Coworker takes colleague's ergonomic office chair claiming she needs it more: 'I would never go and take someone else's office chair'

JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor

Oct 5, 2026 4:30 PM EDT

You're not entitled to other people's belongings.

This is a pretty simple concept, especially at work. If you noticed that your coworker was drinking a coffee, and you thought to yourself, "I could really go for a coffee right now," you wouldn't just take their coffee. You would get up and make your own. That is, unless you're the coworker in this story, and you have a different relationship with other people's stuff. Nobody likes to feel like they're being taken advantage of, no matter who they are. Everyone wants to feel valued and considered, and like they're being respected by the people around them. When you're at work, you want to trust the people you work with. You want to know that they've got your back, and that they're in it with you.

Your relationship with your coworkers is an important one, and not to be overlooked. You spend so much time with these folks that you ought to think about your relationship with them. You need to get on with them somewhat well, or else you'll spend so much time regretting it. It's much easier to coexist with your coworkers than it is to have beef with them. But sometimes someone's behavior is so upsetting that you have no choice but to have beef. People sometimes have unruly and unrelenting behavior, and you can't help that; you can only respond to it.

Co-worker took my office chair.

My co-worker used the service of our firms ergonomist and messaged me today that on advice of the ergonomist, she will be using an ergonomic chair from now on. She then goes on that she swapped her chair with the ergonomic chair I got on day when joined the firm and I quite like.

I told her that this is not ok and that she should order one (which is free and paid by the company). She then gets angry and says I can take 20 other (non- ergonomic) chairs which aren't used on our floor. When I asked her why she doesn't just order the chair, she said she wants to save the company money and started questioning why I need an ergonomic chair.

Am I overreacting here or this completely normal? To me this is just really bad manners. I would never go and take someone else's office chair.

Some_Cartographer478 Go to your boss and tell them you need a new ergonomic chair right away because your co-worker took yours and will not return it.

That's what was happening here, in this relationship between two coworkers that got pretty weird over something as small as a chair. Actually, chairs are a pretty big deal at work. You spend so much time sitting on them. You can't help that. You want your chair to be a good one. You want it to support your back and to be comfortable enough to use all day. That's why some folks opt for ergonomic chairs. The person in this story did, but they quickly realized that their coworker had other plans for them. Keep reading to see what happened here, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Commenters agreed that this was over the line.

Betweenredblue How does she know for certain that you don't need the chair because of your OH assessment? You are under no obligation to disclose your health data to a random coworker. You should ask your HR / OH representative why this person has to have yours

Big Truck_8268 Sounds like she is an entitled bitch. You need to point out that your ergo chair was selected for you when you started working. She needs to get her own

*_{Representative only.}*
*Two coworkers sit side by side at a desk at an office*

wreck_it_ralph_ Bad manners Grow a pair - Take your chair back

fa-fa-fazizzle HR. HR and manager. HR and manager and the coworker's manager. In no world is this appropriate. She is free to source her own ergonomic chair, but the office is not her space to play muscial chairs. Hard pass, and try again.

PsychologicalCell928 Report the problem to HR but make yourself look good by putting in an order for a duplicate chair for her. While ordering the chair make sure you get your boss' &/or department head's approval.

Write on the justification -1 had a management approved ergonomic chair that Jolene unilaterally pre- empted without asking. Rather than make this a big thing I'm ordering a replacement chair. If there is a concern about ordering a duplicate chair then I will reclaim my chair from Jolene.

Ascender141 No you have an entitled to me the toxic coworker. Just go to your manager say so and so I took my chair I'd like to order a replacement they will either get annoyed with you or annoyed with her

for causing drama likely her. I was in a similar situation but I have a disability and I told them if the chair wasn't returned I would file a human rights complaint against them for discrimination and it was back within 15 minutes.

National_Cod9546 That is a "tell the boss and HR" Them take your chair back. She can order one like everyone else.

eternallycynical I was in my late 20's when working as one of four project managers on a major condo build. Recent 50+ year old hire in the same job decided he liked my chair (that I brought from my previous site office) better and he kept stealing it. I kept taking it back, a lot of our time was out walking the site so it wasn't hard.

Then he chained it to his desk. But wait, big job site so of course we have huge bolt cutters. He began screaming at me that I cut the chain they use to lock the site gate. I laughed and said I hoped he had time to rectify the problem he created.

This caused the story to get back to the owner of the development and my boss. We both got called in and interviewed. Dave didnt make it with the company much longer.

Mystery Meat101 This is ridiculous. Go get your chair back. Notify HR and your boss that a coworker took your chair and you are retrieving it. If she needs an egomaniac chair, she needs to go through the process to get one.

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