Dear Diary: HR Stories From The Edge

The Work Laptop Sale

He sold his company laptop on Facebook Marketplace.

Not out of malice, out of panic.

He was closing on his first house and needed $2,300 in 48 hours. The mortgage broker wouldn’t budge, and the guy didn’t have a safety net.

So he did what desperate people do: he found something valuable that wasn’t technically his and sold it. He figured he’d buy it back after payday. Except IT saw the listing before the buyer did.

Serial number, photo, and price, all posted proudly.

Title: “Lightly used MacBook Pro — works great!”

When the call hit my phone, the air left the room. This was no hardened criminal. Just a young employee trying to get the keys to his first front door.

Policy didn’t care.

We had a breach, an asset theft, a security review, and a client data risk. Legal got involved. The laptop came back. He didn’t.

When I helped him clear his desk, he still had the realtor’s SOLD! sticker stuck to his shirt.

Compliance curveball:

Desperation doesn’t rewrite policy.

Lesson learned:

You can empathize with someone’s why and still enforce the what.

HR Fire Drill takeaway:

Hire compassion. But don’t confuse it with compliance.

Stay tuned for more HR Stories From The Edge written by a seasoned HR leader who has seen it all and fixed most of it quietly, quickly, ethically, and legally.

When You Need A Seasoned HR Pro On-Demand