Firearms Paranoia - In the Work Place

[nick]

A lot of people confuse policies and "I feel there should be a policy against it". I used to work for a media company in Burbank ( it doesn't get much more liberal than that) with fairly hands off policies. They expected their employees to work quite a lot, and were willing to accommodate them in return. So, I received all kinds of deliveries (and my ammo orders were quite notorious. But then, everyone knew me for the resident gun nut, and didn't expect much else from me), as there was no policy against it. On the other hand, a friend of mine printed out the instructions for building an AK before a build party (yeah, a long time ago) and left them in the printer. He got called to HR because "someone felt threatened by it". There was no policy against it, but he was told something like "but you do understand why someone felt threatened?" His answer was that he had no clue why someone would feel threatened by about 20 sheets of paper. After some further discussion, the matter was dropped.

[nick]

And the mailbox suggestion is a good one. I've had one for over 15 years. They can keep the packages for you for a couple of weeks, as long as you don't overdo it. Works well for when you have to travel and such.

[Drew Eckhardt]

Before having weapons stuff delivered to my work place (to avoid porch pirates at my residence), I checked our company policy and our parent company policy for firearms related restrictions. Only thing was no weapons on company property.

Given

• California is an at-will employment state where we can be fired at any time for any reason not legally prohibited (race, gender, etc.) or no reason at all.
• Those of us who aren't executives don't have employment contracts precluding that.
• Many people working in Silicon Valley are religiously anti-gun .

I wouldn't have anything gun-related shipped to work.

I have it all delivered at home. USPS redirects to a nearby post office when no one's around to sign, and insurance will cover anything left then stolen.

[Pally]

Most online stores allow the purchaser to specify "Special Requests" or notes for the order. I always request that my shipment be shipped to me in an unmarked box or have discrete labeling. 99% of the time my requests are honored. I also never ship it to my home, always to the office.

[jeremiah12]

Phil: join UPS My Choice. Then you can pick up your shipments at the the nearest UPS station or mailbox store. For me, I drive by the UPS station that the packages are sorted and loaded for delivery to my address on my way home from work. I get off the highway, pick it up, get back on the highway and go home. Before I had that option I rented a mailbox at a UPS store less than a mile from work.

Work and personal life do not mix. You have already brought attention to yourself from HR. Go ahead and push the envelope and bring attention to yourself again. Create a few more headaches for people. Claim there is no policy against it after being told that a revision of policy is in the works. Those revisions take time. In the mean time, S/R will likely pay closer attention to your packages. You could get a formal reprimand if you continue to push the envelope and told to not have any gun related stuff shipped to work until the revisions to the policies are completed.

As others have mentioned, when the next time comes around for cutting jobs, and it will come, you want to be the employee that is never seen as causing anyone headaches and always doing your job well. If you push the envelope and create waves it will be easy to give you the pink slip, no matter how high in management you are. In fact, cuts in management save the most money.

In this day and age, the threats of lawsuits and the costs of liability insurance control everything. Most companies make personnel decisions based on legal liability and what their insurance company tells them they need to do to keep their insurance rates low or to just keep their insurance coverage.

HR telling you there is nothing left to discuss is their way of saying you have been warned, do not cross that line again and all will be forgotten. Expect that in the future there will be a change in policy that will prohibit what you did so do not do it again. They hope you got the message because they really do not want to have to go to the next step if you insist on pushing the envelope.

Some times it is better to not use a perk. It keeps you from getting into any situation that might even be considered controversial.

[Drew Eckhardt]

HR always wants strict policies that can reduce any liability. I get it.

I'm going to sue the crap out of my employer if I ever survive some one going postal at work where corporate policy doesn't allow employees to have weapons for self-defense.

Fortunately mass shootings are essentially non-existent except for political purposes.

When I did the arithmetic I discovered people are 80X more likely to become a lottery millionaires than to die in mass-shootings.

[joepamjohn]

Be an adult.

Keep work and non-work life separate.

And for god's sake, don't have anything not work related mailed or shipped to the workplace.

Finally, Continuing to play games might get you a pink slip. If you like your job and the company you work for don't test the boundaries. There is already questionable entry in your work file that may be shared with prospective future employers. Follow that up with a policy instituted specifically to deal with your actions is not good.

Some people do the silliest things on their
last day at work.

[Cokebottle]

I handle porch pirates by having shipments held at the local UPS store or FedEx.
We have parcel lockers for USPS, and our carrier is under instructions that if it won't fit and there is no answer to a knock on the door, it is to be held at the PO.

[M1A Rifleman]

Be an adult.

Keep work and non-work life separate.

And for god's sake, don't have anything not work related mailed or shipped to the workplace.

Finally, Continuing to play games might get you a pink slip. If you like your job and the company you work for don't test the boundaries. There is already a questionable entry in your work file that may be shared with prospective future employers. Follow that up with a policy instituted specifically to deal with your actions is not good.

^ This. Don't be a d ick about it. Having personal stuff mailed to your employer, especially gun stuff, where others have to take the time to manage the items etc. is a no go. Arrange to have the items picked up at the UPS station there in San Ramon.