Colleague has thrown everything away that was on my desk

[WinkyTinky]

Back to work after Christmas and a few weeks off sick, to find that one of my colleagues who sometimes works at my desk has thrown away all of my papers. It was mostly handwritten notes about kids' appointments, my holiday plans, lists of things to remember about school, school calendars, and my eldest son's GCSE timetable. It was all personal sentimental stuff that I liked to have on my desk to see and remind me. I asked where it all was and he said that he has "got rid of all the crap." I'm really disappointed and a bit furious actually, but he thinks it's all perfectly fine. I know I'm a ridiculous softy about a lot of things, but this was MY stuff.

and my eldest son's GCSE timetable.

from last June?! I think it was fair to think that that wasn’t needed any more…

He shouldn't have thrown it away but none of that stuff should have been there anyway tbh 🤷‍♀️

You should have a clear desk but he had absolutely no need to throw it away, he could simply have put the papers in a drawer or box. He was more out of line I'd say.

That's awful behaviour. Especially without an apology

I would report it - make a written complaint to him and cc either HR or Line Manager

Your desk. Your shit. Your personal notes. Not his to throw out. He could have just left it in a pile, or popped it into a paper folder for you.

And he definitely should have apologised as soon as you raised it with him.

If you have to keep 'personal sentimental stuff' at work, and I really don't understand why, at least put it in a drawer. It's always possible that someone else might need to use an empty desk.

Why would you have any of that stuff on your desk?

He shouldn’t have touched your stuff, no matter what it was. He’s wrong no matter what. But, it’s a work desk and you’ve got it littered with mementos of your son’s GCSEs and other handwritten notes of no consequence and nothing to do with work? Desks should be clear.

Did he go through and read everything? How does he know you didn’t have some important notes regarding a work project amongst them? Really bad behaviour and I think I would be reporting him. Absolutely none of his business what you have on your own desk.

All places I have worked have had a clear desk policy - nothing to be left out when you go home.

As I sometimes am the DPO, I used to go around and remove anything in the open and put it in a drawer. (I'd also remove the invariably forgotten printouts from the printer).

When I worked in education there could be learners details, addresses etc. It made sense.

If he didn't like them on the desk he should have put them in a folder. It's not like he's a boss who could possibly justifiably chuck a load of irrelevant (to work) papers that were lying around.

I’d have stuffed it all in an envelope and put in the drawer. Having said that though I don’t think personal notes are something that should be scattered about your work desk anyway. We have calendars and reminders on phones for all of that.

escalate it it to HR?

more likely o/p would get a warning to keep her desk clear of personal “sentimental” crap so others can use it. Her kids lives are not relevant to her work- GCSE timetables? Appointments? That’s what a diary is for. No need to litter a work environment with bit of paper.

I accept the comments saying it's more professional to keep your desk clear, fair enough, but every other desk in the office has personal things and has not been touched. The young lad who works next to me has his betting lists and football away trip lists out on his desk. We are a small business where we all muck in and get on with what needs doing, it's not clean and corporate in any way. The person in question has spent the past half hour texting someone about getting a dodgy firestick for his tv.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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'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.

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).

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.