"Items at this desk are for Staff use only. Please do not remove from this desk."
In an attempt to cut down on random clients using the things at my desk (stapler, pens, pencils, three-hole punch) and stealing them (my very awesome retractable blue highlighter--I want that back!), I posted a couple of signs with the title of this post on them. Then this morning I found that my stapler, while still at my desk, was not where I had left it. People will lean over my desk, lean around, look around the computer, and feel that if they can see it, they must be allowed to take it. While I'm sitting here watching them.
"Can I help you?"
"I just need to use the stapler." Continues to reach for the stapler.
I stare in bafflement as the person leans around the counter in front of my desk, navigates the stacks of books between him and the stapler, and then reaches behind 2 separate signs telling him that he is not allowed to do what he is currently in the process of doing to grab my stapler.
Buy your own goddamn stapler, please, thankyouverymuch!
Now the items in question are hidden directly underneath a slightly more harsh sign that says "Items at this desk are for Staff use only. Please DO NOT USE."
The next step will be to hide the items in the cabinet behind my desk, and possibly put up a sign that says I have no stapler or three-hole punch or pens or highlighters or tape because people came and kept just taking things until they were all gone. While slightly more inconvenient for me than just being able to leave items that normally belong on a desk out on the desk, I will gladly endure the effort of opening the cabinet to get to what I need if it will keep people from assuming that the items at someone's desk don't belong to that person or to their employer, but are public items.
Am I the only person around who doesn't just assume that everything I see belongs to me? My desk has a high counter top in front of it, clearly dividing the side of the desk for the public, and the side of the desk for me.
I wonder if I can chain these things down....
"Can I help you?"
"I just need to use the stapler." Continues to reach for the stapler.
I stare in bafflement as the person leans around the counter in front of my desk, navigates the stacks of books between him and the stapler, and then reaches behind 2 separate signs telling him that he is not allowed to do what he is currently in the process of doing to grab my stapler.
Buy your own goddamn stapler, please, thankyouverymuch!
Now the items in question are hidden directly underneath a slightly more harsh sign that says "Items at this desk are for Staff use only. Please DO NOT USE."
The next step will be to hide the items in the cabinet behind my desk, and possibly put up a sign that says I have no stapler or three-hole punch or pens or highlighters or tape because people came and kept just taking things until they were all gone. While slightly more inconvenient for me than just being able to leave items that normally belong on a desk out on the desk, I will gladly endure the effort of opening the cabinet to get to what I need if it will keep people from assuming that the items at someone's desk don't belong to that person or to their employer, but are public items.
Am I the only person around who doesn't just assume that everything I see belongs to me? My desk has a high counter top in front of it, clearly dividing the side of the desk for the public, and the side of the desk for me.
I wonder if I can chain these things down....
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