Lunch-Stealing Coworker Has a Very Strange Definition of "Emergency"

The world has gone insane, and that has never been more evident than in this story involving Subway, rain, and a container of lasagna. In this post on Reddit's "Am I the A-hole?" OP explains that they work in a medium-sized office "on the border between suburbia and the urban city." 

They have a disability which makes it difficult to walk very far without losing their breath and needing to rest. They live above a Subway sandwich shop, so they usually buy their lunch there on their way to work. They did so on this fateful day, but they were running late and didn't have time to eat breakfast. And that's when things spun out of control. 

"I was so hungry when I got o the office," they write, "and ate my subs at my desk for breakfast." Subs. As in multiple sub sandwiches. For breakfast. Not thinking that maybe they should save one of their multiple subs for lunch in a few hours. 

By the time lunch rolled around, it was raining, and because it takes "about 10 or 15 minutes to walk to the nearest shops," they thought it would be dangerous for them to attempt that with their disability. 

So they looked in the staff fridge and found a container of lasagna that belonged to their coworker, Jane. According to OP, "She was in an all-day meeting so wasn't going to be finished until 5 p.m. so I put it in the microwave and ate it because I literally had nothing to eat."

They just straight-up stole Jane's lasagna. They had so many options that weren't "steal a coworker's lunch and eat it without permission." They live on the edge of a big city — I assume there are restaurants that deliver. Also, they could have saved one of the multiple subs they'd eaten for breakfast. 

Nothing about this situation constitutes a lunch "emergency," and yet that's how they describe their circumstances.

Obviously, Jane found out about it and was mad. The meeting she was in broke for lunch, and she quickly saw that her lasagna was missing. Someone spilled the beans, and Jane confronted OP about stealing her lasagna. OP "tried explaining that it was an emergency" but surprise, surprise! Jane wasn't buying it. 

OP offered to pay her back for it next week when they get paid, but Jane said she was going to complain to their manager about it. You don't steal someone's lunch because you weren't able to plan your own life! Now, instead of you not having a lunch, Jane doesn't have a lunch. The difference is that Jane actually brought a lunch and was prepared, and it was stolen from her.

One commenter brought up an excellent point: "You don't know how hungry she was in this situation, or if she has the financial ability to go buy herself lunch. Surely a coworker could have run out to get you lunch, or you could have ordered delivery. You can't just STEAL someone else's food."

This is so true! Jane might have her own health issues that make it dangerous for her to skip lunch, or she might not be in a position to buy herself a meal. OP clearly thinks the entire world revolves around them. 

"When I saw the title I thought OP must have diabetes or some other condition where they could literally die if they didn't get food," another commenter wrote. That's what I thought at first, too! I thought, a food emergency could only mean a dangerous blood sugar spike or something. 

But that doesn't seem to be the case. We don't have a lot of information about OP's disability, but shortness of breath and not being able to walk long distances don't necessarily comprise a food emergency. "Your 'emergency' was that you were late? And you did have lunch but you already ate it," another commenter wrote. Yeah. That does not fly.

Put differently, another commenter wrote, "Your disability does not appear to require daily lasagna injections... Here are some options: Don't eat her food and be hungry for a day. Wait, it was just the one."