Imagine being a security guard at a research facility where there’s an on-site chef. If the chef wanted to use his own spices that he brought from home, would you be okay with that, or would you tell him he has to stick to the spices that are provided?

In this story, one security guard is in this exact situation, and he chooses the second option, which makes the chef really upset.

Let’s see why the security guard is so determined not to let the chef use these spices.

AITA for confiscating my co-worker’s spices?

I (33M) work as a security guard at a research facility. The location is rather remote so the live-in staff generally rotates every two weeks.

Staff includes researchers, maintenance staff and an on-site chef.

I have signed on for a longer rotation of multiple months, so I work with both bi-weekly crews.

All supplies and equipment brought into the research center (aside from personal items) is provided and delivered by the managing company including cooking supplies and food ingredients.

He’s skeptical about the new spices.

A new chef recently started and after his first rotation he decided the supplies on hand were not sufficient, and took it upon himself to bring spices from home on his next rotation.

These spices are used to make cultural dishes from his homeland, which I’m sure are delicious, but they are unfamiliar to me and I cannot confirm if they are truly authentic spices or if the packages perhaps contain contraband, particularly because he has them in some kind of bulk packaging that has handwritten labels.

I confiscated the spices and told him he had to stick to the supplies provided by the company.

The chef won’t let it go.

He was pretty mad about this and argued with me for some time, but I stood my ground.

I told him he could submit a requisition form to request the spices through the company, but he argued that the spices they source are not authentic and would not work in his recipes.

He has not let it go, and asks me about the spices every chance he gets. I once even caught him trying to sneak some of the spices out of my storage locker.

I’m sick of having this discussion with him, but this is my first real serious security contract, I take my job very seriously and don’t want to make any exceptions. AITA????

The new chef should follow OP’s suggestion and request the spices. He shouldn’t have taken this job if he can’t work with the supplied ingredients.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Here are a couple really good questions.

He went too far.

Another person thinks it depends.

He at least needs to let the chef take his spices home.

I can understand why the chef is upset.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.