This post is a bit of a personal one. I recently acquired a rather impressive Tetley Tea Mug. I got it for free at a trade show so that made the acquisition even better than it could ever have been if I had paid for it.
My mug had the whole Tetley Tea crew on it, I’m talking Gaffer, Tina and my personal favourite, Sydney. I got around 2 weeks of joy out of my new office mug before it mysteriously disappeared. Which got me thinking, what is the appropriated etiquette when a personal item goes missing in the office?
My initial instinct was to shout, scream, cry and slam the odd cupboard door or two in protest. However, in the interest of trying not to look like the office crazy, I decided against it. So there I was, toying with a few ideas but generally stumped
The office email – Now this is the one I toyed with the most, however the issue with sending an office email round is the tone. Too harsh and you end up sounding accusatory and may lose a friend or two. Too jovial on the other hand and the plight of your missing item will never be take seriously.
The poster in the kitchen – The old school version of the above, however same rules apply.
Get your Sherlock On – Dust of your detective cap, look at the evidence, weigh it up and if needs be, spy on your colleagues’ desks when they’ve gone to the toilet.
Put your name on it – This one of course is a preventative, if you want to stop your things from going missing or being used by other people the best thing to do is to slap your name on it. Walking around with a big black marker is probably not the most subtle way to go about it. I’m thinking more, pencils/pens/mugs with your name on them. At least with those you can pretend that they were gifted to you by a distant Great Aunt.
I went for the Sherlock approach; however I never recovered my missing Tetley Mug. Looks like it is branded items from good old ‘Aunty Nora’ from now on.
Sabrina Hamilton
As the resident people watcher at Get The Milk HQ, Sabrina is always on the look out for funny anecdotes and office survival tips. So sit back, put the kettle on and let’s have a good ol’ fashioned office gossip – but watch out, you may be the subject of her next blog post! My Google Profile+
Follow Me:
