AIBU to think writing confidential HR notes on a train is inappropriate?

[Elphabababa]

I am on a train in the UK.

Someone on the seat in front of me is writing up meeting notes from work. All clearly visible through the gaps between seats. I am slightly long sighted mind you.

I have seen that:

• She works in HR for company X
• The meeting was for an employee named Y (I can see his name and job title), following him raising a grievance about a GDPR breach of his data within work.
• Subsequent notes of the meeting about this grievance.

She's still typing her notes now.

AIBU for thinking that people should be very mindful of what work they complete in public places? And that this is inappropriate, and if Y found out that these notes were being written in full public view, they would have a further grievance on their hands?

Or am I a nosey parker?

(Or both?)

No, Karen is a vile misogynistic slur used to silence women. I'd never use it and call anyone out for doing so.

Beryl was the first random name that popped in my head. Replace with Bob, Carol, Anne or your office person of choice, the message remains the same, your interpretation of gdpr is incorrect.

Pedantic attempts to belittle don't make you seem more reasonable.

"I have done the training and thankfully a normal person delivered it to me and who made clear that if you are concerned you can talk to the person directly first"

That is quite literally what was said

Deeply ironic that the employee's grievance was about a data breach. Sounds like the company could do with a refresher. But maybe not from HR!

I can't believe you have had a long career in HR and write that post.

Yet another "tell me you don't know anything about GDPR without telling me you don't know anything about GDPR"

You do understand that this is referring to incidents within the organisation?

Sorry, not sure if you're addressing that to me, but that was the point I was making. You address the individual in your organisation not a random on the train

You asked for it - it is just as well that you no longer work in HR.

That was in relation to this, forgot to quote! 😳

Sorry yes it's Arlanymor who was going on about being normal and telling the random person on a train.

This take seems about right. What the Op saw is hardly very juicy to anyone outside the company. It’s quite possible when working on a train someone else from your company could be on the seats behind unknown to you, and doing sensitive work on a train is not a good practice. But I can’t imagine feeling so strongly about this that I would think complaining to the employer and the harm it could cause to the stranger you are complaining about is justified. Some are raising the question of whether it is the peepers responsibility to mention to the HR person on the train - it’s not really a question of responsibility it’s a question of being spineless. The stance that the HR person is committing a breach that you think is worth reporting is contradictory to making no attempt to stop the duration of the breach.

Of course it's a breach of GDPR!

All our work policies are quite clear that we shouldn't do work like this in public. I am astonished people don't engage their brains

It's wildly irresponsible and unprofessional

Proof that even with a long career one can still have more to learn

This is definitely a beach of GDPR and would be a breach of any sensible organisation's code of conduct too.

Blimey, this is far more difficult to explain to some than it should be.

It's not about anyone "having strong feelings", being "mean" or any personal vendetta, it's about adhering to a piece of security legislation all people in a role that involves personal data must uphold by law.

Edited due to ludicrous autocorrection.

I heard a carer slagging off one of her clients to another carer over the phone.
We were both sitting on a bench.
The thing is the client was a terminally ill friend of mine. I didn't report it as I didn't know the care company and didn't want to make my friend's husband's life even more difficult, but I did tell her I could hear her and knew who she was talking about.
I was appalled and very upset.

All you thinking it's fine that strangers can read confidential information about someone on a train....what if it was your son or daughter? Would you feel the same then?
Someone else might have easily taken a photo and put in online. You don't carry out confidential matters in a public space.

You’re getting rather desperate now. And yes you did say that. You’re now backtracking because you know you’re in the wrong!

I sat next to a client once on the train. She didn’t know me, we hadn’t met in person, but i obviously know her name and email address

i read her emails over her shoulder

Have also sat next to a man reading hard/printed CVs on the train. Totally inappropriate

It doesn't matter if the OP is 'nosy', the woman shouldn't be doing confidential work in a public place with no privacy screen! Sounds like the employee in question has very legitimate complaint against this company regarding their data handling. And yes they've technically now breached his data again. I'd be very surprised if this doesn't go against their internal policies as well and it's ridiculous that someone working in HR doesn't know this. But then I'm frequently shocked at phone calls I hear people having on public transport.

When my friend was an associate in a law firm many years ago, she was hauled in to explain herself after it was discovered that she had been overheard dictating notes after a meeting about some high net worth clients on the train. Moment of madness that she said her name at the end of the dictation, so it was easy to trace....

She's a partner now and probably the most vigilant when it comes to GDPR and confidentiality; lesson learned.

Yes its bad. I read notes about an interesting court case courtesy of a legal type doing the same next to me on a train. Poor judgement.

Maybe she didn’t realise that there was a weird nosy parker behind her that would not only read what are clearly confidential documents but would go so far as to post it on a public forum to get other people’s opinions! Seriously, you need to be looking at your own behaviour, you are truly strange.

This has been a split board for responses. 50/50 OP is a weirdo/HR lady is unacceptable.

I wasn't really interested in getting involved with talking to her about it on a busy train. Let's remember that the responsibility doesn't lay with me, it lays with her. I believe she was fully aware that people could see, as she had a stranger sat right next too her and people standing up in the aisle who could be looking.

I AM nosey that is true. Perhaps I should be more virtuous and look away. But that isn't actually the issue here as much as some people want to say it is.

But I have enjoyed talking it through.

YANBU to think this is unprofessional. I quite agree and laugh at the irony of the complaint being about GDPR 😂

The people on here telling you to report her are complete Karen's who take complete joy in knowing they might get someone fired. No consideration for the fact this is a human being, who might have a handful of kids at home and be reliant on this job to keep her head above water. Its not a good economy - she could be out of work for months if she was sacked.

In some ways, I like the idea of writing a generic email to the company to put out a memorandum on being mindful on trains without names. It depends on how large the company is though- it may be just as outing to write this. Tbh i wouldn't be bothered with the hassle though.

Theres nothing wrong with being nosey. Its the sister to perception and being observant.

Perceptive and observant people notice when something isnt quite right in a situation before others. If there was a terrorist on the train, I bet you'd be one of the first to spot the warning signs.