Speedy Recovery of Missing Files
Uh oh, that original contract from your companys biggest customer is
missing in action. Now what?
First, take a deep breath. Its in your office somewhere and running
around half-crazed is no way to find it. Chances are very good its
simply been misplaced, not lost.
To follow are six easy tips
that will likely result in retrieving the missing document:
-
Start at your desktop. A desktop filled with stacks of records
as well as many loose papers scattered around is a perfect hiding spot
for a missing document. Carefully check under and around each pile and
beneath each loose paper.
-
Go to your in/out box. Maybe you mistakenly placed the document
in that tray on the corner of your desk, the tray thats normally
reserved for ingoing and outgoing mail. Take a look, you might find it
there.
-
Ask around. Finding a missing document could be as simple as
inquiring among co-workers. As you well know, papers in a busy office
are constantly circulating and it could be that your AWOL contract was
routed to someone elses desk accidentally.
-
Visit the file cabinet. Lets say the contract is for Baxter
Corporation. Possibly the document was inadvertently put into the
file...either by you or a co-worker. Go to the file, check the B
section. And, be sure to check surrounding sections...because in
addition to being mistakenly placed in the file cabinet the document
might also have been misfiled in the wrong section.
-
Check office machinery. Perhaps the document, without your
knowledge, has been brought by a co-worker to a fax machine or to the
copy machine. Take a look, you may just find it there.
-
Make a call to the mail room. Many companies employ mail-room
workers who are continuously making the rounds throughout offices,
delivering incoming mail as well as picking up outgoing mail. Maybe
your document was mistakenly identified by a mail-room employee as
outgoing and the document is sitting either in the mail cart or in the
mail room itself.
