So I'm in a co-workers office today...of course he' a righty

[MindPilot]

Young Conservatives' Reagan calendar on the wall, Internet shortcuts to Fox, WND, Drudge, etc. You get the picture. So I'm loading software and I have nothing to do but watch little blue bars roll across the screen. I happen to see some paperwork on the desk--mortgage statement, and a bunch of other papers relating to mortgage application. This guy has an interest-only loan for well over $300k and looking to get a "government-assisted" refi! Don't know for sure--damnit Jim I'm an IT guy not a PI guy!--but I strongly suspect he's upside down.

I hope at some point in the next few days to ask him why he needs GOVERNMENT HELP to buy a house? What happened to your personal responsibility? Bootstraps broke? Hmmm?

On edit: I should clarify...I don't think this qualifies as snooping since everything was out there right in the open; I didn't have to touch a single piece of paper or do anything but look. In fact it was kind of hard to NOT see.

[virgogal]

1. You "happened" to see quite a bit.

[MindPilot]

12. please see my edit in the OP

[virgogal]

22. Thanks for the update. I WAS a little snarky----sorry.

[XOKCowboy]

2. Gosh I hope he doesn't have to stoop to Food Stamps or other socialist programs..

I guess he just needs another tax cut!

[butterfly77]

3. Good work!

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. What is the point of an interest only loan, why not just rent?

[Swede Atlanta]

9. Bingo.........

I wonder how many of the foreclosures were on so-called "interest-only" loans.

What sense does that make unless you can have more room and a more lavish lifestyle in an interest-only home than in one of the many high-quality rental properties. As I look at it in a rental situation, exposure is limited to the term of the lease. If you lose your job, etc. you can look for something less expensive when the lease expires with leases traditionally running no more than 12 to 18 months.

[MindPilot]

16. The advantage is the "rent" is tax deductible.

And you still technically "own" the property. It really makes sense if you intend to flip the house after a couple years because your payment is mostly interest anyway. Of course for that to work it had to have appreciated.

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. ahhh. true.

[phasma ex machina]

5. Does cognitive dissonance require a certain minimum IQ?

[Quantess]

6. But if you say anything, he'll know you were snooping in his desk.

[MindPilot]

8. Thats the part I have to finess

But truth is it was all out there in the open; I didn't have to touch anything.

[Kerrytravelers]

17. Why even bother calling him on it?

1. He'll want to know why you were looking at his private papers, in the open or not. Your goal of pointing out his cognitive dissonance won't be the point of the conversation, his privacy will.

2. Nothing you tell him will matter. He will Limbaugh-Beck-Palin his way around common sense and facts, so why create the frustration.

3. If others hear you, they might perceive you are a snooping busybody who is looking for a fight. Even if someone completley agrees with you, they may not like your way of going about it and you won't win any friends this way. Honestly, I agree with you 110% but I don't do confrontations like this and I hate to see others do it.

4. What's the goal? Everyone has already picked their sides. He'll be a hero to some. You'll be a hero to some. Most won't care. And someone may complain to upper management, which means you'll be the one called on the carpet for looking at someone private papers, even if they were in plain sight. Even if upper management agrees with your position 110%, like I do. I'd have to look at you and say "this isn't proper office behavior, etc." and I hate doing that kind of thing.



Make this an amusing DU story but don't confront the guy. He has enough problems. He's a Conservative. Isn't that bad enough??? :)

[MindPilot]

20. Amusing DU stories are what I live for!!1!

I'm hoping for an opportunity like him saying something along the lines "damn feds won't help with my re-fi". That chance my not come, and trust me I am acutely aware of my need to be somewhat stealthy in these matters. I got users who trust me to be quiet about a lot more stuff than a political juxtaposition.

[Kerrytravelers]

31. Do what you want, but you can probably deduce by the response in this thread how it'll go.

Honestly, if he straight up tells you that he is having to to XYZ, then responding to him would be fine because he brought his situation to your attention.

However, as someone who manages others, if a complaint came that you were discussing what you saw on his desk or that you were setting people up for a confrontation, you and I would have a serious conversation. While I may agree 110%, I can't have confrontations to be happening at the workplace. If I discovered that you read his personal papers, even if they were out in the open, then I may have to decide that you can no longer work unsupervised or in people's offices when they are not there.

You really don't want to set yourself up for a fall. Just a piece of advice. Take it or leave it.

[tammywammy]

7. I wouldn't think you'd want to admit to snooping through someone personal financial papers.

[MindPilot]

14. Please see my edit in the OP

[tammywammy]

15. You still knowingly read someone's private papers.

Unprofessional and would be even more unprofessional to bring it up in the future.

[MindPilot]

19. Yeah, but which is more unprofessional,

Me for looking at something that was unavoidably in front of my face, or him for conducting his personal business right out in the open at work?

Yea I know two wrongs don't make a right, but I also think that when dealing with conservatives, a couple of below the belt punches are not out of the question.

[tammywammy]

21. I do personal stuff at work, on my break.

I could be sitting there working on a paper for school, but it's during my break.

And honestly, your snooping is worst than him conducting a bit of personal work even if on the clock. You read someone's private financial papers. And really he may have been doing personal stuff on the clock, but you snooper through it while on the clock. And it wasn't unavoidable, it was completely avoidable.

Also if you bring this up to him, you'll just look like a complete asshole that snoops.

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. +1

[MineralMan]

18. Yah. I used to do IT support, and did a lot of installing stuff on

people's computers. When I found personal papers on a desk, I turned them upside down deliberately. None of my affair.

There are some ethics in the workplace, at least some personal ethics.

[MindPilot]

24. Most of the time I just don't see that stuff

But this one was kind of well, special.

[Kerrytravelers]

10. Were you in my father-in-law's office?

:rofl:

Actually, you couldn't be. He just now found a new job (contract position) after 15 months. He doesn't own a house. He is barely scraping by on his social security and medicare. But doan, them taxes on rich peole! :eyes: He is otherwise a vert smart man. And when he talks using his own brain, he says some things that would make him a great Democrat, but when it comes time to vote, Jesus was a Republican, so, you know... :crazy:

[baldguy]

11. Did you call him a "goddammed SOCIALIST!"?

[MineralMan]

13. Hmm...I'm not that impressed. Really.

Why snoop into this guy's personal stuff? Seems unprofessional to me. Now, the guy should not have his personal papers scattered around, but the ethical thing to do is simply ignore them. If you do ask him about this, you can expect some anger on his part, and he'd be justified in it. I'd just keep it to yourself and not do that sort of thing again.

Whether he's a righty or whatever, his personal affairs are, quite frankly, none of your business.

[SheilaT]

25. You don't need to bring anything up to him.

At some point he may well give himself away by the fact that he'll be facing foreclosure. THEN you can start a supposedly sympathetic conversation about mortgages and the despicable banks and so on.

Just knowing that he was dumb enough to get an interest-only loan strikes me as sufficiently satisfying. He will wind up paying for his dumbness.

[petronius]

27. It may not qualify as snooping to notice, but it became snooping as soon as you failed

to look away. And common courtesy requires you to put it out of your mind and definitely not mention it to him. Just my opinion, of course...

[bluestate10]

28. Don't say anything to the neocon or your coworkers.

The pike-head's business is his own. He is in deep soup, if he wants to keep voting against his best interests, let him.

[Fuzz]

29. Why do you hate the American dream?

???????

[NHDemProg]

30. Even if it was in the open

if you confront a co-worker about something like that, it wouldn't exactly be a smart move on your part. Lots of companies take a very dim view of divulging personal financial or medical information and if he really wanted to screw you over he could make a big issue of it. Let it drop and just take comfort in knowing he's suffering because of the situation HIS party created.