At my LTC facility, the 3-11 supervisor and the 11-7 supervisor (me) share an office. Since it is not used during the day, our wound care nurses, whose office is on the other end of the building, have been allowed to use our office to work out of while they are on this end of the building. I understand this, as their charts and supplies are cumbersome to run back and forth so far.
Anyhoo, the problem started about six months ago. I noticed that office supplies, such as notepads, legal pads, etc were going missing out of my desk. I didn't think much of it, but it was annoying when I needed to leave a note for someone and my notepad would be gone. So when I was at Walmart, I bought a 4-pack of thick, neon-colored supersticky post-its that were about 4 inches wide and 6 inches long and lined. I figured these would be perfect for leaving notes attached to papers, etc... even better than my facility notepads since I wouldn't have to attach them with paperclips. So I put them in my drawer and started using them, first using them to post some numbers and stuff on the wall over my desk.
Well, that next week they were gone out of my drawer. I hunted everywhere, even at home thinking maybe in a senior moment I had stuck them in my bag and carried them home. No luck. A few days later, one of the wound care nurses had left some charts on the desk they used, and on the front of one was a note written on one of my stickies! :angryfire I never go through anyone else's desk, but I opened their desk drawers and in the bottom drawer hidden under a stack of blank records, were all four of my sticky pads. I took them back and used one to leave them a note saying I bought these with my own money and to please not take them. They left a brief note back saying "sorry- thought you'd gotten them from office suppies." Now, they knew the office doesn't supply stuff like that, and even if it did that doesn't give them the right to go into my drawer and take them!!! But I tried to be civil.
Here's the straw that broke the camel's back. Since the weekend night supervisors use the office too, I figured it would be good for us to have a bulletin board to communicate with eachother. Next time I was in Walmart, I found a perfect cloth-faced bulletin board with an unusual shape, very pretty. I also bought some gorgeous thumbtacks that looked like round balls of clear amber. It came with a mounting kit, and I borrowed a hammer from maintenance and my husband carefully hung it in the office. I tacked up an inspirational saying and a little cartoon. Two days later, when I came to work at 11pm, the board was GONE. The cartoon and saying were left in the middle of my desk. The 3-11 supervisor knew nothing about it, even the nails had been removed from the wall. I know where the actual wound care office is, and I knew noone would be there that time of night. A maintenance worker was still in the facility stripping the floors, and I borrowed his key to open the wound care office. THERE, HANGING OVER THE WOUND CARE NURSES' DESK WAS MY BULLETIN BOARD! My beautiful amber pins were now holding up their schedule! I was livid, I took it down, took the nails out of their wall and brought it back to my office. That morning I called my DON and told her the whole story, and she was majorly ticked off at them since being able to use my office was basically a courtesy to them. She spoke with them, and their excuse was that they had been asking the supply clerk to get them a bulletin board and when they saw that one in my office they thought it had been left in there by mistake and that it was supposed to be theirs.
Well, to me this is STEALING. They knew darn well that was not theirs to take. My DON didn't buy it either, and now they are no longer allowed to work out of this office, they have a cart to carry all the stuff back and forth to their office in the back. I say good riddance. Apparently they are mad at me and spreading crap about me being a brat. What do you guys think? Did I overreact?
I agree with buddiage. It was disrespectful, discourteous, and a major display of bad taste, and poor judgment. Most folks would consider going thru someone's desk, an invasion of their privacy even if it occurs in the workplace. Some folks just don't seem to know about respecting boundaries.
I hope your DON "educated" them. Most of your co-workers are likely to understand where you are coming from, and would take anything those poorly behaved nurses have to say as an example of their personality deficits.
I agree and to me it is stealing!! We had the same problem where I work but with FOOD. People were actually taking other people's lunches or suppers out of the fridge and eating them!! The nerve of some people! I am glad your DON stuck up for you and they are no longer allowed to use your office!! As far as them saying crap about you...hopefully the other people there are smart enough to see through them. Hope things quiet down for you soon!!
OMG! How old are those wound care nurses? They sound like immature spoiled brats to me! Good riddance for sure! Who cares what they say, they are just showing their immaturity, and they dont' deserve to be allowed to use your office.
At least you don't have to worry about your stuff anymore.. who knows where it would have stopped?
Some people are that numb. They are so used to taking things that are not theirs. They do that in their personal lives and bring that attitude to their workplaces. In short, their are pain in the neck! Because they don't see anything wrong with their acts, they blame others when they get caught. In this case, you are the offender in her eyes because she got busted. She would have stopped in the first place after you left her a note if she had an ounce of sense of guilt. The worse is she is deluding herself by making excuses for her offense instead of appologizing.
You did well handling this situation because you tried to resolve the situation diplomatically by leaving her a note --though she did not listen -- before you reported her.
Avoid this kind of person at workplace because you will always be wrong in her eyes as long as she is in denial. Keep your relation with her as professional as you can be and move on in your life.
You didn't over-react, what they did was steal. They also showed a lack of respect towards those whom generously allowed them their office to use as a considerate conveinience towards them. They were allowed use of the office, they were not given permission to rummage/searched through anyone's desk, nor were they given permission to use/take supplies from that room, even those in plain view. Going through anyone's desk is a violation of that person's privacy. Even after you spoke to them about the post-its, they still had the nerve to remove a bulletin board, this demonstrates a clear lack of character and integrity. Let them be ticked off, in the end they only have themselves to blame for having the courtesy extended towards them revoked. I wouldn't have any sympathy towards these people nor care that they are ticked off.
As to them spreading stories: Personally, all I would say on the matter to others is simply that they have themselves to blame for having the priviledge of using the office revoked because of their own actions. That's really all that needs to be said.
Im right in there with the rest. It's despicable the way people presume just because its in the facility it(the facility) owns it or they are somehow entitled to it.
You did the right thing, they need to grow up if that is the way they are acting. My first reaction as i started reading the post was i would have started locking up after the first incident.
I can understand using the occasional sticky note, but not taking the whole pad. How could anyone "borrow" a bulletin board? That is just rude! I'd be upset!
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I see this as even more serious than the OP presented. I wonder if the wound care nurses ought not to be disciplined, perhaps even terminated. Stealing is stealing. If they'd gone through her desk and taken a twenty-dollar bill instead of a post-it, they'd be history.
I agree with the rest of the posters. I wonder if the motive behind the stealing is a little deeper though. Could part of it be that they are jealous- you obviously care about your job and take pride in your work. Otherwise you wouldn't have taken the time to find ways to improve communication with the bulletin board etc...
indigo girl
5,173 Posts
I agree with buddiage. It was disrespectful, discourteous, and a major display of bad taste, and poor judgment. Most folks would consider going thru someone's desk, an invasion of their privacy even if it occurs in the workplace. Some folks just don't seem to know about respecting boundaries.
I hope your DON "educated" them. Most of your co-workers are likely to understand where you are coming from, and would take anything those poorly behaved nurses have to say as an example of their personality deficits.