How should I have taken this behavior?

< former homeschooler here. I’m wondering if he’s planning to leave the company. But whatever, his behavior is…strange.

Tell him yes, you have trust issues. He said he was moving some stuff out, it’s been a while, and he hasn’t. So your concern is legit. Your life is complicated enough without having to deal with these strange boxes in YOUR business.

I’d document it all, then warn him he has to get them out. If he insults you again, write him up for insubordination. Then, the boot. Or if you can fire him without cause, do it. Nobody needs this.

Are the boxes empty? Have you hefted one? Were they empty when they came in?

Does your company sell a physical product that is stored on the premises?

What does the law say about an employer’s right to inspect containers coming into and going out of the workplace?

Is there any insurance/security/liability basis for you to assert a right to see what’s in the boxes?

What if the boxes or their contents get stolen or damaged while on your property? If you would be held responsible in any way, don’t you have to know what they contain and what it’s worth?

Do you have any sort of policy about employees’ letting you know when they bring personal property to the office so they can establish their right to remove it at their own discretion?

This employee’s behavior does sound a little off to me. It also sounds like there might be more of a story behind this than you’ve let on:
I had one employee that had expressed on one occasion that I wasn’t doing enough for him, we seemed to smooth things out…

I think you should quit trying to joke about this and just talk straight to him about what you do and don’t expect or allow. But first find out what legal footing you’re on.

Could be a ploy on his part to get ” enough done for him. ”

Frankly, never use the word “obtuse” with an employee. It can be construed as sexual harassment.

Obtuse? It was a he.

This whole scenario is long past. He has been gone for some months now.

So how did this turn out? Did he take stuff that didn’t belong to him?

How important is he to the business? I mean, can you “phase him out?” I would think he could create a morale problem…

The things about your story that sound odd to me are the “I wasn’t doing enough for him” (why is there an expectation that you need to do something for your employee?), and the fact that you are asking about this some months after the event. How did he leave? Did he end up stealing anything? Did you ever find out if anything was in those boxes?

Inquiring minds want to know. :)

Given the few details you’ve provided, I would have shared your unease, and I also would have asked him to remove the boxes. You are paying for the office space. It’s not meant to accommodate personal storage for your employees.

I guess I misunderstood—I thought you wanted advice. If it’s all over and this is after the fact, are you just looking for vindication or what?

@Sueanne_Tremendous, what’s sexual about obtuse? It might be takesn as insulting to call someone dim-witted, but I can’t see any sexual meaning in it at all.

Four boxes sounds an awful lot for personal belongings. I think you have the right to ask him to show you what personal belongings he has been storing on the premises and demonstrate why he needs so many boxes to carry it all. If he can’t justtify that, I would be extremely concerned that he is planning to steal from you.

Why now, because I live in a small town and I run into him and we have mutual friends. He did take stuff and told me I’m acting ridiculous about the small items he walked away with. It just blows me away that he thinks I did him so wrong after the way he acted. It just blows me away about how delusional some people are about their own behavior.
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After an episode this weekend where ran into him, I tried to suggest it all be water under the bridge, which is generous on my side and he brought it all back up and suggested he did nothing wrong and I owed him an apology. I’m just down about the way some people can act and needed some fluther therapy, lol.

@glacial, trust me, the sense of entitlement from this guy was huge and stuck out like a sore thumb. But when confronting him I harped on what I had solid evidence of and then said ba-bye.