Spiking food in a student communual fridge

[Russell]

My son is experiencing problems with another student in his shared accomodation.  He is quite regularly using my son's food, juice, ham, mayo most things in fact.  He denys it of course.

Is it possible to spike the food with something very hot or bitter to prove a point?  Bitrex would be ideal but seems that it is not available to the public.

What would work in a non lethal fashion?

He is a very regular "smoker" but the landlord needs to catch him at it to evict and so far he has managed to see the landlord's agent coming and spray air freshner around in time.

Thanks

R

[Chris S]

Epicac? 

[interzen]

Capsaicin?  

You can get 'pure' capsaicin from places that sell hot sauces and the like, and it only takes a little to make something damn near unpalatable. Failing that, I suppose that mixing some hot sauce (I'm thinking 'Dave's Insanity Sauce' or similar) into a jar of mayo might well do the trick without obliterating too many of the perp's taste buds

[Cudzoziemiec]

He'll have to judge the perpetrator's character though to gauge likely reaction - you want to 'teach him a lesson' not escalate into food war with the fridge a battle zone.

[Pancho]

Although this is everyday student behaviour, it is criminal.

[Kim]

Suggest he changes degree to Chemistry, Microbiology, Pharmacology or similar.  For some reason people never seem to meddle with those students' food...

[Jurek]

Dodgy.

I was about to post a suggestion involving the use of a couple of drops of something medicinal (albeit not orally administered) available over the counter, which would guarantee several days of the imbiber being spent on or near the toilet (or worse).

Is that really what you/he  wants?

If reasoning with his sharer is out of the question (as I'm sure it might be) could a small (in his room) fridge not be a solution?

Revenge taking place at its unidentifiable leisure....

Meanwhile, let's crack on with teh evils, folks  

[Gus]

methylene blue

[Feline]

My son is experiencing problems with another student in his shared accomodation.  He is quite regularly using my son's food, juice, ham, mayo most things in fact.  He denys it of course.

Is it possible to spike the food with something very hot or bitter to prove a point?  Bitrex would be ideal but seems that it is not available to the public.

What would work in a non lethal fashion?

He is a very regular "smoker" but the landlord needs to catch him at it to evict and so far he has managed to see the landlord's agent coming and spray air freshner around in time.

Thanks

R

I would recommend buying his own mini fridge to keep in his own room as maybe the only real solution. It would be awesomely funny to spike stuff with things that cause diarrhoea or just a horrible burning sensation like chilli power though  

[Ariadne]

I feel terribly sensible here but I feel that you, as his parent, have to advise him not to do anything daft and create a war.

It's an inevitable thing in shared flats, unfortunately. Could he suggest everyone buy food together? Or yes, keep it in his room.

[Kim]

Sadly the only solution for this sort of stuff that really works is not to live with cockwombles.  Part of that may include accepting that some of your friends come into that category.   

[chris]

What does cheep cider look (and taste) like?

[The Seldom Killer]

ISTR wasabi is easy to disolve in juice.

As for smoking, the standard is to sub in menthol's for the offender's normals.

Not sure what to advise on ham and mayo although a bit of time spent in the kind of wholefood shop that sells but the gram should suffice. You don't just have to go with burningly hot revenge, any overdone spice flavour will suitably impact on a would be food theif.

In the mean time, subsidise your offspring with a few freezer packs and a small chiller box for the bedroom will keep him secure from the tainted food.

[tonycollinet]

Are there potential legal problems for deliberately spiking food you are expecting someone to eat?

Assault?
ABH?

Something to be wary of IMO

[Rhys W]

Laxative.

I used to know a guy who was a very imaginative and vindictive practical joker. His flatmate used to make sandwiches the night before and leave them in the fridge overnight. My friend would replace the filling with a mixture of vaseline and curry powder.

[clarion]

Sadly the only solution for this sort of stuff that really works is not to live with cockwombles.  Part of that may include accepting that some of your friends come into that category.  

Utterly tru.

[perpetual dan]

I wrote "I hope your teeth turn black" on my toothpaste tube once as a student. That worked. Maybe messages between the slices of ham as a starter?
I knew someone that wrapped cheese in bacon to keep thieving veggies off, but that may not help here.

[Quisling]

Sadly, post-it notes on the cheese saying "I lick my cheese" are normally added to with the words "So do I" and then nobody eats the cheese.  Avoid the war, buy the mini-fridge and be safe in the knowledge that the thieving dickhead is having to contribute to the cost of the electricity to run the extra fridge.

Either that or get a secret videocam, get the evidence and report him for knocking off your fridge goodies to the relevant authorities.  Or film him smoking etc.

What a pleb though eh?

[Kathy]

Not so much spiking food, but leaving unlabelled things in there and only revealing later what they were might work. My cousin visited last weekend and was desperately hoping for some of the chocolate mousse - until I explained that it was actually minced raw liver mixed with pet food and cod-liver oil!

[Butterfly]

Small fridge freezer for his room. That was my successful solution as a student nurse.

[1gear]

Dont take offence to this anyone, but tell him to tommy tank in the mayo(or just say he did) and tell the lad when he notices its been used. Go up in abit of a shock asking if he has had any because some was put in there with human product in for science/biology but he didnt think to mark it up.

Or, just put a note on saying that if anyone touches the food they better have some nice stuff to take in swapsies.
If it was me and i thought i could take him, id have him against a wall. My food is my food. If i dont offer it you keep your hands off. Or i'll take your food or whatever else you have i might like. Tell your son to take the lads pillow, hide it 'for a laugh'  then take another pillow 'for a laugh' then if he doesnt stop, the mattress goes somewhere.
After all, he takes food and probably thinks its funny, so take his sleeping stuff.

Never been to uni though, at work theres a certain respect for peoples things. You dont touch other peoples food and only touch the milk in the fridge after asking someone if you can borrow some.

[Russell]

All good stuff!  Keep it coming please.

As for a fridge in his room - you haven't seen how small it is!

Cider - now there's an idea!!

 

[Kim]

Placenta sausage?

[Basil]

Isn't there an anti smoking drug that makes you feel sick when you smoke?
Champix or something like that.
Double win.

[greenmeansgo]

Some people are just too selfish and immature to live with reasonably. I've shared with more than my fair share of them when I was at university. The mini-fridge-in-room solution worked well when I was in halls with complete shits on my floor.

I never got round to spiking my food with laxatives (that would be one of the best ideas, maybe with stashing the boll roll first in his own room). Urine also looks fairly similar to orange squash, and it's very satisfying to watch your victim drink it, even though it's diluted. Don't ask me how I know this.

Unfortunately the lowest common denominator wins this kind of thing and it can get very unpleasant. Things can and do escalate, but the alternative is just to be a victim. Find a laxative. He needs not to be seen avoiding using his own stuff though.