Aussie tradie’s brazen act sparks debate about workmen etiquette

A new mum was left “raging” after she discovered an expensive item she needed after having a baby had been swiped by her tradie.

An Aussie tradie has been busted committing a “wild” act after finishing a job – sparking a huge debate about the etiquette of working inside someone else’s property.

Podcast host Brittany Hockley revealed her sister Sheri had recently hired a workman to complete a task by in the property she shares with her partner Jay and their newborn baby.

After finishing his work while the pair were out, the tradie packed up his stuff and left, but shortly after Sheri noticed a 2l carton of orange juice was missing from their fridge.

Initially, she suspected her partner was the culprit, Hockley said.

But after checking the doorbell camera, it turned out the tradie was in fact to blame after he helped himself to their groceries.

“Sheri’s been sick for a little while, and because she’s had a baby there’s not a lot of drugs she can take,” Hockley told her co-host Laura Byrne an episode of LifeUncut.

“So she went ‘old school’, and got this big carton or orange juice. That’s how she’s trying to get better.”

But shortly after purchasing the item, which due to cost-of-living pressures and farming issues has risen in price by 20 per cent this year, Sheri noticed it had vanished from the fridge.

“She knew that she had just gone and bought this like 2 litre bottle of orange juice,” Hockley continued.

“But when she went to have a drink, it was not there. She went back out to Jay like... raging.”

Hockley said her sister, who is breastfeeding, believed Jay had guzzled the breakfast drink.

However, things quickly took a turn when Jay insisted he wasn’t to blame for the missing beverage.

While the pair were initially confused at to what happened to the OJ, Sheri then remembered they’d had a tradie in their home, and after checking their doorbell camera they caught him red handed.

“I’ve got the photo of the tradie leaving with the whole bottle of juice under his shoulder,” Hockley states, before revealing the snap.

“He just took the juice.”

Byrne bursts into fits of laughter in sheer disbelief, with the mum-of-two asking: “What did she do?”

The pair then debated whether or not Sheri would be justified in contacting the tradie, with Hockley arguing, “surely you’re allowed to go and get a drink” while you’re on the job.

However she pointed out that taking an entire 2l carton of juice is probably “too much”.

Australia actually has very comprehensive rules about workplace health, safety, and comfort and the law states that there must be one water point for every 40 employees.

Safe Work Australia also states that the water supply must also adhere to the National Health Guidelines for water quality.

How this applied to employees working outside of an office or dedicated workspace however, is unclear – and it certainly doesn’t stretch to include orange juice.

An Aussie tradie's brazen act was caught on a doorbell camera. Picture: TikTok/LifeUncut

On TikTok, listener’s of the LifeUncut podcast were quick to weigh in on the etiquette surrounding providing water and refreshments for workmen completing jobs in your homes, declaring the tradie was in the wrong.

“My hubby and I are tradies, even if a client was to say help yourself to the fridge, we wouldn’t even dare. If absolutely necessary, I would 100 per cent ask first, this was not OK,” one wrote.

“It’s stealing by tradie. Not acceptable,” another claimed.

As another argued: “No, it’s theft. And why was he even looking in your fridge? I’ve done a trade and we took our own drink and food to work like every other profession.”

“No you’re not allowed to help yourself to something from the fridge! Totally overstepping,” someone else added.

Host Brittany Hockley said her sister was ‘raging’ after a 2l bottle of orange juice went missing in her home. Picture: TikTok/LifeUncut

Others labelled the act ‘wild’ and said he was ‘overstepping’. Picture: TikTok/LifeUncut

Others shared their own stories of tradies committing “wild” acts in their homes.

“I had a tradie go for a wee in my bathroom WITH THE DOOR OPEN and without asking first,” one raged.

“My mum caught their traidie wearing her underwear…” lamented another.

While one man shared: “We were building our own house and we had beers in a bar fridge in the garage and when the plasterers were having lunch we saw them on our site camera take a beer and sitting down drinking it!”

Originally published as Aussie tradie’s brazen act sparks debate about workmen etiquette