Stop that thief …

I’m sure a lot of people would be ready to oblige if I were to shout this across the office floor! However, there would be no one to stop as the culprit remains unknown.

Yesterday morning my manager returned to the office after a well-deserved one-week break. She had been caught in traffic though and was somewhat in a rush to get to her 9 o’clock meeting. A quick tour of the office to wish everybody a Happy New Year (involving more hugging and kissing) and off she went. To be honest, I had almost forgotten about the chocolate incident. It wasn’t until my colleague P. asked me whether the mystery had been solved, that I remembered that I had been the only one not having found a box of ‘Merci' chocolates in my desk drawer (with the compliments of the head of our department).

Not my box of 'Merci' and therefore not my photo.

Photo from the internet.

My manager ‘resurfaced’ at half past two, with just half an hour to go before her next meeting. Although it wasn’t the best time to inquire about my lost (stolen) present, I thanked her for the new 2012 office agenda she had put in my drawer and casually slipped in the ‘chocolate question’. She looked genuinely surprised confirming that the chocolates had been in the drawer when she had put the agenda on top of them. The colleague who had ‘hidden’ them there in the first place, also confirmed her action. They both kindly offered to give me their box, a gesture I declined because they both have children, who probably like the milk chocolate ‘Merci’ a lot more than I do. I’m not really a chocolate fan and when I do eat chocolate I prefer the real, black and bitter stuff with min. 80% of pure cacao.

This doesn’t solve the ‘who did it' issue, though? I can hardly imagine that one of my colleagues is the culprit, although there was one person who remained very aloof while the whole matter was discussed. But she doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who would do a thing like that.

My best guess it that it was someone who doesn’t work in our department or a member of the external cleaning team that comes in once a week. Normally these people are carefully screened and know that stealing will result in immediate dismissal. However, I know that during the holiday season these companies often work with temporary replacements (mainly students) who have little to lose.

I’ve decided to classify it as an incident best forgotten, but will nevertheless keep my eyes and ears open. Who knows, maybe the villain will make another mistake and lead us to his secret treasure chest. But I guess that, by then, he will have eaten the chocolates, don’t you?