Juicy Question. Would You Peek at Your Boss's......???

Nope. Nothing good comes from being unethical... and that's what reading someone else's email is. What are you going to do with the information you read - share it? Then you're not only a sneak, but a gossip.

I agree with all the 'don't do it' answers. Besides, what would you do if you found something incriminating? Tell them what you were doing, and how you found it?

I would not do it. Also, you know that you really shouldn't do it, or you wouldn't be posting this question in the first place.

I agree with Jane - Mind Your Own Business! There are many ways for people/companies to track/see what you are doing on the company computers. They can see websites, track keystrokes, and 'watch' the same screen you are looking at - at the same time. Is it worth it to give your boss/the company a reason to distrust YOU??

So, my answer is no even if nobody would find out. My integrity is worth more to me than any job.

Some quotes for you to ponder:

If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters. ~Alan Simpson

Character is much easier kept than recovered. ~Thomas Paine

Everyone tries to define this thing called Character. It's not hard. Character is doing what's right when nobody's looking. ~J. C. Watts

(By the way: whether you believe it or not, GOD is always watching!)

who cares who thinks of who, I wouldn't do it. Why would you jeopardize your job like that? Personally, my boss leaves his computer on every day, and I use his desk every day, and I do not peek. You say he is causing trouble for co workers. I guess you'd be in his same boat too, because sounds like to me you want to cause trouble for him. MYOB

Absolutely not.

It is completely unethical.

Read your "so what happened" comments, and LITERALLY laughed out loud. I thought it was funny that people that said no were "high and mighty" and "judgmental", while people that said yes were "honest". Who's being judgmental here, N.? Why ask the question if you'd only take note of the ones that agree with you anyway? You're being silly, and basically saying that only those who admit that they'd do something that was, well, dishonest....are honest. :P
In answer to your question, very honestly: HECK NO. Because I just wouldn't. It MIGHT cross my mind, but no way would I do it. I'd hit sign out so that the temptation wasn't even there.

Would you want your boss looking at your e-mails?
The boss is "causing trouble" and your coworkers don't think highly of the boss. What kind of dirt are you hoping to find? What will you do with the dirt IF you do find it?
There is something to be said for personal integrity and no....I wouldn't look.
At least not before clearing out my desk and having another job to go to.
I've been in too many positions where I was trusted with whatever was said, e-mailed, written or eluded to in business situations.....
A breach in privacy and confidentiality on the part of a subordinate would be a terminable offense in my opinion.

Don't go there.

No. Not only no but HELL NO!

If the boss is causing problems - start updating your resume or have your husband update his resume and press on.

What good will come of peeking?
It is ENTIRELY possible he's setting you up? You get the information and "gossip" about it?

If your spouse can't stand up for himself - there are bigger problems. I don't know what line of work you are in but it seems that IF your spouse is doing his/her job - then it won't matter what the boss says. The proof is in the pudding.

If the boss isn't respected either - I would press on. All it will do is cause more problems for you and everyone else. Is it really worth it?

No.

I go into work after hours and on the weekend all the time, and I am the only one there at those times. I guess I could snoop since I'm there alone, but I never have and never would.

Nothing good will come of this. Don't do it. But I have a feeling you already have.

Hmmmmm. I tell people to live like YOU'RE being watched because there is a GOOD chance you ARE being watched.

My former bosses had cameras in the building and could watch from home. I was the operations mananger and I didn't even know where they were!

Remember, curiosity killed the cat.

.

Um, would I?
Heck, I know I have.

Oh Gosh, I am not proud of it, but human nature got the best of me. (nota bena, this was years and years ago)

What I learned was that they had a heck of a job, received countless emails dealing with minutiae and I did not envy them the time the had to spend on, basically, BS.

Actually increased my respect for them.

But, I would vote to never do it. IMHO

God Bless

I didn't answer your question but I think it's funny in your follow up that you think only the women who said they would do it are honest. You really don't believe there are honest women out there that would choose NOT to do it?

Not if you want to keep your job. Definitely do not do it.

no for several reasons: not ok, not appropriate, and would not want to jeopardize job etc.

Fun question! No I wouldn't do it for the following reasons. 1) It is unprofessional and anything I might uncover would be useless because I would have to divulge how I found my information, thus destroying my credibility. I prefer to let my reputation stand on honesty and integrity. Sooner or later people that are involved in any wrongdoing will get themselves caught. I would steer clear if you think there is a possibility of any mischief going on. 2) Nobody may be watching and it may be easy to take a peek and very, very tempting, but I always have in the back of my mind that God is watching. Would he be ashamed of me? I think he would.
That is truly my honest answer!
A.

Nope, I'd fear that I'd get caught and either punished or fired! I won't want either if I worked!

let me guess, you already did and are now feeling kinda weird about it??
when I was younger, I think I would possibly taken a peek... then again, I tended to follow the rules... but beware, just because you think you aren't being watched, doesn't mean you aren't..... nowadays.. you just never know when someone has placed a hidden camera, not to mention, these days, they are so small , it makes it hard to see them.....
if you haven't already sneaked a peak. I would say.. don't do it... also, if you did.. NEVER tell anyone..... although some say they don't like the boss, it doesn't mean they don't want to get ahead .. which could mean they rat you out.. BEWARE.. just don't chance it..

Would you be ok if he/she peeked at your email without your permission? I mean, who is to say that he doesn't think you are a troublemaker that no one likes? Oh, and if you find a coworkers purse open on a table that you don't like, why not dig through it too?

If you have a legitimate claim against this person... confront them about it, or go to their superior and handle things the adult way. If that isn't working... start setting up interviews and look for a new job somewhere else. Invading someones privacy- even if they are an awful person- does nothing but lower you to thier level. Sure I understand the temptation... but this is like keying the car of someone you don't like- or egging their house... you think about it, but you DON'T do it because you KNOW it is wrong, regardless of if you get caught!

I hope you logged out of their account and didn't look at anything...

-M.

Nope. I have better things to do with my time.

No. my boss used to leave his computer up all the time and all kinds of personal things all over. Even when I had to go into his office when he wasn't there I never snooped or peeked at things. I just don't want to know what is going on....Ignorance in bliss in some cases. The more you know the more trouble you can get in to.

Nope. What good could come of it? If you found something out, what would you do with the information?

Also, you could be on camera. We have cameras all over the place where I work. Our employees don't know that even our office computers are monitored.

It just puts you down on your boss's level, in my opinion. If it's that bad, then maybe you need to be looking for another place to work.

He is still your boss, and at the end of the day you will not have a job along with your friend and spouse. I have had friend have proof in front of them and bring it to HR and guess what, they don't have a job. We are always the wrong one.

A very good possibility - I'm a very curious person

No, I have higher morals and ethics than to snoop on people. Plus, my time is more valuable to me than to spend it doing something so wasteful and unethical.

No, for two reasons. First, if you are opening unread emails, he will be able to tell that someone has done so. Apart from that, what would you do with any information that you got? Even if you could implicate the boss in something, doing so would mean that you would have to disclose where you got that information from - reading his email without his knowledge and that could certainly have consequences for you that would not be beneficial

No way!!! I would probably be curious but never snoop just because what IF you get caught?? Also, you are apparently working for the wrong boss and checking the emails is not going to solve anything. I wouldn't like anyone going through mine so I wouldn't do it to them. Think it throughly, it is not worth it. If I were you I would consider finding a new boss! :)

I just might actually. Not that that would make it right for you to do, but I'd be hard pressed to resist.

Nope, I'd log my boss off in a heartbeat. I wouldnt want anyone to do it to me, that's how I'd base my decision.

Honestly? I wouldn't peek. When it comes to company computers that belong to someone else it doesn't matter to me if the other person left the computer unlocked or left their password for everyone to see. It feels too unethical no matter how I feel personally about the person. Instead I would probably report the security risk to Human Resources. That way I wouldn't be getting myself in trouble for potentially seeing something I shouldn't, and I would be handling a security risk that's serious AND sticking it to a lousy boss at the same time.

No - two wrongs don't make a right. Looking at someone's emails at work is highly unethical, and just because he/she is not nice doesn't change that. You could always let you boss know that he/she didn't log out of their computer, maybe hint that their email was accessible (but DON't actually say that you might have looked!!) - if there was something they didn't want to you see, that alone might scare them enough for him/her to lay off on the trouble-making!!

What do you think you would find? And how would you possibly make good use of it?

What kind of boss "makes things up" and "causes trouble" for employees?

Sounds like you should look for a new job and leave that place on good terms, rather than making more trouble there.

My immediate thought is a definate YES but... I would probably never be able to go through w/ it. I recently quit a part time job & the head boss was a major sleeze & I had oppurtunity to do things like that & never could bring myself to do it.

Do it. I totally would, especially if they are a trouble causing punk. And if you are doing it to see what trouble they are stirring up for your spouse, how can you feel bad about having their back? You can always mark the emails as unread after you have opened them. And seriously if someone is filming your every move at work don't you think that your job is already in jeopardy if your boss distrusts you that much? It takes a lot of effort to hide a camera and to install software that you cant see/find using the computer to track your every move on. Go be a spy =)
Good Luck

In this hypothetical job am I a spy??? :) Or a politician?

In either case (and a few others that come to mind) ; absolutely.

In ordinary life; nope.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one, who says, "No." My supervisor has already done that. She has left her computer on before and called me up to shut it down. I wouldn't for the following reasons:
1. It just feels dishonest. I would feel so guilty and I prefer that everyone knows they can trust me and view me as an honest person. Once you blow the trust of your supervisor, things can get even nastier.
2. It's too easy to get caught. Someone else might see you looking through your supervisor's computer and tell him/her. Even people you think wouldn't tell, just might be the first ones to run to "Daddy." Sometimes you think your supervisor has left for the day, but makes a return trip, which is not good if you have bad luck.
3. Sometimes supervisors will leave their computer on as a test, to see if you do take a peak.
4. So there may be something really "bad" on it. You can't do anything about it, because you have to devulge how you got the information in the first place.

Heck yeah. And I would also erase email that I deemed hurtful!

I might be tempted but I doubt I would do it. Not unless I had another job lined up at least.

Actually, if it's on work computers - NO ONE should assume anything on the machine is private - it's not. Employee correspondence can and are read, and many, many HR departments are all over Facebook and do take action against what they find.
People like to think privacy improves as they move up the ranks, and maybe by the time you are CEO it does, but middle management is just as subject to scrutiny as everyone else.
If you are not HR, you need to be careful with what you find. You already know the guy is trouble and a liar. How could this bite you? Do not blackmail. Nothing good ever comes from that. Best scenario is finding something that would cost the company money, because the Legal Dept would take care of it for you - they still bend over backwards to avoid lawsuits.

First of all, you do realize your boss is reading all of yours, right? Second, if you do look at anything of his/hers, he/she will be able to see exactly what you looked at. Even if you erase history, I'm sure there is some program on that computer somewhere to track your every move, whether your boss plays dumb or not! Good luck!

Yeah - I'd do it. It's totally wrong on so many levels - but I'd do it.

Well since my entire JOB is reading my boss' email - yes. However, be aware that most corporations have keystroke loggers, access timers, and all sorts of data mining software working behind the scenes, so simply "marking as unread" won't necessarily ensure you avoid detection. If your boss truly sucks, why not just take it up with the COO/ HR department?

No. I just probably wouldn't, because I wouldn't be that interested.

Oh, no. Never. Nothing good ever comes from snooping. I'm not saying the thought would never cross my mind, but logic would win. I have never met anyone who was happy with the result of their snooping.

Just wanna say that I HONESTLY would not do it. For one, I have an ENORMOUS conscience. And who knows? There could be hidden cameras or someone seeing you doing it and telling on you. Anyway, I believe in both God AND karma... SO, that would just be a bad idea for me ALL AROUND!

BUT, I probably would not work at a place like that either. How totally awful to work for a boss like that, and not just you (or whoever you are speaking about), but your spouse as well. That's sad- and honestly I would not tolerate it. I mean, SO MUCH TIME is spent at a job, and we all have a very short life, why spend a big chunk of it unhappy like that? I simply would not work there. I am a SAHM now, but I must say, I would much rather get a much harder job or one totally out of my field than work for a crappy boss.

It is certainly not fair of you to assume the ones that wouldn't do it were not being honest and are all "high and mighty"... that's a very, VERY childish view of things- WAY MORE childish than admitting that you would look at the computer!