Who is at fault here: the greedy one or the one who stole the loot?

They are both wrong.
The supervisor should have told the clerk(instead of sneaking in her desk) that she could only have one and to give the rest back.

I don’t want anyone going into my desk and taking things—regardless of if they are company owed or personally owned. Going through my desk, while the right of the company, is still invasive and (in this instance) unnecessary. The supervisor should have asked. Was the clerk wrong in the first place to take six? Sure. But two wrongs don’t make a right.

The supervisor blew that call big time. Should have corrected the clerk the minute they found out.

That is the whole reason I tell my suppliers to keep their trinkets and gifts. If they are going to bring anything they have to bring enough food or whatever for everyone here.

If I witnessed such activities, I’ld laugh it off. There is nothing of any real value in this situation. There is no hard done and therefore no foul. Life is way too short to waste it worrying, or getting mad about nothing. People can be so funny.

The clerk needs to relax, imo – she was never supposed to take 6 and the supervisor certainly didn’t steal anything, it’s for her to decide on.

Does the clerk share a desk or not? Because if the clerk shares a desk there’s really no expectation for privacy.

I agree…it was the super’s position to call out the greedy one, but she she not have gone in her desk.

Was there a contract about how the bottles were to be distributed? If not, then this “take only one” is a gentleman’s agreement, and, as we see with the Tour de France, it means little. It is not wrong to take six bottles, but it is socially awkward. The clerk now has an unfortunate reputation.

Now, why on earth the Supervisor felt she should go into her employee’s desk for such a trivial thing, I don’t know. It does not speak well of her, either. As the supervisor, I assume she has the right to company property and can go into any desk she wants. I hope she realizes that to do so is to damage the good will she has created with her employees. Things may never be the same.

Then there is also the issue of whether this is stealing. If, once someone picks up the free stuff, it becomes theirs, then the supervisor was stealing. If one saw the bottles as company property, then the employee was stealing.

Why not ask the provider to drop off a few more of the bottles?

I don’t get how the clerk can get up in arms about any of this instead of being ashamed of herself for being a greedy pig and keeping her mouth shut.

The clerk was wrong to take six bottles.

The supervisor was wrong (bit it was understandable) to go into the desk and get one to give to someone. She should have taken back five of the bottles when she first found out what the clerk had done.

The clerk does not have a leg to stand on. Her desk belongs to the company. The bottles were not hers to take so there is no way the supervisor was “stealing.”

The supervisor’s mistake was not taking all of the bottles from the clerk. I think that the supervisor was too nice and the clerk is petty.

If the clerk make a fuss about this the clerk deserves walking papers.

Office politics is one reason that I only visit the office once a month or so. I don’t sweat the petty stuff and get rid of people that do.

The supervisor could have—and should have—avoided all that by distributing the bottles herself, but both her and the clerk were dead wrong. Phew! Office stuff. Makes me want to run screaming out of MY office.

Put it this way…the supervisor is going to be help the most accountable if any complaints are filed. The clerk was greedy, but that’s not a crime. Invasion of privacy is.

@Dutchess_III Employees have no presumption of privacy with regard to their work spaces.

The clerk was wrong to take six bottles. The supervisor was wrong, not for grabbing a bottle out of the clerk’s desk, but for letting the clerk get away with taking six bottles. The supervisor was well within her rights to grab the extra bottle without asking the clerk. But she could have handled it better by taking the bottles and nipping it the bud. An employee should not have any expectation of privacy at their company owned desk. When I worked in an office I always operated under the assumption that my supervisor could go through my desk at any point.

That’s true guys…but I would think there could be an issue with the fact that she didn’t really have a reason to get into her desk, except for a frivolous one. I don’t know….

It depends on the company policy for supervisors going into the desks. At most companies, the desks are considered off limits, just as lockers would be, but I have also worked in companies that consider anything and everything (outside of personal property, such a purse) in the office belongs to the company, and they have a right to access.

I was amazed at onenew job when I came in to work one morning and found my personal belongings such as pictures and snacks on top of my desk in a box. The supervisor told me I was not allowed to leave any personal items in the office.

Hindsight is 20/20:
* The vendor who left enough gifts not to provide one to all employees was setting them up for a potential problem.
* The clerk who decided to take more than one was out of line. They should also not consider that the desk that they use is “theirs”. It isn’t.
* The supervisor who asked for one of the gifts and then went back to the desk and took another without asking permission set herself up for failure. Why in the world would a supervisor take something for their own use without offering it first to their employees? And why would they think that taking something out of a co-workers’ desk would be considered acceptable, unless it was something illegal or against company policy?

You seem to be the one showing the most common sense in this situation. Supervisors are human, too, and encouraging the clerk to talk to her and work it out is the best way to resolve the situation. And the most insightful thing you shared in this situation is that “I don’t think it pays to be angry about little things like this.”