No More Free Lunches， I Dumped My Greedy Coworker's Meal Prep in the Trash

For three years, Nora rose at six-thirty every morning to shop for the finest ingredients and cook two bento boxes—one for herself, one for her coworker Chloe, who suffered from stomach problems and paid her ten dollars a meal. Each portion cost Nora fifteen to sixteen dollars, but she never counted the difference, believing coworkers simply help each other.

Then, standing outside the breakroom with a mug in hand, Nora overhears Chloe telling Ashley that the food is stale supermarket clearance, that Nora pockets a five-dollar profit daily, and that Chloe only eats it to save her face. Nora walks to her desk, takes out the pink bento box she once bought Chloe, and dumps the warm lunch into the trash.

When Chloe demands her food, Nora tells her to buy her own from now on—and refunds the money. Three years of quiet generosity collide with a coworker's contempt, and Nora must decide what her kindness was ever worth.