The Discussion is Tabled

"Do you know whose this is?" I turned to look. Sub was holding a clear, plastic clipboard with paper on it. "No," I said, and he tossed it onto the table.

There is a small, round table in "my" office (you know, the room I share with 1.5 other people, the fax machine, the copy machine, and the networked printer). This is the table where meetings pop-up suddenly behind me. It also is the repository for unclaimed or forgotten items.

Nothing on that table is mine. I scrupulously ensure that I keep my papers on my desk. Boss often forgets things when he gets up from the table. Sometimes, he'll just drop something on it while passing through the room without stopping. Sub seems to think, "If you build it, they will come," and puts anything not his onto the table, assuming that someone else will claim it.

I have news for them. I am not their maid. I am not their secretary. It is not my responsibility to pick up after them, nor to read unclaimed documents, determine to whom they belong, and deliver them to the rightful owner.

Our District Manager and Regional VP are coming for meetings today. The table is cluttered, to say the least. My desk is tidy. (There are a lot of to-do items on it, but they are stacked neatly.) If our bosses are displeased with the state of the table, they are welcome to dust the items for fingerprints and see that mine are not on any of them.