I'm beginning to think my manager is stealing stuff from the stockroom where we both work. The items in question have been slated to be destroyed, but about a week ago my manager told me I could take some of the items home, which I did.

Then, over the past week, friends of my manager have been coming to my office to also come and take some of the items.

Today, another of my manager's friends came with a pick-up truck to take the rest away.

I'm concerned that this isn't above-board like I did when my manager indicated that I could take the items home. I feel like I've been coerced into being complicit in something that is against my company's policies and may even be illegal.

I don't feel at all comfortable asking my manager if it's OK, and I think I should bring it to the attention of HR, but I don't know how since I too have taken stock now.

Please help!

Well, if you didn't know for certain if it was all right to take things, then you probably shouldn't have done so without being clear on the policy.

It's a choice you have to make - go to HR and accept the consequences if there are any, or chalk it up to a lesson learned and, if the policy is that taking isn't allowed, don't ever do it again.

Telling on your boss may be the right thing to do, but is it practical? Hard to say.

Well, if you didn't know for certain if it was all right to take things, then you probably shouldn't have done so without being clear on the policy.

Additional context:

There have been occasions where distribution of unused stock has been in line with policies concerning the goods. In situations before, it would be a fair distribution to all employees within our department of a couple hundred employees.

In this particular occasion, however, it seems more like I was made to be complicit in order to make sure I would turn a blind eye while he gave all of it away to his friends.