Colleague has thrown everything away that was on my desk

Sounds like the colleague was being a pass agg twat and letting her know he feels she should spend all her work time working and not thinking about her kids/food planning etc. Not sure what you can do though apart from have a sharp word with him. Which I would do.

You shouldn't litter your desk with personal items and your colleague shouldn't have thrown those items out when your back was turned. If he'd collected them all up in a plastic bag for safekeeping I would have agreed with his actions. Let this be a lesson to you.

Colleague does not sound great BUT yabu keeping so many personal and kids related papers on your desk. Work desk is for work papers. One photo maybe ok, but not personal and family reminders and papers.

He behaves how he does as non of you so far have had the guts to pull him up. There is no way I'd just let this lie, I'd ask him just who the fuck he thought he was to throw things away from someone else's desk & make very clear to him it wasn't to happen again, in fact I'd tell him to not ever sit his fucking arse at the desk again.
Fucking men like this boil my piss.

But the OP said there's no management and no HR to complain to.

Yes, but you (or whoever) said it was a criminal offence, wich means it should be taken the police and I just don't see the police being interested so I would drop all the talk about it being 'criminal'.

I worked in a place with 100% hotdesking for a while (apart from a handful of dedicated private offices). We were given lockers to keep work and personal items in, and it was second nature to clear the desk at the end of every day. If someone repeatedly failed to do this, it would've been escalated to management. AFAIK, no one would have thrown someone else's work or personal items unless they legitimately believed it was rubbish, and if it had been pointed out to them that they had thrown away something of value they would likely have been apologetic.

But all of that's irrelevant if the OP's office doesn't have such a policy. Her colleague should not have been touching anyone else's stuff except to move it out of the way. If she was supposed to leave the desk clear and did not, presumably there's a manager paid to navigate these kinds of issues.

I had a colleague do similar to me. I had a little bag with lip balm, hand cream, mirror, pens and face wipes that I kept at work. One of our managers told her to throw it away, so she did! Instead of you know, hiding it. Couldn't believe it. The manger left after only a year. Not their job to throw away personal possessions though.

Jesus, grow up.

Sorry - but it is misappropriation of property (taking it without consent) and destruction of property (throwing it away). It does not matter that the colleague felt they had no value: the items did not belong to them, were contained in the OP’s designated and allocated workspace. It also does not matter if OP has historically been relaxed/negligent about leaving money or valuables in that space. Although the company policy likely states they do not take any legal responsibility for the theft or destruction of any personal items left on the premises, they are nonetheless liable for the conduct of their employees.

OP needs to take this up with HR as it absolutely should result in a disciplinary action.

I would let it go but I certainly wouldn't forget.

I'd be keeping notes on him. It will catch up with him in the end.

Well then that is unacceptable

Not sure you'd be able to prove it's a criminal offence as he'd just claim he thought the notes were old drafts that didn't need to be kept.
Better to have it out with him directly.

I worked in 1 place like this out of many workplaces throughout my life. Even that office gave it up when they decided not to go for a certain ISO certification. It was quite inconvenient anyway.

And actually, even there, it was only work things that had to be kept in the drawer. A personal note would have been fine as no work confidentiality issues.

Ok based on your last update (I'm familiar with that environment), I don't think that complaining about him is going to help. Don't compare your desk with the other men because it doesn't count. Best thing is to take better care of your stuff and be as professional and as indispensable as possible - much more than your colleagues. Crappy but that's how I think it is.

How on earth are you still working there!

You are worth more than this crap!

Leave, and find the people that appreciate you

Sorry, but I’d go to HR about this. He has tampered with and disposed of your personal property. Am pretty sure that’s a criminal offence, let alone a disciplinary one.

I’d be livid, not saddened. What if he’d decided to throw your personal work notes away too? Honestly, I think you need to file a complaint.

Based on everything you've said about your workplace, I get now how him throwing your rubbish away when it was in his way seems outrageous to you, but I'd say a lot of how it runs is out of the ordinary.

Most people would never leave large sums of money on their work desk or take a sleeping bag...

I find both his behaviour and some of the comments on here not having a problem with this a bit odd. If it needed to be cleared wouldn't most people have stuck it all in a manila folder and put it in a drawer? I wouldn't dream of even going through it to assess it unless there was something work related that I thought may only be in hardcopy that I was looking for.

However, it probably wasn't appropriate to have all this personal admin stuff out on your desk in the first place - it somewhat makes it look like you were doing other stuff on work time, even if you weren't. We've all spent tea breaks and lunch breaks planning holidays etc but most generally don't advertise that to anyone passing your desk.

As for the update saying you've previously left significant sums of money out on your desk, that's just bonkers: however much you trust your colleagues, if you're being entrusted to handle a leaving collection etc that money is effectively given to you on trust and you are responsible for it, it needs to be locked away in a drawer. You really cannot be that trusting: I once had a mobile phone stolen off my desk by someone who had wandered in off the street and had tailgated through several fob-entry doors when the whole office was in a team meeting. I never left anything unattended on my desk in any job ever again when there wasn't a colleague I trusted in the room to watch my stuff.

Your company sounds like fun! I guess a specialised subcontractor?

I'm familiar with this type of set up... there is nothing you can do in this situation. I think you just need to cut your loses and in the future be a bit more careful with your stuff. I would also look for a safe opportunity to do something equally "helpful" for your colleague, but its just me, I'm vindictive.

I have an empty 2nd drawer down. I decant the desktop contents (paperwork MY stapler, and a few other bits and bobs) into 2nd drawer down every night. We have to leave it clear for the cleaner.

We had a clear desk policy at work but it was regarding anything work related. There were checks made after work that nothing work related could be found at our desks and if so it was declared a legal incident and a black mark against you. Personal stuff was OK to have on your desk. Management were known to have personal stuff including framed photos.

He shouldn’t have done it.
Start by sneakily throwing away his stuff

So very rude, and he could have easily put them in a drawer and hold you where they were. What a twat.