If you had to clear your desk today...

[MavisEnderby74]

Would you be able to fit your personal belongings in a banker box a la Cummings?

I think I could probably manage it, but the role of wrapping paper that currently lies behind my filing cabinet would be sticking out.

What personal belongings do you have at work?

Mine:
Notebooks
Mugs (one used as a pen pot, but the pens would stay)
Decaf coffee
Coaster
Fake plant
Three tins of soup
Tin of tuna
Tin opener
Running shoes
Blanket/wrap thing
Running belt
Nail scissors
Tweezers
Pukka teabags (although they could probably stay)
Desktop Christmas tree (it's not up, but stays in the drawer year round)
Tinsel (see above)
Hot water bottle
Fingerless gloves
Hat

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can remember as I've been WFH since March.

A pouch with tissues, charger cable, mask and painkillers.
That's it.

It got cleared months ago. I have a locker which houses some black formal shoes- which realistically I'd only wear to a funeral now. A load of old work diaries, which would go in the confidential recycling. coffee and stationary which I'd donate to my colleagues. A load of thermos mugs, which are now redundant due to face masks. I've fantasised about this scenario alot.

I brought a fair bit home when sent to wfh back in March, so barely anything on it now, but off the top of my head - a room spray (farty colleague), a small box with strepsils/brufen etc, a tenner (from the office scratch card kitty).

@MavisEnderby74

Would you be able to fit your personal belongings in a banker box a la Cummings?

I think I could probably manage it, but the role of wrapping paper that currently lies behind my filing cabinet would be sticking out.

What personal belongings do you have at work?

Mine:
Notebooks
Mugs (one used as a pen pot, but the pens would stay)
Decaf coffee
Coaster
Fake plant
Three tins of soup
Tin of tuna
Tin opener
Running shoes
Blanket/wrap thing
Running belt
Nail scissors
Tweezers
Pukka teabags (although they could probably stay)
Desktop Christmas tree (it's not up, but stays in the drawer year round)
Tinsel (see above)
Hot water bottle
Fingerless gloves
Hat

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can remember as I've been WFH since March.

Blimey, you don't travel light do you. Why so much "stuff"? Does your office have no heating?

Even when I was office based I would have only half filled one of those boxes

At work my desk drawer contents would consiste of pens, stapler, ruler, scissors, cutlery, staples, highlighters, catalogues, post it notes, mug, box of tissues, and notebooks.

I WFH now and on my desk are two monitors, keyboard, mouse and mousemat, headset, a catalogue, a notebook and a pen.

I’m a teacher and moved schools in the summer. I’d been at my last school for 10 years and it took multiple car journeys to get it all there! So no. My possessions would not fit in a box. Two car boots I’d say. 😳

A removal van, unfortunately, and genuinely.
One of the main reasons I would struggle to change jobs is no other job would offer me the storage space I have in this job, and I absolutely don't have room for the stuff athome. Luckily I really the job too, so no plans to leave.
I managed to acquire a walk-in cupboard when I arrived - probably 5m by 2m with floor to ceiling deep shelving on one side and narrow on the other. At the start, no-one else worked in that area so I transferred thr stuff from my previous job ( where I had a whole room) into it, and have continued to add to it... because I can.
I know that now I will never use more than half the stuff ever again and I need to get rid of it , but need some time to do the clearing and work has been and continues to be, really busy. With no pressure to clear it, it just sits there.
My plan was to take a week in the summer and just put my head down and get it done, but then lockdown happened and the building was shut. It is still shut from 7pm (used to be open till 10) so I suspect nothing will change until 2022. I feel bad, but - like so many things - I should have dealt with it pre pandemic. Who knew?

I considered this some time ago just in case I was ever made redundant (I wasn't) having seen a manager making a number of trips to his car with personal possessions when he was made redundant (because he was bold enough to state the truth).
So over a few days I removed all my personal things (plus 2 rolls of company sellotape) in the knowledge I could leave without having to carry out a box or black bin liner of things

I honestly can’t remember what I left in the office back in March. It would definitely fit in a file box - I think just a mug, bowl, some hand cream and a picture of DD. Starting to wonder if I’ll ever be allowed back in!

I work for the NHS - not sure if it's just our trust but they have a notoriously ridiculous stationery list so myself and colleagues all own the stationery pens, highlighters, marker pens etc......
they don't supply anything other than bog standards notebooks and awful black biros that last about a day if you're lucky!!!
No lever arch files or anything - all ours! We always joke if we all left there would be paper everywhere as if we moved to another department we'd take the folders and dividers and plastic wallets with us!!!

We mentioned this at our last staff meeting and the senior manager said "I've been here for xxxxxx years it's always been like that yada yada yada"
My colleague said - "that doesn't make it right"!
So guessing we'll still be getting our own then!!!
Also various tinned food
Heels
Cardigans
Desk Christmas trees 🎄 and other Christmas ornaments
Toiletries (deodorants, sanitary towels etc)
Spare tights
Crisps/ other snacks
Cup a soup
Fancy teabags
Hot chocolate

I don't have a desk in my current role. And my last one we had a clear desk policy as we all hot desked. So always nice and easy for me 😂

The ibruprofen, paracetamol, antihistamines, coffee, emergency sewing kit, I might leave. My two pencil cases with all my fountain pens, my spare inks, my crab pen holder, my Christmas lights, my notebooks, my spare notebooks and my emergency notebooks, my emergency birthday cards they can come home.

I finished in the office in March on the Thursday before lockdown so cleared my desk in 2 bags for life, this included my keyboard and mouse along with the usual things - coffee, tea, mugs, cutlery, snacks, my stationery and chargers plus my smart shoes and a warm cardigan. I also have a couple of work monitors and my chair but as they are company owned they wouldn’t be doing the walk of shame with me.

Went back after lockdown ended and took a few bits with me such as antibacterial wipes and a mug, but not the screens and chair, as I was going to do just a couple of days a week in the office. I dis 3 days in 3 weeks and now back home. If I never got back what is in the drawers now I wouldn’t be bothered.

In a previous job I had an office and that would have been a car boot plus to clear, but as that job had a long handover I just tidied as I went along and took a few items a day.

Would never have more that a bag for life now.

I had been in my previous job for 20 years and when I left the amount of stuff on my desk was embarrassing. Papers from years ago, loads of clutter, clothes, shoes, just stuff.

New job we hotdesk so got used to travelling light but still had piles of paper cropping up. Been WFH since March and my desk is in my bedroom. I was determined not to let work take over my room, so I have kept my desk to a minimum. 2 monitors, laptop, mouse, lamp notebook and pen pot. That’s it. I deliberately didn’t buy a printer, so I have no paper on my desk at all. Thought it would be hard but turned out I was just previously printing stuff for the sake of it.

Everything is submitted and available on line, with 2 monitors I can have a document for reference on one screen and be working on another. I use pdf writer to make notes etc on documents, easier as I can then just send the file out.

I feel a lot calmer without the clutter and I save on printer ink and paper!

A mug,
A box of glass cleaning wipes
Ibroprufen
Antihistamine
Coffee pods.

I could fit it in my handbag

I wfh at the moment so I'd have to do a trip back into the office to give them stuff back.

Pre COVID we supposedly hot decked and had a locker, in reality I sat at the same desk every day anyway. Clearing my locker would take seconds and only snacks, lol

I moved offices last week and managed it in one of those boxes easily but I've only been there a year. When I left a previous office job after 12 years, I took a big shopping bagful home every night (on the train) for a week or so, starting with 12 pairs of shoes...

This time it was:

2 pairs of shoes
A paperweight
A set of "pretty boxes" which I'd leave for my colleague who loves pretty boxes
A packet of bags of mini-cheddars
A packet of Belvita biscuits
Charging cable
Fairy lights
Hand cream
Large bottle of Carex hand sanitiser
Also wrapping paper
Snuggly shawl
Aircon cardi
Emergency jacket (in case of surprise client visits)
Sellotape dispenser

When DH moved last summer he needed three boxes for the pictures on the walls. These are pretty much obligatory in his job though... They all have several crates of them and rotate them as needed.

Nothing personal left there. I had a gut feeling lockdown was coming when I left the office a week beforehand. So I cleared my desk of all personal items just in case.

I have a postcard at work, no other personal items.

I don't think I'd even need a box. I have a mug, can't think of anything else. Why do people have so much personal stuff at work?

There area few papers and notes I've made I'd want to take with me but I'd email those to myself.

Oh, and I'm still there, can't work from home, just don't keep things at work.

@kowari

That takes me back to the fifties when people went on holidayt to Bridlington or Weston-super-Mare and sent a postcard back to the office and then brought some fudge from wherever it was. It was always the sane sodding fudge - just a different picture on the box!
Happy Days

My desk? Yes. We have a clear desk policy. My locker? Maybe just about.

After 9/11 people had to wait six months to get into adjoining buildings to collect belongings
I've never kept belongings in any office since then

I have a huge amount of stuff in my classroom.
2 sets of plastic drawers,
3 mugs
2 water bottles
A large fan
Waterproof jacket (for duty days)
Umbrella (as above)
Large bag of mixed nuts
Sweets (as prizes or emergency snacks)
Diabetes medication
Paracetamol
Ibuprofen
Tupperware boxes
Letter trays (I think there are 8 of them)
Stationery (oh so much stationery!!!)
6 calculators
There's probably more than that tbh, but I can't remember it all. It definitely wouldn't fit in one box though.