Packing your traps

Oct 14, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – A controversy erupted earlier this week when a reassigned employee of a Ministry tried to access her office. The Ministry had to call in the police because they feared that the woman may have been unwilling to accept her reassignment. However, when she did meet with the Minister she indicated that all she wanted to do was to retrieve her personal belonging from the office.
This column is not about the controversy. Rather it is about the fact that quite a bit of personal belonging are usually kept in a person’s office.
Most of you would have seen movies in which persons were fired on the spot. In those movies, the persons fired would often be seen with a small carton box in which they would pack their personal belongings.
On the day I retired, I left the same way that I came in – empty-handed. The only personal belonging which I have ever had reason to have at the office was a pocket dictionary which would be used to verify the spelling of certain words. This was before the internet and computers which can now be used to fact check and spell check.
These days, with the amount of time people spend at the office, it virtually becomes a home away from home – something which should be discouraged. The trend these days is for some executives to have photo frames on their desks. These usually contain photographs of their loved ones.
The office is now also a mini-kitchen. Back in the day most persons lived close to where they worked. The lunch break used to be one and a half hours, which gave the person sufficient time to rush, home, eat, have a power-snooze and return to work in time for the afternoon session.
These days most persons are working far from home and not many persons are going home for lunch. As such, people are walking with their plates, spoons and forks to work.
Back in the day after work you went home. These days many workers go to the gym or classes after work and therefore they have to have their gym wear or a change of clothes with them. The office thus becomes a mini-wardrobe.
A few years ago, I visited an executive in her office and when she opened one of her desk drawers I was stunned by what I saw. She virtually had an entire make-up kit there, including nail files and clippers and various accessories for her hair. There was even a curling iron. I guess she ensured that she was well-made up when she had to attend meetings. Some women usually have a pair of flat shoes to move around the office, leaving the heels for coming to and going from work.
There are certain items of course which are associated with work but which are personal and which everyone has a right to remove. These include your pay slips and other records which verify certain transactions which you may need to have as proof. But personal items such as credit cards, bank books and spare home keys should not be kept in the office.
I know of one man who made his Last Will and Testament and kept the copies at his office. He died on the job and his family never knew that he had made a Will. It was not until his wife was probating his estate that this was discovered and it caused quite an embarrassment because he had left very little for her in the Will.
There are legitimate grounds for limiting the type of personal possessions which a person may have at work. One time, a female member of staff claimed that some jewellery which she had in her desk drawer was stolen. It led to a search of all the staffers. Persons these days have been known to have their cellular phones, ipads and other electronic devices stolen at work. As such, some companies are specifying what sort of personal items can be brought to the workplace.
The other things are the photographs placed on office walls. One executive once had a portrait of a semi-nude individual on his wall. When asked about this revealing portrait, he said it was a work-of- art.
Some persons like to place their framed academic certificates on their walls to show others how qualified they are. But the workplace is not the place for this form of exhibitionism.
A standing rule when it comes to personal possessions at the workplace is that if you are asked to leave the office suddenly, you should be able to pack and go within five minutes. If you cannot do that, it means that you have too many personal possessions at the workplace.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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