Mine is: jelly beans, advil, migraine prescription meds, ginger/black tea, Lara bars and mascara, which doubles as eyeliner in a pinch.

Feminine products (of the pad and tampon variety), napkins (not the same thing!), Zicam, cough drops, and an eyeglasses wiping cloth.

Nothing.

But there is a convenience store in the building, another one across the street, and several drug stores within a 5 minute walk, so those might be mitigating factors.

I'm actually curious how may other people don't keep any sort of emergency personal stuff in their desk at work. Because another explanation might just be that I'm weird in this regard.

Toothbrush, toothpaste, three sets of earrings, two necklaces, a spare shirt, a set of workout clothes, running shoes, a container of oatmeal, a box of cereal, a bag of almonds, hand moisturizer, $20, a bunch of ponytail holders, two spare pairs of heels, mascara, lipstick, a book, spare set of contacts, spare glasses, and a spare set of my house and car keys.

I have a lot of drawers.

And one of the secretaries has a drawer for me that has water bottles, candy, and life cereal in it.

Almonds, toothbrush, vitamins (usually; I'm out at the moment), maxi pads.

Oh, and Sugar Daddy pops! Leftover from our wedding one year ago. They're still good.

Well, not all in the desk drawer, but in the office I've got spare set of all makeup items, extra pantyhose, workout shoes and outfit, a ton of canvas carry bags, and cheater glasses. My desk stash is way low because I'm determined not to snack inappropriately, but still have horehound drops, sugar free gum, altoids, a very aged candy cane, and toothpicks, as well as a ton of fresh batteries. (Used to have top quality chocolate and caramels and a bag of hazelnuts before the great purge.)

Oh yeah, also toothpaste, toothbrush, floss, and a variety of aspirin, along with mouthwash, emory boards, and clear nailpolish. And extra flashlights and calculators. As my husband says, I come with accessories.

- Toothbrush, toothpaste, toothpicks
- Ibuprofen
- Lemon & Ginger and Rooibos herbal tea bags
- Sachets of Quaker Oats for my morning porridge
- extra-long treasury tags (which are like gold dust in our office)
- lip balm
- moisturiser
- reading glasses from the 99p store (for the days when I wear my contacts, when I need glasses to read)
- artificial tear fluid (air-con building, dry air)
- deodorant
- sticky lint/cat hair remover roller
- smart shoes (for the days I wear Shape-Ups to walk to the station)
- (under the desk) a large umbrella and a roll of giftwrap

fishbike: I'm across the street from a grocery store, Walgreen's, a couple department stores and a host of chain and not chain restaurants plus two catering trucks park outside all day every day, which is why I don't have emergency food or clothing in my desk. But I am basically never more than 50 feet from ibuprofen or actual prescription migraine medication, so the proximity of a drugstore is irrelevant in the emergency headpill department.

I don't even have a drawer for my non-existent emergency items.

I work from home, so nothing.

But when I worked in a lab I didn't keep anything either. Huh. Just going through what other people keep:

- painkillers, nope we had a first aid kit in the lab if things got desperate.
- tampons, nope. On the pill, so my period always predictable.
- lip balm, well I guess I always had some in my bag.
- moisturiser, yes to hand cream in my bag as well (an absolute essential when you work in with lab animals because you wash your hands eleventymillion times a day). No other moisturiser though.
- tea/coffee. nope, just go to the cafeteria if I wanted some.
- deodorant, nope.
- food, nope. Never snacked at work and my desk was in the lab so I couldn't have food in there anyway
- makeup, rarely wear it and never to work
- only have glasses for driving, so never needed any corrective lens stuff

so... yeah.

When I worked retail, I always kept a stash of tampons and some ibuprofen (though I kept this in the communal drawer so everyone could use it) on hand. A lot of the items listed above we kept communally, and with good reason. An emery board, for example: a salesperson with a snagged nail can ruin a $400 dress in an instant.

I also stashed a key to my apartment (right upstairs) sealed in an envelope and taped to the underside of a storage shelf so it couldn't get shuffled around and lost. That came in handy more than once.

My boss also kept a stash of liquor minis in the back room "in case you need them!" That was weird.

I'm really lucky in that my office provides tampons and pads for free, in a basket in the ladies' room. Kind of a great perk! Also, band-aids.

So in my drawer:
-new pair of black pantyhose
-ibuprofen
-safety pins
-hand lotion
-lip balm
-can of almonds
-box of crackers
-something made of dark chocolate (I find it satisfies my sweet tooth but I don't pig out on it like I would milk chocolate)
-minty gum
-herbal teas
-leftover grocery store plastic bags, for whatever

Oh, toothpaste! And a spare pair of shoes --- for long days on my feet!

When I worked:

- clear nail polish for pantyhose runs
- hand lotion (working with paper is so drying)
- lip balm

Everything else was in my purse/backpack including: pain killers, more lip balm, more hand lotion, feminine hygiene products, bandages. Food items were useless to have because I would eat them.

The proximity of Walgreens to my office (on the 1st floor of my building) is exactly why I have so much emergency shit in my desk. Over the course of seven years you end up needing to buy Advil, tampons, hair bands, knee highs, lotion, etc. at least once and then I keep the stuff in my desk rather than take it home.

I'm also a special case since I often ride my bike to work and shower in the office building locker room, so I have all kinds of shoes, plus shampoo, conditioner, face wash, etc - everything I need to get ready in the morning. The only thing I cart back and forth is my makeup. (Although I have some spare stuff from a time when I forgot it.) I have more personal items than paper files in my various desk drawers.

In fact, I drove to work today because I'm leaving for a business trip tomorrow and all my work shoes are here. Getting them all home to pack would have been challenging on a bike or CTA. :)

I don't have a drawer either, but I do keep a frozen food entree in the office freezer in case of unexpected overtime. Also I keep a book at work in case of unexpected overtime with no work to do.

Work?

I'm with FishBike. Nothing. There's someone here who always has crackers, pretzels, candy, mints, bandaids, headache meds, tissues, hand lotion, tea bags...all that stuff. I marvel every time I see her drawer and wonder why I don't have stuff.

1 pack expired microwave popcorn, plain envelopes, sandwich baggies (2), sunscreen single, sterile wipes, floss, one band-aid, nail file, aloe vera gel, plastic forks (2), pudding cup, lint roller, half a xanax (in case of emergency it's been there for months), a razor, petroleum jelly, hot mustard pacs (5), hot sauce (1 jar, one pac), 1 pac ketchup, salt, pepper, gum, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, tea, lemonade mix, headphones.

It's like a tone poem.

Oh, and baby-wipes.

Painkillers, allergy meds, Pepto, Band-Aids, makeup, deodorant, tampons, loose change and a few dollars, toothpaste, toothbrush, floss, and the purple sticky flags I'm hoarding.

Now for my snack drawer...

Wow. I'm really impressed by some of these collections.

I have a hairbrush, hand lotion, emery board and face powder in my "personal" drawer. If I keep snacks in the office I just eat and eat them until they are gone. I do have a couple of ancient, nearly-empty boxes of herbal tea in a junk drawer.

I keep a lot of the stuff mentioned here (ibuprofen, lip balm/gloss) in my purse/work bag.

2 energy bars, a bottle of iodine pills, an MRE, 50 ft. paracord, flashlight, house keys, whistle, mylar blanket, first-aid kit, scary knife.

I live in earthquake country.

At one point, I found 3 pairs of (clean) gym shorts in my desk. A colleague discovered she had stashed away a bathing suit, a dress, and a pair of boots. A few desks later, I had 3 bottles of wine, some dollar-bottles of liquor in a bag with the label "in case of emergency", protein powder, homemade chai mix, corn meal, socks, and a pair of gym shorts. Now I just keep a flask with a bit of bourbon in it.

I keep very little in my desk. Plasticware to eat my brownbagged lunches, napkins for same, and teabags. If I have anything else it's in the bag I carry - perhaps some ibuprofen and the stuff I always have.

I have 5 drawers at work and 2 of them are for personal items :)

Top drawer:
Individual tylenol (acetaminophen) packs
Tea bags
Hand lotion
chapstick
fork knife spoon
band aids
napkins

Bottom drawer:
rice cakes
peanut butter
chocolate covered espresso beans
TastyBite meals- palak paneer, punjab egglplant. chana masala (for if I get stuck without lunch or dinner breaks)
Olive oil
Vinegar
dried cranberries
granola
soy sauce packs
salt and pepper packs
almond slivers (these 4 are for when I bring salad to work)

I actually cleared/emptied my desk in a fit of pique a few months back, intending to leave. That got stalled and I eventually started brining in some stuff, but not nearly the amount that I'd built up over the years. I've got a spork and vitamins in the desk, and a set of dressy clothes for when I have to meet with executives or other VIPs. My meds, makeup, and lotions are all in my little bag of holding now. That goes in a desk drawer in the morning, so I guess I keep those things in my desk.

Almost nothing in my desk - I carry a backpack to and from work (perhaps a hangover from being a frequent traveller who also has a long commute on public transport). In my desk drawer, I keep lunch stuff (almost always various instant noodle products) and a fork to eat them with and that's about it for personal stuff.

I guess I'm lucky in that I have an actual office with a fridge and a small wardrobe, so I get to keep some stuff in them. The fridge mostly holds milk and a bowl/spoon for the box of cereal in my bookcase (I leave home early and can't cope with eating while stil half-asleep, so eat breakfast at work). Coffee and an electric kettle sit on top of the fridge. The wardrobe has a towel hanging in it for wiping off sweat and a bag containing work-out gear.

My backpack contains pretty much everything I need to survive, including all sorts of cords and other hardware and various painkillers etc. That goes under my desk during the day, so maybe that counts?

Oh, just noticed that there's a couple of bottles of liquor on top of the fridge as well. Just in case of natural disasters ;-)