Colleague has thrown everything away that was on my desk

It sounds like a recipe for disaster, why are you keeping important dates and reminders on bits of paper instead of a physical diary or online calendar?

He shouldn't have thrown it away, he should have put it in a polypocket and put it to one side

We sometimes have to hot desk/use each others workspace and its so annoying when there is little space on the desk due to someone's stuff all over the place but I would never throw anything away

You should have put your notes away in a drawer while you were out of the office. Throwing them away was an over-the-top response but I have some sympathy. I used to have to hot desk in an office where the majority had fixed desks and it's really annoying to have someone's non-work-related clutter in your workspace. Thankfully we have since gone to fully hot-desking, with lockers for people's personal things.

Are you going to tell him you are really pissed off? Ask if he considered that you might need the things?

If it’s a shared desk then yes you are being unreasonable. Why would you have a load of personal stuff cluttering up your work area. If I had to share a desk with you it would drive me mad. I would however put it all in a box and stick it under the desk. It’s not good he threw it away.

@WinkyTinky the obvious thing to do
would have been to put it in a box and lock it in a cupboard for you to collect when you return, if it had to be removed. Not just throw away someone else’s stuff. You are well within your rights to say ‘it is not for you to throw away someone else’s stuff and if you had been asked to clear it, you could have put it aside for me to deal with. Please don’t do this again’. He’s an arse.

He shouldn’t have done it but I absolutely would not have this time of thing on my work desk.. work is for work only

And you have spent the last half hour reading his texts?

Anything important shouldn’t be lying on a desk.

I’m surprised your workplace doesn’t have a clear desk policy, it’s more common than not.

He shouldn’t have actually disposed iof it, but if you hadn’t had a load of personal stuff on your desk, he wouldn’t have needed to.

The flip side is “I desk share and can’t use the desk properly as colleague has a load of irrelevant shite all over it”

Throw away his phone if he leaves it to go to the bathroom. Never explain. Never apologise.

To be honest, I think you are both at fault. You know that he/ other people use your desk when you aren't in, so leaving bits of papers strewn across the desk is unreasonable. He should have put them in a drawer though.

I mean, ok it wasn't the best place for them but he sounds like these thrown them out of spite. I would make a complaint (presuming it was a small neat pile not a towering mess).

He's an arse but as with others, I can't bear a litter of personal shit left out on people's desks. It makes it harder for cleaners to keep the office clean and is just generally unprofessional.

When I worked somewhere where we had our own desks people would absolutely sit at them if you weren't in, but I wouldn't have dreamed of throwing away someone's stuff. But office culture is getting more and more impersonal with the rise of hot desking etc.

He had no right to thrown them away, but don't litter your office with things not related to work. Also if you'd been off, its ok that someone else is using your desk.

So he could have chucked into a drawer?

In which case it was definitely spiteful.

I have my own deck in my own room/office. The room is used for my work but others can use it too due to its use.

Sometimes if I'm out at meetings elsewhere, off-site etc then people will work at my computer for privacy or I'll recommend people use it to make private calls rather than shared workspace available.

I'd be spitting feathers of someone binned my post it's stuck everywhere or my desk planner full of scribbles away.

It's there to help me!

I don't know why posters are going on about 'clear desk policies' - while that's the norm in some companies, it's not universal and presumably did not apply in the OP's else she'd never have accumulated this stuff. And even if there was such a policy, it wasn't up to this colleague to destructively enforce it in her absence.

I agree he shouldn't have done it but we don't own our work desks.

Do you not have a clean desk policy at work? We are supposed to shred anything left behind on tables, because the assumption is that it might have confidential info on it. Our HR would be baffled if someone complained, and I would expect them to direct the person to security policies. Even highlighting which is your desk and children's names could be tips for pass-phrases.

You were unreasonable for cluttering a desk used by others with non work stuff. It's best to not have personal stuff at work that could get damaged, lost or chucked.

It's also a pain for cleaners to have to work around.

In future keep personal stuff in your bag, in your phone. A clear desk policy is the norm in many places.

He was unreasonable for throwing stuff away that was not his and not checking first.

If you hadn't already I'd do a clear polite message to him asking him to please check next time as a professional courtesy before chucking anything.

Then let it go.

I think it was unnecessary to throw things away. He could have stuffed them in a drawer or something.

It sounds like you know other people sit in your desk sometimes so you might want to get into the practice of putting things in your drawers at the end of the day especially if you have bits of paper hanging around.

Also, it must be a nightmare for the poor cleaner.

Keep it in a folder in your draw.

There's nothing worse than having to cover for someone and finding a messy disorganised desk.

It may be a desk that's assigned to you, but it belongs to the company and they should have a clear desk policy for everyone's sake.