The Unspoken Theft Crimes at Work

I want to talk to you about incidents of theft at my job. This is very difficult for me since many of my co-workers feel I am being "irrational" or "ridiculous," but I refuse to be silenced. I have noticed many incidents of thefts throughout my office on a regular basis and I need to speak up now.

I pretty much began to notice the thefts right off the bat at my current job. As a matter of fact, I had noticed very similar incidents at other jobs in the past. Whenever I mention these matters to co-workers, I get a look. I am sure they are just paranoid because obviously they know something I do not know. It takes courage to stand up against a crime ring, and perhaps others did not have the nerve to speak up. I must step forward now for every office worker!

Each afternoon, I leave work feeling pretty comfortable. I take note of everything in my area and I feel good about what I leave behind. When I come in the next morning, I am shocked each day to find items missing.

I often throw items into the plastic can beside my desk each day at work. It holds wonderful items that hold special value to me: banana peels, Snickers wrappers, broken rubberbands, etc. Imagine my dismay to come in each day to find that each of those items are missing!

Where are my special treasured items? Certainly the smell that was once in the can no longer exists, but what about my own personal property? I peeled that banana myself! I bought that Snickers bar from Walmart with my own money! Where are these things? Perhaps I was just using the plastic can as storage.

Aside from being quite shaken and disturbed about my missing belongings, I am even more upset over another incident that occurs about once a week. I will come in to the office and find items are moved on my desk! What happens when I leave?

For instance, today I came in to find all of my stress balls had been moved slightly to the left on my desk. As you can imagine, this caused a great deal of stress! I was in desperate need of the stress balls at that time. I took photos so I would have evidence of this incident, and then squeezed away on a stress ball. I was also disturbed to find my keyboard and several other office supplies in disarray.

I was terribly dismayed to find my co-workers were not sympathetic about my issue. They, too, had experienced items moved on their desks, yet they did not care! How dare they giggle behind my back! Did this incident not bother them at all?

Perhaps the most devastating aspect of the incident I will now refer to as "The Great Stress Ball Disaster of 2013," is the fact that I was now missing something very personal and dear to me.

About a week before The Great Stress Ball Disaster of 2013, I decided to begin a new fun collection to keep myself entertained at work. I was so excited to start my new dust collection. I made sure to wear different colors each day at work just so I could have a fine assortment of colorful dust. I was really excited to see my collection each day; I felt it was really boosting the morale of my co-workers as well. Each day they asked me questions about my dust collection with a certain twinkle in their eyes. I am sure they were jealous!

Anyone can imagine how completely heartbroken I felt when I came in to find my dust collection had also been removed from my desk. How could anyone be so cruel? I suspect it went wherever the items in my can had been taken. I was crushed!

I believe some of my co-workers were jealous of my dust collection, but I had no idea anyone would resort to taking it. It was almost as if the whole collection were just wiped away! I weeped openly into a tissue. I felt better when the tissue emitted many dust particles and I was able to begin my collection all over again.

Now that I've finally shared my experience with you, I hope you can relate to me. I just want my story to help others. Office theft is an unspoken event that occurs on a regular basis in many offices. I am sure many of you feel my pain, yet you suffer in silence. Let's suffer in silence no longer! We must step forward to put an end to these terrible crimes.

Copyright ©2013 Jeannieinabottle