I spent the last two years of medical school living in a dorm. There was a common room on each floor where a community refrigerator was located. Students who did not own a minifridge in their dorm rooms would put their perishables in the fridge. Everyone knew to put their names on the foods to avoid confusion.
One summer, lunches and dinners in the fridge began to mysteriously disappear. At first, we refused to believe there was a thief among us. Signs were prominently posted by the fridge for the dorm dwellers to check the names on the food items before taking them.
Foods continued to vanish. The thief proved to be cunning. There were no eyewitnesses, and no one showed any suspicious behaviors.
Some of us thought of a solution, which coincidentally was an actual solution called Gentian Violet.
Gentian Violet is an antimicrobial. It is used to treat fungal and bacterial infections. It is also a dye that easily stains skin and clothes. The purple stain can remain on the skin for several days.
We bought a blueberry pie and topped it with Gentian Violet. We put the pie in the fridge and waited.
The following morning, the identity of the thief was revealed.
Although we didn’t catch him red-handed, we did so purple-faced. 😁😁😁
EDIT – Some readers have expressed concerns about the baby in the picture. To clarify, the baby was NOT the food thief in the story. The picture is meant to illustrate how Gentian Violet can significantly stain the face and the tongue.
