I am just curious. My brother is an attorney, his advice to me was never keep in your desk anything you wouldn't want you boss to see if you were suddenly killed. Okay, he said it a lot better than that but I think you get his message, right?
On my desk I have pictures of my kids, and my plants. In my desk I have snacks and pop up wipes to clean my desk and keyboard off. We have dust bunnies the size of elephants in that office.
I also make sure everything I own can fit in a printer paper box, just in case I throw up my hands and have had enough. :)
So what do you keep in your desk?
To make it fun for those that don't have a desk, how about would you let your mom go through your nightstand drawers? :p
Victoria, you should have seen my desk the first two years. I was sooo out of control everything had to be filed before I went home so there was nothing on my desk. My older daughter who was 18 at the time worked part time as a collector. She saw my desk one night and took a sticky note and drew a picture of our family. Under it she posted, mom, it looks like no one uses this desk. :( I brought stuff in after that. I still have the sticky note pictures, she is an awful artist. Everyone thinks my younger kids drew them. :p
Ahhh I forgot my tea kettle. :)
Sigh, sadly I don't have a desk. Just a dining room table with 4 piles of folded laundry waiting to be claimed by their owners and a half dead laptop.
:(
Just to keep it interesting - here's the unusual things I have in/at my desk.
nail clippers
electric razor
a zillion plastic grocery bags (i bring my lunch)
phone charger
deoderant
extra suit/dress shirt/tie
Tums
back when I was drinking I kept at least a fifth, usually two in a drawer.
I remember a friend telling me once, that if she died, she wanted ME to go on her computer and delete things. Things she doesn't want her husband, parents, or kids to see. Apparently, they would be disgusted, and devastated. (Her words.) I said no way, man! I'll help you bury a body, but I am NOT getting in the middle of deep, dark secrets. (We weren't friends long after that request. She was pretty uncomfortable around me after.) Yikes.
I don't work, but there is nothing people couldn't see in my home. Nothing on my computer, either. We don't have anything eyebrow raising. When I was working, I did keep my stuff to the minimum. I got laid off one time, and I had to pack up my things. That was the WORST. I vowed to never have enough to pack, after that.
Oh man, what a loaded question, J.! Someone I knew many years ago had to clean out her boss's office when he was suddenly fired. There was a video tape that she thought was a bootlegged copy of Dirty Dancing (it was written on the tape) and low and behold it was a picture of HIM dancing in his underwear (tighty whities). What is SO bad is that he had the opportunity to come in after work and collect his things - they gave him that choice, and he didn't. He knew that tape was there and didn't come get it.
Of course, she gave it to management because she didn't want to have the responsibility of it. And of course, it got out.
I'll never forget that. It's a great lesson for exactly what YOUR brother told you!!!
Dawn
Thats funny. I am on the verge of throwing my hands up and realizing I would be embarassed if I left all this behind. I would be mortified if anyone went through my stacks. I have family pictures on a bulletin board and all my personal papers could fit in a file paper box. But, I have old training materials, brochures, calling lists and old docs that could fill a shred dumpster! I just stick stuff in a drawer and never look at it again. If I suddenly started cleaning out my office, everybody would know I had resumes curculating, so, I am in a quandry!
Your brother is a smart guy.
At my age, I know better than to keep my desk "too personal" so really, nothing too scandalous...crackers, plates, lotion, utensils, mug, soup bowl....
If your boss is right, I need to clean my desk....now.....;)
Ditto your brother!
Even for an at home desk.
Oh in my desk I have things for the kids that I hide... that I don't want them to have yet.
Surprises and such.
I would not let my Mom go through our nightstand drawers.
Eeek.
my desk is part of an antique cabinet which houses all of our board games, CDs, etc.
I have a ton of paperwork on it, 2 nail files, some change, 3 floor protectors off an antq daybed....trying to find a 4th online.
YES all-purpose glue, a phone charger, a toy thermometer, 2 rosarys, a new USB cable, new ink cartridge, travel brochures, stapler, battery pencil sharpener, a box of 100 dvds (which I wish my son would move to his room).
A stack of receipts, my cell & house phone, a stack of notepads + lined school paper + printer paper, & a cup full of colored pencils.
Oh, & an antique dish filled with pebbles from Cape Cod. :)
Your desk sounds like what my desk used to be like. A couple of photos, some snacks (I confess, pringles/m&m's and such), and office stuff.
At home, I don't know that I would really care about anyone going thru my nightstand. I don't even know what is in it. The last thing I put in there was the box/charging cord for my kindle. That was 18 months or so ago....maybe stuck a Mother's Day card in there... ?? Not sure what else... Anything I actually want/use would be on TOP of it, or in the bathroom cabinet/drawers. Under my bathroom sink (in a wooden box) is where I keep the teeth the tooth fairy collected. LOL
Does it count that at one time I had a big fuzzy bendy spider on my shelf? For Halloween, I stuck it on my co-worker's chair, to "decorate". Turns out she had a phobia, so she made me put it on my desk. It was in the way, so its bendy legs got hooked around a shelf bracket. Sucker was about 12 inches across...LOL
My desk at home is boring - filled with pens, notepads, whiteout, etc.
When I was a teacher, it was definitely G-rated items in my desk at school. Best thing in my desk was my chocolate stash, for when the kids were at PE or for afterschool snack. Teachers would come in my room for a chocolate "fix."
If my mom went thru my dresser? Probably some slight embarassment, but nothing too terrible. I just hope she remembers to take all my socks (I told her that's where I hide my cash stash). If she forgets and I die, I guess someone at Goodwill will be pleasantly surprised.
I have a lot in my office...digital picture frame, candy jar (usually empty), frames, photos from my Europe trip on the wall, small shelf of various items from promo companies, other prints and two bulletin boards on the wall with pictures, clippings and notes from my kids debating which child loves me more... :-)
Nothing of much interest in my nightstand any longer - the teenage boys (for whatever reason) opened it up and now its completely cleaned out of everything that could be evoke questions from them...
When I worked outside the home, my office desktop housed:
-a few framed photos
-one of those inspirational daily quote rip-off-each-day calendars
-the usual: post it notes, stapler, highlighers in every color, fun pens,
functional pens, a vase w/fresh flowers
-I had a side table that I had a lamp, few other framed photos, decorations for whatever holiday or season it was
-in the drawers I kept certain things I didn't want my husband to find: poems I had written, a receipts of donations (he wasn't a fan of that).
-I kept the Emergency Tampon
-snacks (my days were LONG!)
In or on my desk - professional books/textbooks/reference books, baby photos galore (first time mom syndrome), tons of food (cereal, oatmeal, peanut butter, crackers, etc. - I eat two meals a day at my desk. Depressing but life.), tea cup, tea, roll of paper towels, kleenex, three personal pencil holders and two personal paperclip holders (my dad is an office storage junky so I get knick knacks from his travels). Other than that I have a change of work clothes (nasty duds for the shop) and steel toe boots. My boss is more than welcome to delve into my desk. It's not that personal. Excluding my reference books, I keep it down to two printer boxes just in case the pink slip rolls on by.
My mom can go through my nightstand but she better remember I'm a married adult big girl.
My desk at work has: soup mug, cans of soup, granola bars, tampons, pads, doodles...tons of doodles, poems that I've written when I'm supposed to be working, Sharpies!!! (love me some Sharpies!), old calendars (I don't know why), deodorant, perfume, Altoids, Tums, toothpicks, lotion, Germ-X, and a big bag of candy to restock the office candy jar. Nothing too embarrassing, except maybe a few of the poems. :)
I do home daycare and have a 40 inch tall, 24 inch deep counter top in my playroom (with a half tall wall of cabinets under it..does that help visualization? LOL). I have a 44 inch wide section of this counter top as my "desk" . I know this because I just measured it with the pink measuring tape (sewing variety) that is part of the crazy ensemble that sits here!
I have no drawers, so its all up top. I have my daycare files and things for licensing. Other easy accessible file folders like my medical insurance, daughters school and now college application things. I have my Cetaphil lotion, a calculator, a dolly diaper I need to repair the velcro on. I have a small purple toy cat (an inch tall). The pink measuring tape, Bottle Caps candies (yum). A can with pens and pencils and a screwdriver!
A monkey baby blanket, my laptop, 3 remote controls (the photos are on the walls on my bulletins boards with calendars, business cards and alot of other cutesy junk collected over the last 15 years). Many other things that would bore you!
If I died, my hubby would likely sweep it all into the trash!
Its my little haven and space in this child dominated large room. MINE!
We don't have anything we need to hide. If my mom had to clean out our drawers if something tragic happened to us, it wouldn't be anything too embarrassing.
My desk is chronically messy. I have an assistant who tidies it into piles for me once a week. I love her. In my drawers, besides an impossibly messy mess of stationery, I seem to collect jewellery, batteries, discs, and payslips. On a lucky day I might find some candy or a coin.
hmmm J. paystubs and tea bags and pics of Emmy and pictures of her hand making the spiderweb shooting hand thingy from the copier machine=)
I agree
although my nightstand has items in it I wish for people not to see....but thats most convienant, and i really wouldnt be that embarassed anyway
On the desk: silk flowers, inspirational plaque, ink pen holder, hand lotion, hand sanitizer, Kleenex, candy bowl and few family photos. Inside the desk: frequently used company forms and up to date relevant company info. Also a small hygiene kit of deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, mouth wash, floss sticks, hair spray, Band-Aids, tampons, sanitary napkins, 2 pair of clean panties (because you never know) and a reusuable shopping bag... If someone came across that stuff during my life it would not have bothered me in the least.
