Some confrontations only escalate because the wrong person is convinced they have leverage they definitely don’t really have.

So, what would you do if a former employee insisted on getting into a company laptop after their access was revoked?

Would you let them back in? Or would you calmly explain the policy and why you can’t do that?

In the following story, one tech support worker finds himself in this predicament and decides to follow company policy.

Here’s what happened.

Legal Threat that backfires

The user’s last day was 2 weeks ago, and the account had been disabled since then. We had been waiting for them to return the company laptop.

User: *brings the laptop into the office* “Hey, I can’t access the laptop anymore.”

Me: “Yeah, your last day was over a week ago, so standard leaver practice is to lock down leaver accounts and access. :)”

Apparently, she had left files on the computer.

User: “I need my payslips, and I have personal documents on the laptop.”

Me: “Well, for payslips, reach out to the HR team, and they can get you your payslips and other employment docs, but your account is disabled, and as per security policy, you’ve left, so we can’t let you back into the system.”

User: “I want those files back, now.”

He tried to explain it, but she wasn’t listening.

Me: “You can’t, I’m sorry, that’s our security policy. I’d suggest speaking with HR; maybe they can speak to the security team. They’ll just need to look over them to make sure they don’t contain company data.”

(Bearing in mind I work for a medical company and we have STRICT security)

User: “I’m not giving this laptop back until you return my files.”

She left, threatening him on the way out the door.

Me: *In the nicest customer service tone of voice I can give* “Your contract that you signed states, once you leave, you must return any company equipment, and the IT policy is you should not save personal and non-work-related files to the system.”

User: Leaves, taking the laptop with them. “You’ll be hearing from my solicitor!!!”

Me: Sighs heavily and flags it with HR, infosec, and the user’s former manager.

Luckily, it all worked out well for him.

User: Returned later today, looking rather sheepish and being escorted by security, left the laptop at my desk, and then was escorted out of the office.

Something tells me they were a known troublemaker, and that’s why they got fired, or they were trying to steal company data.

I did end up getting some praise from management for how I handled that, so that’s a plus. Haha 😀

Eek! That sure turned around quickly for her.

Let’s see what the folks over at Reddit think about what she was up to.

This person’s company has a plan for offboarding.

Interesting thought.

Wouldn’t want to be one of these people.

According to this comment, people don’t actually return company devices at work.

Next time, she’ll do better.

This is a great example of things you shouldn’t store on your work computer.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.