I think Kim is being controlling as all get-out. I think it gives her a thrill to treat co-workers like little children asking for more craft paper. My take on it is that she does it because she knows it's insulting and irritating and because she CAN. Plus, if ever she is called on it, she can act innocent and play the "I was only trying to save money for the company by preventing waste" card. I think her behavior is demeaning, rude, insulting and quite intentional.
And, sadly, I think there is nothing you can do about it without appearing like a whiny, immature special snowflake. I've seen her kind before. Trust me - stay away from her as much as you can and find other ways to deal with the situation.
I had a very similar situation myself. It became so frustrating that I eventually purchased my own office supplies (at my personal expense) but labeled them as my personal property. I submitted the receipts to accounting for reimbursement, and they asked me why? I explained that it was negatively impacting my productivity to have to replenish office supplies every few minutes because the hand me downs supplied ran out so quickly, so it was more efficient to purchase my own.
The company reimbursed me for my expenses and the office manager went away. Problem solved.
(Although I don't recommend it for your situation, necessarily, because I don't know everyone involved or how that strategy would work out for you.)***
Another idea is to purchase your own supplies and label them, but take the tax deduction for office supplies and expenses if you think the above strategy is too dangerous. I've done that too.
***I should point out that my behavior was PA in and of itself, and while at the time I didn't realize it, I look back on that with some regret. Knowing what I know now, I probably would have handled it differently, possibly by talking to the office manager directly. Then, if it continued, I'd probably do what I did. I should also point out, for the sake of full disclosure, that the OM had other performance issues that contributed to her dismissal (that I'm aware of) including pulling that same routine on a MUCH more senior person in the company with a great deal of authority. That did not go over well, and I'm sure that had more to do with the practice ending than my little dealings with accounting. I figured I should probably point that out, because I don't want to give anyone the idea that 'hey, that will be great' when actually what I did was PA and rather dangerous. A more mature mrkitty would not respond this way now.*** Sorry about that.
***edited by mrkitty for the purposes of clarity and disclosure***
