CREDIT: KERRA SEAY
On Oct. 11, Arjun Bhardwaj's work chair was stolen in broad daylight from his office at the Welcome Kiosk.

On the morning of Oct. 12, Arjun Bhardwaj, Fanshawe College's customer service representative, arrived for his shift at the Welcome Kiosk like any other morning.

Although this morning would not be like any other as Bhardwaj immediately noticed that something wasn't right.

“As soon as I came in I saw the maps were scattered everywhere on the counter and the cards were also scattered,” Bhardwaj said.

He then noticed the most startling discovery yet as his office chair was missing. Bhardwaj instantly made a call down to security.

“I called down to security and said, ‘I'm calling from the Welcome Kiosk and my chair is missing' the security personnel laughed a little bit and said, ‘What colour is your chair?' I said, ‘Blue', she said promptly that it was there ready for pick up.”

According to Fanshawe College's Special Const. Luke Edwards, although stealing the school's property is unfortunately common, this particular case was unique.

“This one is unusual because it was during the day time and somebody just hopped the desk, which is unusual because normally these sort of things happen at night when no one is looking and there are no witnesses in the area.”

The students, according to Edwards, jumped the counter at the Welcome Kiosk and took one of the work chairs. The students were located in the school a short while later and issued a warning under the Student Code of Conduct.

“I think in this case they got off pretty easy…that is sort of the beauty of coming to college here because we consider that we don't want to jeopardize someone's future for a stupid prank,” Edwards said.

According to Edwards, both Bhardwaj and Fanshawe could have pursued this matter legally under the criminal code as this is considered theft under $5000.

“This is college property, it is completely unacceptable for [students] to be jumping a counter and taking a chair. To those students I would say, ‘You're lucky that you got off with a warning because it could've been a lot worse.'”

Thankfully the chair has been returned to its rightful owner and Bhardwaj hopes that this will never happen again.

“Please don't take my chair,” Bhardwaj said. “I really love this chair.”