuppa only to find that someone finished the milk and left you high and dry [of milk],” another wrote.

A worker was upset someone had left their watermelon in a communal fridge. Photo / Facebook

A year earlier, another office worker turned to Facebook, irate at a colleague who left a huge watermelon in the work fridge.

“REALLY???? AN ENTIRE WATERMELON???????” the worker wrote on a note and stuck to the fruit, “AND A HUGE ONE AT THAT.”

“The real concern here is why is the fridge so tiny?” a commenter quipped.

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