If someone stole something from your desk

[susans]

If someone went in your cubicle and took ONE item, what would you miss the most?  Would you be lost with out your post its?  Do you have a special pen that just fits you?  Is your chair the best in the office and you couldn't sit at the computer without it.  Would you cry if you lost your flat screen monitor and had to take the spare old clunky monitor in the closet?  Do you have some personal knickknack on your desk?

I have a hanging Goofy with a suction cup and a wire then he hangs on a chain. (the hole thing is very small item. )  I can hit it, bounce it, make him swing.  It is a simple little stress release item for me.  I would miss that the most!   If I had to pick a work item it would be pens, which DO disappear all the time and drives me crazy.

[whitesatin]

I can't stand it when I reach for my stapler and it's not there!

WhiteSatin

[yc1]

Hi Yvonne here from Leicester, UK. I have posted before on occasion but don't think I have introduced myself properly.  I work for a large College in the Adult Basic Education department, if some of you in UK have seen those revolting Gremlin adverts I'm one of the people the callers are utlimately passed to.

I am the only only full time permanent PA in our office I work for the Manager of ABE and as such I keep on a shelf near my desk a stapler, sellotape dispnser and hole punch.  These all disappear on a regular basis, it seems that as my desk is in the miiddle of the room and also near the photocopier that they are the handiest, so far I have lost at least 3 staple removers and one stapler completely.... I feel there must be a black hole somewhere in the office that things just get sucked into....

[misslynn]

I had this problem a couple years ago, my desk was next to the copy room so things were always disappearing.  Now my desk is in the very back of the office, I joke that I have a candy dish on my desk because that's the only way I can get people to come visit me.

[matgrf]

Good evening, Matt from South Wales here.  I work as Assistant to the Head of School for the Faculty of Health and Social Care at a Further Education college in the City of Newport.

I currently share an office with five people, all of whom commenced their posts roughly the same time as me; the post was created in August 2005 to satisfy the demand for exclusive administrative support to each of the six 'schools' or faculties following the re-organisation of the Business Support staff throughout the college.

When placing the initial office stationary order we ensured that everyone in the office had their own basic stationary (i.e. stapler, hole punch, sellotape dispenser etc.) thus eliminating the need to beg, borrow or steal – or so we thought!

From my experience it seems that no matter what measures you take to retain stationary items, they always seem to become the subject of a colleague’s ‘reallocation of resources’ defence – assuming that the items are ever seen again!

Shamefully I am just as guilty of this defence from time to time!

Yvonne’s ‘black hole’ theory seems quite plausible in my organisation!

Matt Griffin AffIQPS, ALIAV

[tiffanyctd]

I've been really lucky in that most of the time, my stuff hasn't disappeared. Of course, it helps that my desk is so far out of the way that people forget that I'm here. I did have a friend in another office get tired of people taking her pens, so she had a bunch imprinted with "Stolen from ***'s desk".
Tif

[spitfire78]

The thing that means the most to my heart is a wooden name sign made by my father.  Highly unlikely anyone would steal it unless they had the same name!  

As far as work items, it would have to be my catalogs (for the main vendors I deal with).  I don't mind at all if someone borrows them, but for heaven's sake, return it when you are done!  I had one particular offender who was borrowing my catalog all the time.  I asked if they wanted their own - oh no, they didn't have room, blah, blah, blah.  Well after the darn thing was gone from my desk for 2 weeks and I had to go back to their room to "steal" it back, I went ahead and ordered a copy for them - whether they like it or not!

[carolmmarch]

Scissors - I hate it when I need to use my scissors, grab for them - and gone - gone - gone!
Also, Pen's - I have a pen fetish so when the ones I like the most are gone - which is all the time it drives me crazy - I've since learned to put them away in my desk drawer because desk theives are too lazy to open drawers...

Carol

[officeguru]

Don't have too much of an issue since obtaining this position - I'm tucked away at one end of the dept.  But before, I was in a high traffic area & nearest to the copier as well!  Pens, stapler & remover, paper clips, etc were constantly disappearing.  And 'Property of' stickers didn't work because we were only allowed to put the dept/area's name on such labels.  As it is, I have to order myself a new calculator cause I mine mysteriously disappeared out of my desk drawer!!  

What I'd miss most... my clock radio.  Being tucked away, it's rather too quiet.  I need background noise.  I'm one of those people who will be home alone and have the tv on just for noise.  

[jak0215]

It drives me crazy when my pens and hi-liters go missing.  I buy my pens and hi-liters myself because they are the ones I like, but don't necessarily fit into my departments budget.  They eventually disappear and I have to conduct an office round up or just kiss them good-bye and make a trip to the nearest Office Depot/Staples.  

jak

[gee4]

Scissors, stapler, hole-punch, post-its, high-lighters................need I go on??

G

[raindance]

I'm very territorial, so I don't like anything to go missing.  I'm also quite abstemious about the quantity of items I have in my office.  I don't have lots of pens etc - just what I need and I tend to keep other things for years.  I still have the same ruler I had seven years ago.  I suppose it helps that I work in a small company and that my office is part of the Chief Executive's suite. My colleagues generally come to see us for a reason, so are not likely to come "borrowing" things.  

Raindance

[Jackie G]

I have a rule that if I like a piece of stationery I keep it at home and use it in my home office, but don't take it anywhere outside, or it runs the risk of walking.

Jackie, Peer Moderator
www.iqps.org

[countrigal]

My one office item that seems to disappear, no matter where I'm at, is my pens.  I buy my own, because they are out of the company's budget realm and I simply hate the ones that they can buy!  Mine were so popular that it seemed that I was providing some for almost everyone in my old office.  So I started taping a piece of sticky-note to the top that shows "CountriGal" and is almost impossible to remove without residue showing, so I can normally find my missing pens now, and they DO have my name on them.  This has cut down on my pens going AWOL but sometimes they still just take off and I can't seem to find anyone who owns up to having seen them.  I also subscribe to that black hole theory.

Non-office stuff that would be missed most... the picture of my family -- all 4 of the kids.  That's the first thing I put up when I move desks or jobs, as it reminds me why I'm working... and it's the last to come down before an impending move.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator

[reddrogue]

I'd have to say pens too.  I am very particular about my pens, I absolutely refuse to use ballpoints unless I am making carbon copies.  But of course, even when I use ballpoints, they have to be the ones I can tolerate.  I bought my favorite pens when I first started here, and my boss took one look and said "I'm not going to be buying you 'special' pens or anything like that."  I told him I didn't expect him too.  But he is the same way about his pens.  He never uses the company logo pens.  Its always got to be the liquid roller ball or the gel pen with the reflective blue top or whatever.  He will honestly spend 30 minutes to an hour looking for a particular pen before he will sign a document with another one.  

So, I don't touch his pens, he doesn't touch mine.  There's only three people in this office, so I guess I kind of have it good...

Rr