Food at the firehouse brought some good comments. Seagulls are birds that inhabit coastal areas and dumps. They are also firefighters who swoop other people's food. We have all done it at some level, but some make it an everyday event. Most firehouses have three cabinets designated for the three shifts to keep their supplies in. Staples that are not covered by house dues are fair game to all. The private shift stash is sometimes locked to prevent "gulling." Big houses may have three refrigerators, one for each shift, also sometimes locked. It is in small houses with one refrig that gulling is endemic. Let's face it, under the cut-loaf policy, it is hard to pass up the small piece of cake that is calling your name.
The big issues arise over the leftovers planned for the next shift lunch that disappear on your off-day.
The rules are that when a shift is going off on days everything left is fair game. I worked with a guy who could eat BBQ at 8 in the morning, that is a committed gull.

I cooked before the fire department, but learned most of my repetoire from other firemen. Al had his 30 years when I met him and give me my mantra. "If you put good stuff in, good stuff will come out." Clare (an old captain) was the clam chowder guy. OCD about cutting the potatoes in small same-sized bits. Tom was my tailboard partner and did great clam melts.

It is the officer's responsibility to deal with gulling unless of course he or she is the gull. Taking people into the backyard was the way in the past, but like numerous things that worked but were not PC, is now gone with the wind.

Merry Xmas to everyone. I worked many a holiday, cooked lots of union supplied turkey, and have broken the holidays into types of calls. Christmas was tree fires and heart attacks at family dinners.
New Year's: drunks and wrecks. 4th of July: roof fires and firework injuries and firework suppression,
Mother's day suicides, on and on for each holiday. I missed my family and am ever thankful to the people who are still doing it now. When we leave to go to work we leave our significant others to worry about us coming back. We also miss big hunks of family life when we work on holidays. Part of our job, but also part of their sacrifice we sometimes forget.