July 20, 2026 at 3:48 am

He Left His Trash on an Open Desk to Claim It, And His Coworker Decided to Have a Little Fun With That

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It seems like every office has at least one person who thinks they can play by their own rules and do things their way ALL THE TIME.

You know the type, and so do I!

And it’s only natural that, after a while, that person starts to wear out their welcome and get on the nerves of their fellow employees.

In today’s story, a person talked about why they decided to get some petty revenge on a co-worker who was really getting on their nerves…

And you’ll see why once you start reading.

Let’s take a look!

Someone claimed the best hot desk for themself by leaving their garbage.

“We have a few dozen “hot desks” that are open for anybody to use. No seating is reserved or assigned.

Some people are particular about desk height, the way their monitors are set up, etc. They pick a workstation far away from the door because most of us grab the nearest seat to do their work and leave.

But not this guy.

He sounds delightful!

He claimed the very first desk nearest the door. Someone walking straight through the door would hit the chair at this desk. He made it look like it was constantly in use by leaving his coffee cups and other garbage on it.

Now everybody has to pass by his garbage on their way in and out.

He is only there for a few hours per week. The paper coffee cups had that staining at the bottom when they had been sitting there for a long time.

This person ain’t playing this guy’s game!

I used that desk just to spite him. It helps pass the office boredom and it is fun to mess with these kinds of people.

He is short so I always raised it to be a standing desk and adjusted the monitors at tallest I could stand.

To show intent I tangled up the headset cable with the keyboard cable. He never said anything if he saw me working there.

He strengthened his claim by adding more garbage, making it less appealing and look more like it it was in use.

They’re sadistic! In a fun way…

Late Friday while the office was nearly empty I went through the recycle bin to triple his garbage heap.

Someone caught me doing it and laughed. It was the first thing that the manager saw when opening the office on Monday.

Now we have signs at each desk reminding us of basic cleanliness principles for our shared desk spaces. No more camping/garbage at the desks near the door.

He probably went off to some desk in the back like he should have in the first place.”

Reddit users shared their thoughts.