Comments on: Office Rat-A-Tat: is it okay to steal from your office?

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:25:23 +0000

I use my company mobile phone for almost 100% personal use so I wonder is that stealing??

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:03:23 +0000

SUE – you’re right, this is Take Stuff Home by King Missile:
Take stuff from work.
It’s the best way to feel better about your job.
Never buy pens or pencils or paper.
Take ‘em from work.
Rubber bands, paper clips, memo pads, folders-take ‘em from work.
It’s the best way to feel better about your low pay and appalling working conditions.
Take an ashtray-they got plenty.
Take coat hangers.
Take a, take a trash can.
Why buy a file cabinet?
Why buy a phone?
Why buy a personal computer or word processor?
Take ‘em from work.
I took a whole desk from the last place I worked.
They never noticed and it looks great in my apartment.
Take an electric pencil sharpener.
Take a case of white-out; you might need it one day.
It’s your duty as an oppressed worker to steal from your exploiters.
It’s gonna be an outstanding day.
Take stuff from work.
And goof off on the company time.
I wrote this at work.
They’re paying me to write about stuff I steal from them.
Life is good.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:30:53 +0000

A few items have been known to follow me home from work. But like others have mentioned, I try to balance things out by reversing the practice as well.

I do IT support work, and often I’ll save the company the bother and expense of shipping broken equipment to the recycler by taking it home. Actually, that’s not exactly stealing; I don’t get approval per se, but nobody misses stuff that disappears from the recycle pallet. I’m usually able to get a working machine from the salvaged parts of others, which usually gets posted on Freecycle or donated somewhere.

I get a kick out of those people who have no problem spending multiple hours in a workday browsing online or shooting the breeze with coworkers, but their strict moral code regarding office supplies prevents them (or others) from taking a pen home.

By: Kara

Kara — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 06:31:03 +0000

Back when I was in the steel business (and in charge of office supplies), one item that constantly “disappeared” was the paint marker used for writing the gauge and size on the outer lap of the coil. Those markers cost about $4 each, and even though it wasn’t my money and I probably shouldn’t have cared, it struck me as ridiculous that we’d go through a dozen in a week. (Why on earth would anyone steal those?) I finally started locking them in my desk, and a box of 12 suddenly lasted three months.

Also, the foreman in the plant had me order a chain-link bicycle lock for…wait for it….the ladder they kept in the factory. He had to chain it to a a pole every night, because half a dozen (!) ladders had “walked away” within a month. I mean, a pack of Post-It notes is one thing, but a 12-foot Aluminum ladder…?

By: Sue

Sue — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 02:39:54 +0000

didn’t king missle have a song about this?
i think there philosophy was steal as much as often you can.
that was one of the funniest songs they did.

the most i’ve taken was sometimes you need a rubber band for your hair at work, and you forget to take it out, or borrowing the stapler, or maybe a paperclip.
i know i don’t need more junk at home. lol

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 01:17:39 +0000

I take work home with me all the time. I print things at home that are for work and have had to call off personal plans to work. If I need a pad of paper or an enevlope you better believe I’m going to take it from the supply room. For me it comes down to both the bosses and employees need to be resonable. If someone is hauling off crazy amounts there is something wrong. But, on the same note a boss that won’t give an envelope to an employee has major control freak issues and no clue about productive employees.

By: Beth

Beth — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:56:50 +0000

I’m pretty bad about printing, photocopies and faxing. Never really thought anything about it, though, and I’ve faxed things for personal reasons right in front of my boss and she never said anything about it. I think where I worked it was just assumed to happen.

On the other hand, for a long time they stopped ordering pens and pencils and post-its because they disappeared so fast. I brought my own and would have to guard even them like a hawk. I don’t think it’s so much an intentional thing, but there were so many people sharing my workspace that someone borrows a pen and forgets to give it back, and by the end of the day, all your stuff is gone!

By: M

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:47:23 +0000

When I work for bad companies, I steal more. If they’re screwing me on wages/benefits/schedules/whatever, I take what I need. Not more than I need, not ebay-able quantities or anything. But if I need to mail bills in, the employer is paying for the envelopes, stamps, and the pen I sign with.

Now that I work for a non-profit, I buy a lot more office supplies.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:30:17 +0000

I agree with Gus that stealing is wrong and taking supplies home from the office is stealing. But, on the other hand, I bring in my own pens (gel), pencils (mechanical), “erase” tape (they have the gunky liquid stuff), post-its (they supply only boring yellow); I even brought in my own ruler. So, if a few paperclips or a half-used notepad ends up going home with me, I don’t sweat it. I know it will eventually come back.

By: gus

gus — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:33:06 +0000

I work at a school and see things “walk” all the time. in this case the taxpayers get screwed. Stealing is wrong. It is the same as the people who claim not to kill things. We all kill, it is simply a qoestion of how high up the food chain one stops killing. How much is too much?