Coworker Charges Full Price for Expired Food Delivery Meals

AITA for not wanting to pay full price for expiring food delivery meals from a coworker?

Damjan

Published in Interesting
25 Dec 2025

Coworker Charges Full Price for Expired Food Delivery Meals

In the bustling atmosphere of workplace camaraderie, food can often spark unexpected conflicts. Recently, a Reddit user found themselves at the center of a debate over fairness and expectations when buying food from a coworker.

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After a conversation about an overabundance of meals set to expire soon, the user offered to purchase some of them, only to be presented with a surprising price tag: $80 for two meals. This situation raises several intriguing questions about workplace social norms, pricing expectations, and the fine line between generosity and opportunism.

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Was it reasonable for the coworker to charge full price for meals that were about to be discarded? Or was the user right to feel taken aback by such a request?

The responses to the thread reveal a wide range of perspectives, from those who believe the coworker was in the wrong for not offering a discount to those who argue that the pricing should have been communicated upfront. As this thread unfolds, it sets the stage for a deeper conversation about the ethics of food sharing in professional spaces and the dynamics of coworker relationships.

What do you think—should the user have paid the asking price, or was it an unrealistic demand given the circumstances? Join the discussion and share your thoughts!

Original Post

My coworkers are big into food delivery services and it's a common conversation in our office. I've tried a trial order before and it wasn't for me - the meals were really expensive compared to regular meal prepping.

Two days ago, one of my coworkers was complaining she messed up her delivery window and now has too many meals, so a few of them would have to be thrown away. I told her if she was going to throw them away I could buy them off her.

Today she brought two chicken meals in and told me they would need to be cooked today because they were expiring soon. I asked her how much she wanted for them and she said $80 - full price.

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I was awkwardly quiet about it for a minute and said I will take one of them. She didnt really say anything back but I could tell she was annoyed.

She works in the connecting office so I havent had a chance to talk about it with her, but charging full price after having a conversion about them expiring soon was really unexpected. Should I pay the price though?

We never agreed on a price ahead of time and there seems to have been a lot of miscommunication, so if I'm in the wrong I would like to know before talking to her. Edit - thanks for responses guys.

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I talked to her and told her that I appreciated her bringing the food but it was more expensive than I expected and I was going to pass. She didn’t really have much to say back, she wasn’t upset but changed the subject.

I did check the servings before she took them though and they were 2 servings each. Definitely not $80…