AIBU to think writing confidential HR notes on a train is inappropriate?

haha! What an irony! I used to work a lot from the train but we had to have a screen cover for confidentially.

Would you not read a book or look out of the window on a train journey? I mean I would have probably had a nose too but not thought for one minute to report them.. 😬

Contact the company.
I'm even nosier than you, hence I'm a journalist..
I would also be searching for the man concerned, via Internet & social media... and make him aware.

Just asking for a friend - it wasn’t a midlands based train and a company starting with a C by any chance?

I can't believe you read the screen, memorised the contents, then rushed to Mumsnet to report this woman. The courteous thing to do would have been to tell her you can see her notes. You'd have come across as like someone with way too much time on your hands though, and far too interested in other people's private business. Do you read people's private messages on their phones, with your fantastic eyesight, as well? Where's the dignity in that? You need a kindle and a few good books downloaded, to while away these boring train journeys.

What is inappropriate is you making the effort to read something's on someone else's device. Mind your business!

Inappropriate? Yes. Would I care? No. I don’t concern myself with what others are doing. I’m more concerned about the fact you read such screen to know all the details you do and have then come onto MN to ask about it. You don’t have much going on in life, do you?

That’s wrong and breaking company confidentiality rules. If work found out or the mentioned person found out, she’d be up for gross misconduct!

Contacting the company in question doesn't necessarily mean the person will get in trouble, it may highlight a weakness in their training that needs to be addressed.

The subject of this person's report is entitled to confidentiality and that has been breached.

Completely inappropriate. I work in a very heavily regulated industry and we have endless training on this sort of thing (for good reason, it appears!)

Yes I would. Just because it’s chewing gum doesn’t make it right! Stealing is stealing. Everyone else has to pay for it!

I wouldn't report anything that doesn't clearly hurt a victim.

And how would you know what will hurt a victim?

So you would report a shoplifter? You'd taking it on yourself to defend the interests of a big company over somebody taking chewing gum? Seriously?

“I've seen people shoplift and I don't report them.”

Says it all… I rest my case 😂

I wouldn't report anything that doesn't clearly hurt a victim.
I've seen people shoplift and I don't report them.
If they hit someone then yes I would, but it would be to the police.
I have nothing to do with someone else's employer.

That’s not the point. And having someone’s CONFIDENTIAL information on full view is grounds to report to the employer! You claiming it’s not serious when it’s actually classed as a serious breach under GDPR, I would say is serious. The chances of the op knowing the HR woman are very slim, yes… but not impossible. They were on the same train. May even have got on the train from the same station and may be from the same town!

Agree. Especially as it was a complaint re GDPR

Yes, I would be saying the same thing. It's not good, but it's also not serious enough for me to report someone to their employer. The chances that the person on the train knows me are small and I'm not a snitch (for this kind of thing).
If it bothered me, I would speak to the person directly.
Reporting someone to their employer is disgusting. I can't think of any circumstance in which I would do it because in the case of a serious offence, I'd go to the police.

So let’s flip this around…. if this HR employee instead worked in a hospital or GP practice and decided to do some “work” on the train and opened up a patient’s medical records - let’s say your medical records for example, when there’s a risk that someone else on the train could see them and see everything about you, maybe find out you had diarrhoea or a gynaecological problem… and a fellow passenger was able to read all this from the seat behind, would you still be saying the same thing?

What this HR woman had on full view of other passengers was personal information about an employee who worked at the same company as her! Just because it’s a different situation to the example I have given above doesn’t make it ok or any less of a breach of confidentiality/ GDPR!!

I am obviously capable of realising that it could be me!

However, a person on the train is most likely not in a tiny village and the chances are that the person able to see their computer does not know me. The chances of real embarrassment for me are small.
In any case, it's a workplace matter, not a serious violent offence and not something the OP should be reporting to anybody's employer. At the limit, yes, maybe tell the HR person you can see their computer and ask them to be more careful, but there's no need to go reporting them and it's not OP's responsibility.

This was already covered upthread. JoeyJava is wrong on this point.

Seriously? Does that mean if someone dances around their garden naked, I am not allowed to look out of my window anymore?

For goodness sake.

(Just seen that the post above mine referred to the same comment!)

People are awful on trains. I once sat next to someone who was looking at documents with highly confidential printed on them!

And then there was the guy who was moaning about his colleague Clare. I eventually told him to shut up and remember his duties of confidentiality and after a supercilious response he did shut up,

My DH mentioned this morning that there was an article on the BBC about train wifi being improved and someone said they had to make audio calls on the train because they couldn't trust the wifi for video calls. I mean, really? These people walk (travel) among us...