Shauna Moerke is…

When you start a new job, the first impressions you leave on your new team are what will help shape all your future interactions with them. It can make the difference between a pleasant work environment, a merely tolerable environment, or even a hostile one. This is the time when you want to be sure not to eff things up. So, to you, new employee who started a week after me, all I have to say is: dude, not cool.

After returning from lunch today, the girl I had been sitting with earlier let me know the employee I had been trying to get a hold of was finally returning my call. I hurried over to take the call only to discover my headset was missing. Anxiously, I searched through my entire cube, opening drawers and even checking the trash can to find it fast, as the employee was on hold. Nothing. Finally, the girl had to take the call for me. Lame. Valuable learning experience lost. Imagine my grumpiness then when I go over to another co-worker and see the new employee using my headset. WTF?

Now, I know that it’s not “my” headset, it’s the company’s. I don’t even begrudge her borrowing it. But she took it off my desk. She did it without asking or leaving me a note. She had no reason to think I was done using it, and all it would take for her to get one of her own was to ask. It took me less than a minute to get a new one myself, once I realized I hadn’t just misplaced it and needed a new one. And what’s worse is that at no point did she talk to me about it, offer to give it back, or even apologize.

You might be thinking to yourself, self, this is silly, why does HR Minion even care? I care because it’s rude. I care because it is thoughtless at best and disrespectful at worst. You don’t just take things from co-workers cubes without their knowledge. And it certainly isn’t the best impression you could leave on your new team members.

But, now I know. The new headset, a better one I might add, got locked up when I left, along with some office supplies. That red stapler is mine, dammit.