Handling People Who Take Your Stuff at Work

[cookie888]

Are you a fan of Friends. Remember when Ross has a note on his sandwich? lol

Anyway, just to say I don't think a note will work. Best to keep it in your own desk at work.

[HandbagLuvr]

Originally Posted by schadenfreude

I went and spent the $50 on one of those little bitty dorm refrigerators that fits in my office, so I can keep all my crap separate. (All the utensils and non-perishables are in my desk.) This is two uses - one, keeps people's grubby paws off my crap, and two, it keeps me out of the breakroom and away from the vending machines. I stock the little fridge with V8, yogurt, string cheese, and apples. Boring, but healthy!

I love that idea!

[Fishfood]

We had this issue too, at my last job. I ended up with a snack drawer, with dry non-perishables, since they wouldn't let up bring in private fridges. We asked, believe me - they were dubbed "an unregulated potential fire hazard" so no mini fridges for us!

I had mini tuna salad kits, handheld soups, etc.

When I had a shared space (you know, a cubefarm!) earlier in my career people used to steal my PENS since I always spent a bit extra on them. I mean, I NEVER could keep those pens! So I kept these childish glitter and feather pens on my desk so when they got "borrowed" everyone knew they were mine and moreover, it was a little embaressing to have such a little-girls-princess-pen anyway.

I eventually went over my supervisors head to her boss though, when my supervisor started routinely going into my desk for pens and to look at my papers. He was kind of as appalled as I was. Just sad.

[thelace]

Ugh. It's things like this that make me glad I don't work in an office any more. That and the "birthday/leaving/baby collections" for multiple people I never heard of

[ILuvShopping]

like others have said, find a place in your office or around your desk that you can keep the stuff, if you do'nt have an awesome and dont' have an empty drawer, perhaps a small plastic tote that would fit under your desk?

I keep all that stuff in my office in one of my desk drawers. I'll gladly offer it up if someone is needing something or if we order food for the office and can't find the office stash, but otherwise it's mine! :)

leaving a note would just cause more problems. and since someone just pointed and said "down there" when someone asked about plates, that would make me think that everyone doesn't know that the stuff in that drawer is yours.
empty out the drawer and then see what happens! i wonder how long until someone says "hey, were did all the plates and utensils go!?"

[Jahpson]

yes, keep your things in the drawer in your office. does it lock? I would do that as well.

i cant believe someone would actually use your mug!! I would never use a cup that someone outside of my family drank from!! that is sooo disgusting! Suppose they backwashed? ugh, im getting sick just thinking of it

[Jahpson]

Originally Posted by thelace

Ugh. It's things like this that make me glad I don't work in an office any more. That and the "birthday/leaving/baby collections" for multiple people I never heard of

I just got a global email about information regarding a co-worker's wedding shower and where they are registered at. Never met this woman or her fiance and never seen them before in my life.

[guccimamma]

Originally Posted by thelace

Ugh. It's things like this that make me glad I don't work in an office any more. That and the "birthday/leaving/baby collections" for multiple people I never heard of

word.

and people waving their kids' fundraiser forms at you. hated that.

[asianbelle]

Notes don't work when people don't read. Back at one of my old jobs I kept a package of bagels in the freezer, and everyone else respected each other's stuff. Well, we had a few employees from another office came to work there for a week or so, and the first night, one of my bagels were gone. I was like wtf so I wrapped it up and taped a note around it with my name on it. Second day the other side of the package was ripped open and another bagel was gone. I was pretty annoyed at this time but how do you yell at someone over 2 bagels? So I wrote another note, this time writing - if you take this, replace it. My bagels survived, but my coworker's entire block of cheese was gone instead! Those few people were so inconsiderate. Hello, it's not a communal supply! Oh wait, I had a stash of frozen dinners in there... yup, one of them was missing too.

Then another time at another job my friend and I stashed a box of ice cream cones in the freezer. Overnight one of them was missing. We suspected the radiologist took one, and I don't understand why he thought it was ok to do so.

[HandbagLuvr]

I remember when a coworker did some grocery shopping over her lunch break at a little specialty grocer by our office. She tied knots at the tops of the bags and put them in the fridge. When she left for the evening she found out one of the bags was opened, some of the stuff was taken out (expensive cuts of meat), and then re-knotted at the top. We suspected that it was the same person who was stealing lunches because there was a lot of that going on at the time.

[bagnshoofetish]

after years of being in different work environments with many different people I have learned just to expect this. therefore, I never leave anything of much value laying around at work even if its in a designated drawer like what you have. That said, I still have a designated drawer I keep little supplies in and yes, plastic utensils, napkins, bandaids, neosporin, pads, tampons, aspirin, chocolate, etc. are in there and I just bring it all in with the spirit that I am going to share them with whoever needs them (the pads and tampons alone keep the guys out I must say! ). Fortunately I have the means so its not going to break me if people "borrow" stuff. But if I was hurting financially, I would probably tape a note to the drawer that said something like, "feel free to take what you need but perhaps donate a little towards my fund for replacing things. thanks and enjoy!"

[juneping]

Originally Posted by guccimamma

word. and people waving their kids' fundraiser forms at you. hated that.

thanks for posting this. i got so annoyed to hand out my money for these kinds of crap. someone at work recently had a baby..and i thank her for not throwing a baby shower at work. i don't want to spend that extra money just to present myself as friendly but we are not exactly friends..we hardly talked. if i didn't buy her any baby gift...i am sure ppl would call me a bitch behind my back.

[rainrowan]

A note is not going to work, people get so overly offended or find an excuse to shoot the messenger. I left a note once, rescinded it but the offender found out and was out for my blood after that. yeesh.

At work, just make room in your desk drawer or in a file cabinet behind the folders only you access. Just bring what you will need for the week. My stapler always went missing since I was a few yards from the copier and people would just take it off my desk, leave it in the copy room. That drove me nuts. I had to label the stapler with my name! and stash another one in my desk for backup, until I could go retrieve it from the copy room.

[dusty paws]

notes don't work, trust me.

i really don't have my own space at work which sucks. sure i have a desk... but i had a coworker straight up take - and eat - and then proceed to tell me how he ate and how yummy my apple was that was on my desk. pardon me, but that was for my lunch - i was going to eat it! just because i may have shared with your prior doesn't mean you are entitled to take something on my desk for yourself.

bahh.

[wordbox]

Some of these stories are just incredible! Wow.

Originally Posted by juneping

thanks for posting this. i got so annoyed to hand out my money for these kinds of crap. someone at work recently had a baby..and i thank her for not throwing a baby shower at work. i don't want to spend that extra money just to present myself as friendly but we are not exactly friends..we hardly talked. if i didn't buy her any baby gift...i am sure ppl would call me a bitch behind my back.

Showers should be thrown by someone else, not a bride or expectant mother for themselves (otherwise it's considered a bit tacky to throw yourself a party). So thank the staff for not throwing her one!