Stuff stolen at work

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
Originally posted by: nerve
Someone reported today that someone took one of their windshield wipers out in our parking lot.

It was snowing yesterday so the guy pulled his wipers away from the windshield and only one was there when he went to leave :Q
For petty theft like that, he should have the wiper blade jammed into his thigh.


Fortunately, where I work for the time being, my most valuable item is my lunchbox, with a nice glass dish inside. Or maybe my 3-ring binder. It's a nice one - durable cloth cover, with various pockets and zippers here and there. I don't remember where it came from, but I do remember that it was given to me for free.

 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
I took it as the company moved into a new building that is possibly sharing space with ghetto dwellers. Personally I think we should eradicate these leeches on society with extreme prejudice; the free lunch has ended.
 
Oct 27, 2007
17,009
5
0
Originally posted by: pontifex
Originally posted by: Terabyte
I don't think he's saying that the new building directly caused his stuff to be stolen. I think he's trying to say that the lack of security(?) for the building may give people the wrong idea or opportunities. It's like when someone leaves their car unlocked and an iPod sitting out in the open. Most people wouldn't steal the iPod because it's wrong, but some might because the door is unlocked, which makes things easier for them (easier to steal -no alarm/glass breaking..etc)

oh, wtf didn't he just say that then instead of this cryptic writing?

Because most people reading it have some common sense. Apparently the word "common" isn't quite right in that phrase.
 
Oct 27, 2007
17,009
5
0
I've had some CDs stolen from a cafe I used to work at. Notably my Dream Theater - Images & Words album which I picked up for $3 at a pawn shop. Was a good CD too.
 

AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
18,447
133
106
Originally posted by: Terabyte
Originally posted by: pontifex
Originally posted by: AreaCode707
Originally posted by: pontifex
Originally posted by: AreaCode707
DAMN DAMN DAMN! After two hours retracting my every step and looking in every nook and cranny, I think my wallet, three USB keys and my RSA token were stolen at of my backpack in my cube at work. I'm watching my credit cards tonight and giving it tomorrow for someone to turn them in, but I can't believe that all that stuff would fall out of my backpack while my nail clippers magically managed to stay in it. We just moved to a new building that management has been trying hard to convince people is not a ghetto, but this definitely won't help.

Ever had stuff stolen at work? The only other time I've run into it is when we had a receptionist that liked to take everyone's food out of the fridge.

this makes no sense to me...

Extremely poorly worded, sorry. We moved into a new building that is significantly less nice than our other ones. Management is trying to put a good face on it; "hey, it's not so bad!" Stuff getting stolen will confirm people's belief that it is really is that bad.

so you got all completely new employees? the "ghetto" building turned your co-workers into thieves? i fail to see how a new building caused your stuff to be stolen.

I don't think he's trying to say that the new building directly caused his stuff to be stolen. I think he's trying to say that the lack of security(?) for the building may give people the wrong idea or opportunities. It's like when someone leaves their car unlocked and an iPod sitting out in the open. Most people wouldn't steal the iPod because it's wrong, but some might because the door is unlocked, which makes things easier for them (easier to steal -no alarm/glass breaking..etc)

^ At least, I hope that's what he was trying to say. :p

Everyone on our floor in the old building knew everyone else. In the new building there are a lot of people who don't know us. The opportunity is there and since the existing building occupants don't know us, apparently one of them feels comfortable taking the opportunity.
 

AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
18,447
133
106
Originally posted by: Terabyte
Originally posted by: pontifex

oh, wtf didn't he just say that then instead of this cryptic writing?

Some people can't explain things well? Or they expect others to know what's going on in their minds? I don't know :p

Concept of association. People already think the new building is ghetto. Having stuff stolen is pretty ghetto. Therefore having stuff stolen in the new building will reinforce the idea that the building is ghetto, even though there's no actual causation. Is it that hard to understand?
 

Joemonkey

Diamond Member
Mar 3, 2001
8,859
4
0
i'm sorry but i just don't get how you can occupy a space you don't have complete control over... i've never worked in such an environment
 

vshah

Lifer
Sep 20, 2003
19,003
24
81
how would they get in the building anyway? don't you have keycard access or something? people let people follow them in?
 

I4AT

Platinum Member
Oct 28, 2006
2,631
3
81
My sister's entire purse was snatched from work, and the next day another girl's purse was stolen.
 

NoCreativity

Golden Member
Feb 28, 2008
1,735
62
91
Originally posted by: Baked
That's why you lock your shit in the draws.

Never understood this. Coworker kept his wallet in his locked briefcase. WTF good is that when someone can just take the damn briefcase. Of course it was sitting right next to a set of unmovable, lockable drawers.

I finally got him to lock his wallet in a drawer by taking his briefcase one day. He learned his lesson.
 

olds

Elite Member
Mar 3, 2000
50,121
778
126
Originally posted by: NoCreativity
Originally posted by: Baked
That's why you lock your shit in the draws.

Never understood this. Coworker kept his wallet in his locked briefcase. WTF good is that when someone can just take the damn briefcase. Of course it was sitting right next to a set of unmovable, lockable drawers.

I finally got him to lock his wallet in a drawer by taking his briefcase one day. He learned his lesson.

If the drawers are unmovable, how would one open them to place a wallet inside?
 

Spineshank

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
7,728
1
71
Hell ive left money sitting on my desk and its never disappeared. The other night i left my ipod here at work on my desk. Came in the next morning..still there.
 

NoCreativity

Golden Member
Feb 28, 2008
1,735
62
91
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Originally posted by: NoCreativity
Originally posted by: Baked
That's why you lock your shit in the draws.

Never understood this. Coworker kept his wallet in his locked briefcase. WTF good is that when someone can just take the damn briefcase. Of course it was sitting right next to a set of unmovable, lockable drawers.

I finally got him to lock his wallet in a drawer by taking his briefcase one day. He learned his lesson.

If the drawers are unmovable, how would one open them to place a wallet inside?

Good point. We have a a file cabinet on wheels with a cushion on top that slides under the desk and acts as a chair of sorts for a visitor. Guess that is what I was thinking about as being movable.
 

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,804
46
91
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Originally posted by: NoCreativity
Originally posted by: Baked
That's why you lock your shit in the draws.

Never understood this. Coworker kept his wallet in his locked briefcase. WTF good is that when someone can just take the damn briefcase. Of course it was sitting right next to a set of unmovable, lockable drawers.

I finally got him to lock his wallet in a drawer by taking his briefcase one day. He learned his lesson.

If the drawers are unmovable, how would one open them to place a wallet inside?

why not keep your wallet in your pocket like a real man?
 

Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
20,551
2
81
Around my company we tend to lose things because other departments borrow them and then forget that they don't own them. We had a function generator go missing for 4 years and then it was returned because it stopped working. We're still missing two other $4800 function generators that were brand new due to the same purpose. The techs always keep the toolboxes locked because of "permanent borrowing".
 

meltdown75

Lifer
Nov 17, 2004
37,548
7
81
every time i think i've had something stolen, it usually turns up after i whine about it being stolen.
 

CptCrunch

Golden Member
Jan 31, 2005
1,877
1
0
I haven't had anything stolen at my desk, but I have had my hand sanitizer, that is left out in the open, used by people other than me. It does help tho, that my floor and elevator is matrix key card locked, and we have our own 'police force' that regularly walks the halls.

FWIW, I do work in a bad part of town
 

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
9,867
23
76
i work in south phoenix, ghettofabulous. nothing has been stolen out of my office, but we have had things stolen. one part time drafter left his personal laptop on a table (no one could verify seeing it) on a friday and it wasnt there on monday. i was in on saturday, it wasnt there. no record of even the alarm being turned on/ off over the weekend besides my entry, but he insisted it was there friday. since he was a relative of an upper employee, the company caved and bought him a new one. im still convinced he trashed his by accident and did this to get a new one for free. a camera came up missing just yesterday from someone elses desk, but thats about it in 10 years, beyond the normal tools being borrowed forever.
 

ggnl

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2004
5,095
1
0
I leave my wallet and keys out in the open on my desk all day long. But I trust all my coworkers in the immediate vicinity and I sit in a lesser trafficked part of the office.
 

AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
18,447
133
106
Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Why aren't you carrying your wallet with you?

Because girl jeans suck as far as pockets go; no way to carry anything practical on you. So unless I want to add a purse to the laptop and cable I perpetually lug around at work, the wallet stays zipped in the backpack at my desk.

I was hoping that cleaning might find it someplace last night and turn it in but no luck. :( Time to cancel everything. No charges came in on either of the cards.
 

Leros

Lifer
Jul 11, 2004
21,867
7
81
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Wow thats pretty sad that people would steal within a professional corporate environment. I thought this crap only happened in schools or out on the streets, but why people who are fully employed would resort to stealing is beyond me.

I highly doubt the well-paid professionals are doing the stealing. Its probably the maintenance people or something.