[Dog pounder1977]

I am wondering did I “steal” from my employer prior to quitting because they claim I did. It’s funny because they took all of my documents pertaining to the company which is understandable, but they also took my personal microsoft word, excel, and powerpoint, keyboard shortcuts I wrote down………from the internet? They claimed that information too was company info however, that crap is publicly listed on the internet? I know they will check my email history which I don’t care but I also sent those same shortcuts to my personal email and I have it here. Just does not make sense because they gave us the option of working from home but if I work from home that means I could also just take stuff off the computer and leave it at home if I wanted to “conceal” my theft of keyboard shortcuts to a PUBLICLY offered software program. Stupid company glad I left.

One day I will face that exam.

[Missy]

Is this your Microsoft job accusing you of theft or the accounting firm you were at before that? Because if its microsoft you may want a laywer, they don't diddle around. Also you may want to look at any and all agreements you signed when you started. If they spelled out to you anything obtained while working even if it can be obtained through the internet is considered their property, well they have you over a barrel.

Are they going to put a lot of time and effort into pursuing this, no probably not. But if they even mentioned it to you I'd cover ALL bases.

Did you give a 2 week notice?

Is this your 3rd or 4th username, btw?

Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

Finance manager/HR manager

 

 

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[JohnWayneIsGod]

Well if all you took was keyboard shortcuts, then you didn't take company info. However, if you took a macro that was designed by the company, or if you took something else that you are not telling us about, then it could be a whole other story. Is there more information? Did you go to work for a competitor?

FAR - 80

Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.

-John Wayne

[Dog pounder1977]

@mla- You should be a fraud investigator lol. I was actually employed through a temp agency as the position was “temp to hire”.

@Johnwayne- Just useful keyboard shortcuts for instance, (CTRL+1, CTRL+Alt+ ~,CTRL+W, Alt+F4, CTRL+P quick print for God's sake!) stuff like that? I think its nonsense as I located most of them on the web. The one's I had never used before, I found in the training guides. But since I used the web “at work” on “employer grounds” it is “company property”? So if I take a piss “at work” on “employer grounds”, that piss is now “company property” as well? It's ridiculous.

One day I will face that exam.

[JohnWayneIsGod]

@Dog pounder.

Keyboard shortcuts are not your former employer's property. I use keyboard shortcuts all of the time, and nobody owns them. It doesn't matter where or how you learned about their existence, or what some form you may have signed says about it. Keyboard shortcuts are no more company property as would the idea to use a mouse to click and drag would be their property. Anyone who claims otherwise is talking pure silliness.

However, if you have took a macro enabled document with you, or you copied a macro or something similar that you found at work, then that may be company property as that would be a VBA code that was written by and paid for by the company. For an example: A macro that your company created that includes a keyboard shortcut that performs a vlookup could be considered company property.

If they are only bothering you about keyboard shortcuts that Microsoft, Apple, etc created, then let them spin their wheels and don't worry about it. On the other hand, if you so as much as emailed a macro enabled document to your home computer, then you may want to give this some more thought.

And remember that none of us here are lawyers. If your old company really starts to put on the heat and you are unsure about things, then paying a lawyer for an hour of their time may be a good investment.

FAR - 80

Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.

-John Wayne

[Missy]

Did you sign anything with them? That's really what it all comes down to. I would agree with John Wayne above except the employer IS Microsoft. It's an entirely different ballgame because of that fact. Those, shortcuts are their creation after all. I think either there's something you're not sharing or something you're not remembering. Microsoft wouldn't bring it up at all with someone who had been a temp for a month or two out of spite that you resigned or just to bust gonads. They have a legal department that rivals the entire justice department. If the accusation came from Microsoft and not the temp agency I'd take it very seriously even if you think it's B.S

Ant fyi if I click on the word member under your name I see all of v your posts so it's not hard to put together.

Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

Finance manager/HR manager

 

 

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Dog pounder1977]

I just don't get it though. How the heck is something like that theft when it is public knowledge? I can get on youtube, google, anything and pull up the same info? But if you do it on an employer's computer, it somehow miraculously develops the ability to transform into….theft? And these are literally all the facts. nothing else was taken. Just notes I made myself from scratch.

@mla- yeah I figured that much.

One day I will face that exam.

[Missy]

A couple of things. First you say they took everything back including your “personal shortcuts” (which, if they're available on the internet, you can easily replace.) If they took everything how do they say you stole them?

Above you say you got the shortcuts from a training guide. Well regardless of how else you COULD have obtained them, if you took them from a training guide its theirs.

If you got those shortcuts by surfing the web, were you surfing the web on company time? Did you sign an internet use agreement with them? Many companies consider surfing the web on their time to be theft, I realize “everybody does it” and that you “could have gotten them at home on your own” but neither of those are legal arguments if they're coming after you. You haven't mentioned if they had you sign anything but if you were willing to agree to certain rules to get the job, its not for you to dismiss it as ridiculous when it suits your needs. My guess is in your excitement to land the job you just signed whatever they put in front of you without reading it and that's what could hurt you.

Bottom line is even at Microsoft I doubt any entry level accounting temp has access to any trade secrets. I can't imagine them ever wasting the resources to pursue this but I am shocked it's come up at all. And while I understand that you are very frustrated right now I'd be very careful of what you share or say on the internet if they ARE coming at you for theft (like putting it out there that you got ANYTHING from a training guide.) You've shared a lot of details here not only about this situation but also about yourself and it wouldn't take a PI to put the pieces together if someone wanted to create a case.

Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

Finance manager/HR manager

 

 

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[JohnWayneIsGod]

Oh, he was working at Microsoft. In any case, I sincerely doubt that emailing oneself about control+p in Microsoft's offices would would be considered theft of their property. If that is all MS has up their sleeve, then it is all blowing smoke. That said, it has always appeared to me that something else must be going on.

@Dog, you should follow mla's advice and refrain from providing anymore detail about what happened here or to anyone else just to be on the safe side. Just keep a tight lid on it. And talking to a lawyer is probably the best thing that you can do. You're not going to take MS to court, but a lawyer can get all of the facts from you, quickly figure out what is going on and communicate the nature of the situation to you. A lawyer would even be able to advise you about what to do next. Although it wasn't for defense purposes, I've hired lawyers for one hour consultations a few times in the past and each time that alone saved me untold amounts of time and money. Sure, it was still expensive, but if a company like MS is calling you a thief then it is likely an expense that is worth incurring.

FAR - 80

Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.

-John Wayne

[Dog pounder1977]

No its not like I was interrogated as you all make it seem worse than what it really is. Nothing was signed, no papers, nothing. It just amazed me how someone could say that the reason you could not keep it was employer theft? Normally that term is associated with an item of value. Not employee keyboard notes.Yes I could create them all again from scratch.

One day I will face that exam.

[Missy]

You said they claimed you stole from them. You didn't say they told you that you couldn't keep something LOL.

No offense meant but you seem to start out by going for dramatic impact in your posting, then the more the story unfolds it is a non story.

Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

Finance manager/HR manager

 

 

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Author]

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