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.

Throw away his phone if he leaves it to go to the bathroom. Never explain. Never apologise.

Anything important shouldn’t be lying on a desk.

I’m surprised your workplace doesn’t have a clear desk policy, it’s more common than not.

He shouldn’t have actually disposed iof it, but if you hadn’t had a load of personal stuff on your desk, he wouldn’t have needed to.

The flip side is “I desk share and can’t use the desk properly as colleague has a load of irrelevant shite all over it”

And you have spent the last half hour reading his texts?

He shouldn’t have done it but I absolutely would not have this time of thing on my work desk.. work is for work only

@WinkyTinky the obvious thing to do
would have been to put it in a box and lock it in a cupboard for you to collect when you return, if it had to be removed. Not just throw away someone else’s stuff. You are well within your rights to say ‘it is not for you to throw away someone else’s stuff and if you had been asked to clear it, you could have put it aside for me to deal with. Please don’t do this again’. He’s an arse.

If it’s a shared desk then yes you are being unreasonable. Why would you have a load of personal stuff cluttering up your work area. If I had to share a desk with you it would drive me mad. I would however put it all in a box and stick it under the desk. It’s not good he threw it away.

Are you going to tell him you are really pissed off? Ask if he considered that you might need the things?

You should have put your notes away in a drawer while you were out of the office. Throwing them away was an over-the-top response but I have some sympathy. I used to have to hot desk in an office where the majority had fixed desks and it's really annoying to have someone's non-work-related clutter in your workspace. Thankfully we have since gone to fully hot-desking, with lockers for people's personal things.

To be clear, it was in no way piles and piles of stuff, it was a small area kind of under/in front of my screen, on A4 paper folded into four to make small sized notes, and a small box to the side with my school term calendar which I'd marked on my lieu days, that's it. The cleaners work around it with no issue, as with all the other desks.

He shouldn't have thrown it away, he should have put it in a polypocket and put it to one side

We sometimes have to hot desk/use each others workspace and its so annoying when there is little space on the desk due to someone's stuff all over the place but I would never throw anything away

It sounds like a recipe for disaster, why are you keeping important dates and reminders on bits of paper instead of a physical diary or online calendar?

I can see your colleague's point. YABU. Whilst I probably would not have actually binned them - maybe put them in a file in a drawer instead - this sort of personal stuff really should not be papered all over your desk in a work place, especially in a space shared by other staff. Keep a personal diary and save your work space for work.

As I was off work unexpectedly with flu, I had no chance to put anything away before Christmas. My stuff has been here for 14 years (obviously old things thrown away, new stuff in place) with no issues!!!

I’m baffled by the comments on here. It is your desk as in assigned to you. Unless you have a clear desk policy at work (most companies don’t!) then you can have what you like on your desk. My manager has books all over his, I have post it notes stuck all over mine and various bits and bobs. I actually would raise this with HR depending on your company. No body throws other people’s stuff away without checking. There may have been important stuff in the pile.

He could have put it all in a pile, put it in a folder and handed it to you. It was nasty to throw it away. However, I wouldnt have personal items like that on a work desk, and if I did I would have tidied them away before I left for the holidays. Just like a work laptop, I wouldnt have personal items on that either.

It naughty but personally I’d never leave notes around my desk like that. In my bag or a diary.

This. What a tosser. Who bins other peoples things like that?

I would have to have revenge so I could sleep at night.

You need to speak to him about it.Ask him why he threw it all away. Then tell your manager.

Where is his desk? Why was he using yours?

I can understand he might have been frustrated not having a desk and having clutter around but very unreasonable to bin it, he could have put it in your drawer if bothering him that much.

I don't think he should have thrown everything away-that's so rude and I would be fuming too. However I work in a shared office and two of my colleagues have really messy desks piled high with old paper, food, post it notes etc and it really pisses me off. One of the women keeps old shoes under her desk too which makes my stomach turn.
It makes me think they're scatty and unprofessional. Just tidy everything away daily.

I’d speak to the colleague and say you’re unhappy about it.

If they want a clear desk policy, they should speak to management about it. Not unilaterally throw away personal items that aren’t theirs, especially if it’s standard practice for people to leave items on desks.

If they wanted a clear desk while using your desk, they could’ve asked management what they should do with your things. Or found a reasonable solution themselves, such as put your stuff in a large envelope and tucked to the side.

If the colleague doesn’t accept this, I’d highlight to your manager. Management should be making it clear what the policy is in regard to personal items on desks to avoid misunderstandings.

In future, keep important/personal items in your drawer or your bag.

I can't agree with all the "tidy desk policy" people here. You don't just throw things away, particularly when you're using someone else's space. You can easily move the things if they're in the way.
I'm outraged on OPs behalf.

Talk to him about it (nicely, though yes?)

If there was a tidy desk policy I'm sure the OP would have abided by it. And in that case if he had really needed to move stuff he should have put it in a drawer for the OP. You don't just chuck other people's stuff!

I'd complain.

That’s company policy then, as custom and practice for years without anything being said. Your colleague has breached this.