Colleague stole my mug

[NewtMumLife]

Would you take someone else’s mug in the office?!! I had to rescue my mug from someone’s desk which was half filled with cold coffee yesterday and I think it’s really rude to just take someone’s mug without even asking, especially as there are plenty of other mugs they could use. The colleague didn’t even wash it up and didn’t apologise. The mug was a present from my husband. AIBU?

We had a communal mug cupboard. My mug was similar to someone else’s. Turned out it was members of her team making a round picking up mine. I still think it’s off not to tell them though. I had to keep it in my drawer in the end.

I take a flask to avoid these issues lol 😆 Also, when the staffroom is the other side of the school with a half hour lunch, not knowing if there is even coffee and milk available. Xx

At my workplace we have one half of the cupboard for “free mugs” which are just plain white, and the other half is for personal mugs. I have a mug with my initials on it (hand-painted by yours truly and quite frankly, a masterpiece), and a new starter “stole it”… I was mad at first but she’d washed it up beautifully and managed to remove the 2-years worth of tea and coffee staining!

I wouldn't put my nice, personal mug in a work dishwasher, at the mercy of everyone who works there. Does anyone ever unload the dishwasher? I'd worry someone might break it by accident.

Instead, just take a minute to rinse it and keep it at your own desk. Or you could tell her it's yours, but it's easier to just keep it at home on/in your desk.

If you left it in the communal kitchen it’s fair game.

My sister in law once used my mug, it took everything to not crack up. They're assigned the green mugs everytime now, so there's no mistaking that's MY mug.

Are you incapable of washing your mug and leaving it on your desk or in your locker? Drama over nothing.

The first time she took it from the dishwasher but today she took it from my desk.

At my old work, one of the project managers had a mug with his family portrait on. Him, his wife and children and his dog. When someone borrowed it, he asked them outright why, because it was obvious that the mug belonged to him.

And? What did you do / say to her?

Oh. That's personal!

'Borrowed' being the important word. Because it's a mug. Why does it matter if someone else uses it?

So go up to her and say ‘ hey Anne that’s my mug ! I wondered where it got to! It was a gift from my husband. There’s plenty of others you can use, ok’? Big smile, walk away.

What does this mean?

Call the mug police!

That is well out of order. Unleash hell!

I have a slightly unusual first name, spelled in an unusual way, (foreign family origins) and was very touched when a pupil had a mug made for me with my name correctly spelled, for once!
Another colleague, known for her strong opinions, was holding forth in the staffroom on the importance of respecting hygiene and other peoples' personal possessions, when I noticed she was doing so whilst sipping from my personal mug.
I restrained myself from speaking up, but gave her a long, quizzical look. It took a while to register what I was staring at, but the moment when the penny dropped was priceless; as they used to say in old "Punch" cartoons, "collapse of stout party!"

That makes no sense. So she ignored the mugs in the kitchen cupboards, and the mugs in the dishwasher, scouted around the office looking for this one particular mug, strolled over to your desk, reached over and extracted the mug, before calmly making a cuppa?

What do you think would be her motivation for this? Because, if it really happened like that, the only thing I can think of is that she is trying to dominate you. Does that sound likely? Is there some kind of grudge between you?

And what did they say?

My mug had my dogs on it but someone once used it. (Student teacher, who then left it in the sink, unwashed. I did tell her to bring her own and if she did borrow someone else’s, it would be polite to wash it.

Because it's not theft, they are using a mug not taking it away...

Anything in a communal area is normally considered fair game, unless there is clear policy. If I didn't want anyone to use my mug I would clean and keep on my desk. Not in the dishwasher with all the other mugs.

That would really piss me off.
I hope you have gone straight over and told her it is your private property.
Twat.

It was on OPs desk….the colleague came and took it!

She must think she has claim to it somehow?
Time to say, Donna, not sure why you took this from my desk, but it is mine from home. Please leave it.
Ensure someone overhears you.

I’d get something gross like the stuff you put on nails to stop you biting them and give it a rub around the rim of my cup and leave it on my desk and wait and see if she does it again!

Yes! I had a colleague who I caught stealing a lunch from the fridge one day, called her on it and she said “M doesn’t mind”. So I assumed she had asked. I started a new job and was asked if I knew the lunch thief, they said she had left on negative terms with most people as she never brought lunch and just stole the nicest one in the fridge and people were fighting with her about it. Suddenly the missing raspberries, crayfish, avocados etc. from people’s lunches in my old workplace made sense. An admin then told me something far worse - the lunch thief was a higher up and claimed to other higher ups that she returned her work laptop to the admin (she did not) and the admin was pulled into countless meetings and accused of theft as whoever stole the macbook had known to disable some tracking software. She said she had loads of responsibility removed from her and was more or less demoted over it. When I was there they started talking to her about redundancy; the woman was 60+ and convinced she would not get another job at her age. Lunch thief is in a very important job now and speaks to the media about her field and workers rights - she comes across as so caring! She probably thinks stealing a lunch or an office laptop is fine but she more or less destroyed this other woman’s life! I always think when people justify taking other people’s stuff that it shows a fundamental character flaw - they literally don’t care about other people! The lunch thief also never bought anyone a drink, if anyone said “isn’t it your round” she’d laugh in a cheeky way and say “goodbye”. People were like “haha, typical P” but never got annoyed as they all thought she was lovely (I did too until I started the new job)!