If you saw a payslip left open at someone's house, would you take a look?

[PreviouslyZeus]

Assuming you don't already know how much they earn.

No I haven't but I left mine out and wondered if some visitors to my home might have sneaked a peek.

Yes I'd look.

Yeah I would but like PP, only if I didn't have to touch it.

Bizarrely, it reminds me of when a colleague was having my emails forwarded to them while I was on annual leave. They received my payslip email and opened the attachment. And then just told me they'd done it as if it was normal! I didn't even react either, I think I was too shocked..

I'd look if it was in plain sight. Although with my friends even if I saw one of their payslips it would only be half of a story. I'm not sure what I'd be able to learn apart from their salary which I reckon I can guess or look up an estimate if I really wanted to.

Yes, anyone who wouldn't is lying.

@AudTheDeepMinded I was questioning something on my payslip which I hadn't noticed before and left it out not thinking about it. It wasn't a test. I wouldn't ordinarily leave it lying around.

Wow, i cant believe all these people that say they wouldn’t look. An open payslip? I wouldn’t touch it at all, absolutely not, but would I look and clock the net pay, course i would, i dont believe many people really wouldn’t.

Back in the dark ages (Local Authority/early 1990s) I used to collect all of the payslips and deliver them to each dept on pay day (17th) I may have sneaked the odd peek
I'm still pretty sure I was the lowest paid there (£58/37hr wk).

Depends who it was. There are a couple of people who I'd be intrigued to know but otherwise I'm not that fussed.

If it was open nd in front of me yes, if it was in an envelope or folded up or something no of course not.

However I can’t recall ever being in someone’s home where I don’t know what they earn for a very long term, as with friends and family we are all very open with each other.

I was going up the stairs at a friends house and saw some opened post on the stairs. Her husband's pay packet was on the top and I saw he'd picked up 11k nett that month. It changed my opinion of them and how tight they where despite him earning that much.

@Staplemaple

Yes, anyone who wouldn't is lying.

Don't you understand that not everyone is interested in what their friends earn?

I skim read and sort of 'lift' words and numbers from a page, so if it's lying open and I look at it I have the numbers in my head. I'd probably look anyway at anything left out. If it was lying face down, or under another piece of paper with just a bit sticking out then no.

I wouldn't search for a key and go hunting in someone's filing cabinet for interesting financial papers like my DSis did once we stand to inherit from that person. I've been given papers to look at with the owner to help write letters and have an idea but I'm not trying to piece together their financial worth and my potential split of it

No, I wouldn't.

I can't remember the last time I got a physical payslip! My last three employers have done all pay documentation online.

But in answer to your question yes I would glance at it.

No. Comparison is the thief of joy.

absolutely not. I'm actually surprised at the number of people who say they would and assume everyone who wouldn't is lying. It's a complete invasion of privacy and I'd like to think I can trust anyone who comes to my house, I'm rethinking that now!

I’m laughing at the people who say they would if they didn’t have to touch it in order to see, as if this was an important moral distinction.

No. Not on grounds of heroic self-restraint, but I’m not that interested in other people’s income. And it’s a bit tragic, like the type of parents who open visiting children’s school bags on playdates to check their reading band and if they’re getting more challenging extra work. (Which I thought was a Mn myth until one of DS’s friends’ mothers did it when he was in Year 2.)

No, if there was paperwork of any kind on a table etc I would ideally be the other side of the room. Not my business and if the roles were reverse I would hope they would have the same common courtesy.

@pussycatinboots

Back in the dark ages (Local Authority/early 1990s) I used to collect all of the payslips and deliver them to each dept on pay day (17th) I may have sneaked the odd peek I'm still pretty sure I was the lowest paid there (£58/37hr wk).

Ha ha that tickled me. We used to get our Civil Service payslips delivered in like greaseproof paper envelopes in 1985, if you pressed the paper against the slip you could see the salary. We all knew what our manager earned on a Friday and compared it with our pay.

I got £97 net in 1985 so you probably were the lowest paid, and I left a piss poor paid £60 a week for that job!

I would in my defence I read all scraps of paper, receipts, back of bottles so if you left your Gardeners World subscription letter out I'd read that too.

Probably, although I would like to think I would be above it, I honestly think most of the people on here couldn't help themselves!

If it was laid open in full view, would possibly have a sneaky glance, I would defiantly move it or touch it to see it !

I wouldn’t be at all interested.

I wouldn't.

But my eyeballs would totally go for it and let me down.

oppp meant to say I WOULDN;T move or touch it