| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Beginner Issues > Topic: Things on my desk keep being moved around.... |
Topic: Things on my desk keep being moved around....
| Author | Message |
| Unemployed-gal | Posted – 5/5/2008 4:46:24 PM | show profile This is going to sound like a very strange question/ complaint. I work as a temp receptionist at a certain company (specific, right?). I have my own desk, though it's not really mine, it belongs to the woman I cover for. But every morning when I come in, I find that things have been moved around--various projects I'm working on, or the conference room schedule book, or even just office supplies. I also have post-it notes with important information taped to the rim of the computer, and somehow they all come off and land five feet away from where they're supposed to be. I generally leave my workspace neat and organized before I leave each day, so I have no idea what's up. The first time it happened I thought things were stolen! Am I the only person freaked out by this? What do I do? |
| kim780 | Posted – 5/5/2008 5:55:35 PM | show profile it's the cleaning crew. it happens all the time. if it's really annoying you, just leave a note asking them to be more careful and to put items back where they found them. |
| westsidestory | Posted – 5/5/2008 10:16:10 PM | show profile Try putting your important stuff in a drawer when you leave for the night, or in a big file folder. I don't know what to recommend for the post-its; it may be that someone in the office finds it visually messy and wants them off the machine. Perhaps you might tape all the post-its onto a single sheet of paper, for reference during the day. Then put the sheet into the drawer or the file folder with the rest of your stuff. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 5/5/2008 11:16:41 PM | show profile And always keep in mind, everything at work is your bosse's proerty, officially (except personal belongings, i.e. things you'd leave your job with). Your files, your computer, your email--it all belongs to your boss. I would keep your personal "notes" , schedules, etc in a notebook you take home every night, if this bothers you. |
| mkelly | Posted – 5/6/2008 9:30:24 AM | show profile Clearly, THEY are out to disrupt your life. If you wear a tinfoil helmet, this will neutralize their attacks. |
| jcpatterson | Posted – 5/6/2008 9:34:59 AM | show profile I'm probably being paranoid, but I worked briefly for a boss that would use this kind of thing as a form of behavior correction -- she didn't like visual clutter, so if you didn't put something where she thought it should go, even on your own desk, you would come in and find it across the room or in your desk chair or someplace odd. Since she didn't make any comment about it, you really had to assume you were being corrected and do something about it right away (what I did about it was quit, but that is another long story about other things) or risk discipline. Since you are a temp, I might suggest erring on the side of caution and removing everything that has moved in the past to a drawer at the end of the day. Take anything personal home, and keep these things in your purse at lunch. |
| Unemployed-gal | Posted – 5/6/2008 9:48:31 AM | show profile Thanks for the suggestions! Its strange, because the cleaning crew comes in and goes out around 4:00, so I wasn't sure who was doing it. But I think next time I'll leave a note. Maybe this is bothering me more than it should. |
| reporterwriter | Posted – 5/6/2008 12:30:23 PM | show profile Do you have a night crew, or someone who may have taken a liking to sitting at your desk at night? I had that happen once -- I'd come in and find things moved, plus the addition of napkins, crumbs and grease marks. It was solved by making my desk look trashed-out when I went home, covering it with random newspaper sections and such. All I had to do in the morning was lift off the newspapers and -- voila! -- neat, clean desk underneath. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 5/6/2008 1:28:12 PM | show profile Jann Wenner has fired people from Wenner because they're messy. I was there on one of the days he want on a tirade, kicking boxes around and screaming that "Your mothers don't work here!" |
