u/venicenative77

Not sure what sub this story falls into so I thought I’d post it here.

This happened to me at my first full-time job back in the early eighties. I was young and timid, and hadn't yet learned to stand up to bullies. (I am now old and have learned about these marvelous things called boundaries.)
I worked in the 2-person art department of a research company. All staff were required to have clearances as we often worked with sensitive material.
At that time, every office had a small (about 2-foot-square) combination safe for sensitive file storage. The “security monitor,” (also the office manager) “Ray,”did a sweep of the offices in the morning, at lunchtime, and at the end of the day. (His mood most days fell somewhere between grumpy and vile.)
Sensitive documents were always kept in red folders. If you left them you’d get written up—3 times and you could be fired. In reality, this only applied to support staff. The powers-that-be overlooked all kinds of atrocious behavior from researchers (but those are stories for another time).
I had just gotten back from lunch and was talking to one of the researchers, “Stanley,”in my office when Ray stormed in waving around a red folder near his red face. Ray was older, bigger, and louder. He said he was “writing me up” for leaving sensitive docs on my desk. I said, “I didn't leave anything on my desk. Someone must have left them there.” He said, “It makes no difference, they were on your desk. This happens twice more and you’re out,” and he storms off.
Stanley (who was a very quiet mathematician and younger, like me) was standing by my desk observing all this with a slight smile in his face. I wanted to cry. He told me he’d be back later and left. When he came back he said, “Fixed it.” I said something witty like, “Huh?” Before I could say anything else, Ray stormed into my office waving around a red folder. He yelled, “Did you leave this on my desk????!!!!??? This is the second time!!!!” I just sat there not knowing what to say. Stanley said, “Ray, was the file on your desk?” Ray, a bit confused, says, “… Yeah… so?”Stanley says, “If it was left on your desk then it’s your problem.” Ray sputtered a bit. Stanley said, “That file you’re holding actually belongs to me.”
He told Ray the file on my desk was“CJ’s” (CJ had left it there with a signed note on it, so Ray knew very well where the file came from) and if anyone were to be written up it should be CJ. Ray glared at us for a moment before stomping off. Stanley gave me a huge smile, turned, and walked out my door.
My knight (mathematician) in shining armor (t-shirt, jeans and flip flops)!
I worked there for 20 years and was never written up! The best outcome: from then on, no one else was written up for other people’s obliviousness.
(For clarification, our offices had glass front walls that faced a very small atrium. Stanley had eyes on his folder the entire time; his documents were in no danger of being captured by spies.)

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