Not cleaning up your mess in an office

[FlightlessDuck]

OK, this is going to sound infantile, because I know it is, but I want to know how to deal with this. I'm not even sure there is anything really to do, so I guess this is more of a vent...

I work in a section of a building with about 30 people. We have counter space with a coffee maker and a sink, plus a full size fridge. 10 of them are relatively new to this part of the building (2 years in this part of the building, as opposed to 10 for the rest of us).

There are some people who leave a mess on the counter after they use it. If they toast a bagel, there will be bagel crumbs. If they pour coffee, there will be coffee stains. If they make coffee, there will be coffee grounds. They will leave jars on the counter (for days) that they cleaned out and were leaving to dry. It is more than one person who does this. Some of us make sure we clean up our mess and other messes we see, but it's almost like there are two separate cultures clashing here. I don't want to be the "clean police".

The same thing is true with the fridge. There is a self-manged "label your stuff" system in the fridge, and there are two people who clean in once a month (remove anything that expired or looked moldy). This past month a note went up saying when the cleaning was going to happen. Afterwards, someone else left a note saying "clean up your own stuff!"

I just don't understand the attitude. I mean, it would be great if people would clean up their own stuff, but they don't.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I pick my battles at work and this is one I let go.

I agree, it's annoying, though, but some people are slobs and/or think their mothers work there. (Maybe you need one of those signs!)

 

[Acklander]

Some people are messier than others, and unless you catch them in the act and call them on it, not sure what else you could do. Maybe everyone could agree to clean the kitchen daily on a rotating basis? With 30 people there, it would only come up less than once a month.

 

[mickeysgal]

I always wonder how their homes look. Usually, people are more attentive and apt to clean up after themselves when they are in the public eye and more relaxed at home. Their homes must be quite a sight.

I'd put up a sign telling them to clean up after themselves and put things away after each use. I'd also throw out anything left on the counter that was left there for days. Perhaps leave a sign that says things left in the fridge and on the counters will be thrown away every Friday if not claimed. After a few rounds of throwing things out, people will wake up and start doing the right thing by cleaning up after themselves.

You all have to "live together" there - so it's all about respect and personal responsibility.

 

[Christine]

You will *never* win this battle. Just be glad that there are one or two people that do accept responsibility. We have the same issues where I work.

The only real solution (and it's not much of one) is to take a "no holds barred' approached. In our kitchen, if a mug or jar or dish sits on the counter more than 3 or 4 days, it goes in the trash by our kitchen police.

Once a month, the referigerator is cleaned and, same thing, if it's not labled or removed during the cleaning time, it is trashed, even if the container is nice.

Do this a few times and some people get the message. But it's not perfect.

 

[MM27]

People that work with me are like this too, which is why I avoid the fridge in the teacher's room. I keep my lunch in my lunchbag with an icepack in it, if needed.

People will put stuff in there and either forget about it or just decide that they are done with it. The custodians do clean it over every once in a while, but it's not often enough to avoid the funky smell.

One of the girls I work with bought a cover for the microwave to put over your food so that it didn't splatter all over the microwave because people don't clean that either and someone stole it after about two days. We have aftercare people that use our teacher's room too, so there are a lot of people in and out all day.

 

[MIGrandma]

I don't understand people who don't clean up after themselves in the type of situation you're describing. I have to wonder what their kitchen looks like at home, unless they do have a parent or spouse/significant other who just automatically cleans up after them.

I remember when DH and I used to spend two weeks with his younger sisters during the winter when their parents went to Florida. The girls would come home after school and make sandwiches. They did put the bread, meat, condiments, etc. away but they left crumbs all over the counter. I cleaned them up a few times, then once just left them there, thinking maybe when they took care of their plates they would clean up. Nope. It drove me nuts.

 

[Katie Dawn]

but I want to know how to deal with this.

If you figure it out let us know!

There's really nothing you can do to make them clean up after themselves. At my office housekeeping ends up cleaning off the counters (if no one else does it.) The microwave & fridge are cleaned when another employee decides they've had enough.

A few times someone has posted up a note in the break room that says, "Your Momma doesn't work here -- clean up after yourself!" which I find amusing AND makes it clear how the majority of us (who DO clean up after ourselves) feel about it. The sign keeps getting removed because we have employees from other companies come through our break room at times and it is seen as unprofessional (someone would of course clean everything up before non-employees came through... but that sign makes it pretty obvious it's not always so clean) But every so often that sign shows up again!

 

[dismom2]

I feel your pain. I'm sort of a neat-freak, so I clean up after myself and usually end up cleaning up after others---if it's obvious they aren't going to(sometimes I wait a while to see if they will).

Many years ago I started a new job, and the first day or so, when I wasn't busy, I was told to clean the fridge. Mind you, I had never used it. Turned out it was broken so there was rotten food in there. It was disgusting and smelly. I was so annoyed that they took advantage of the 'new girl' (me) and made me clean the fridge because they didn't want to. Come to think of it, this happened to me at another job years earlier, too--only I didn't have to clean the fridge--just the entire break room which I had also never eaten in before.

I agree--people need to clean up after themselves. They also shouldn't take advantage of others. Consideration makes for a more pleasant workplace for sure.

 

[Keli]

Every office I've ever worked in has had these same issues. People are the same everywhere, some lazy and sloppy and some that are either neater in the first place or clean up after themselves if they aren't.
We've got only a few people in our office and with continuing complaining by one coworker (peolpe hate her griping but I'm thankful because it's been working) most folks have started picking up after themselves. Plus the two worst offenders have moved on and their replacements are neater (at least so far).

 

[Pakey]

Same here; every office has those people.

My favorite story was at my last place of business. One of my staff never ever replaced the roll of toilet paper when she was the last to finish it. So someone else on my staff started making "dolls" out of the empty rolls that she left by drawing faces on them. These were kept on the large counter in the bathroom and with time, the number of roll people grew into an army.

This woman never caught on (or at least pretended not to know) what was going on. I don't know if the rest of the staff knew either, I never heard it discussed.

At my current place, we have a full kitchen. I hate walking in there and seeing dirty pots/pans left there. If you are going to cook, wash the pans people.

 

[Carly_Roach]

Ugh! Add me to the list of people who are sick of others not cleaning up after themselves. By the end of the week the sink in our office is typically full of dirty dishes left there by the men whose wives apparently take care of their messes at home. I used to wash them at the end of the week because I didn't like how it looked, but I stopped doing that months ago.

The stance taken by the other lady and I is that we'll take care of our own dishes and maybe our boss's dishes when we find them (because he takes care of us), but the hell with everyone else. If/when the owner gets sick of it, we'll remind him that girls are generally neater than boys and if he has to yell at anyone yell at the slobs down the hall. We're not their wives.

Funny story: the guy who is the worst offender of all decided to take it upon himself to finally clean out the fridge this past summer. He spent two hours acting disgusted and telling everyone how awful they were and how despicable it that things were growing in there and how this wasn't going to happen again. Guess what? It's happening again and it's typically his stuff that is the culprit.

I suppose he has to keep repeating his lesson before it finally gets learned.

 

[Tinkerbell58]

I have the same thing in my office. Crumbs, sugar, coffee stains, etc. are left on the counter, which attract ants. And, I'd like to add, if you spill something on the floor, please wipe it up. A few people have slipped on small puddles of coffee or water left on the floor.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

this is typical everywhere.

one year my brother and I got tired of cleaning up the break room and threw everything out. told them that if they couldn't clean up the coffee grounds, suger, coffee, creamer, or the whatever they cooked in the microwave, i sure wasn't. threw the coffee pot in the dumpster and closed the break room.

we eventually got another, my dad likes coffee.

 

[OhMari]

I think I saw a special on 20/20 and it said the work place refrigerator is one of the biggest carriers of germs. People bring their lunch in different containers, bags, etc., and don't wash those containers. If you wonder why you may be getting sick sometimes, it's the refrigerator.

 

[Cyndibear]

Whew! Glad I'm not the only one that has to deal with this. My problem is not only in the breakroom/kitchen, it carries over to the bathroom!!! Seems people don't know how to replace toilet paper rolls when they use the last piece!!! Oh, by the way, the extra rolls are right BEHIND them on the back of the toilet!!!! Don't get me started on the tampons.....

Cyndi

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Well, at least I know I'm not alone

 

[marcyinPA]

My mom has had that problem in her office for YEARS. She is the one who makes the coffee every day, because she gets in the office first. (funny...she was told that if she is not there, nobody makes the coffee. They go without)

Anyway, people never clean up their stuff. They leave mugs in the sink and everything. My mom, being the person she is, cleans everything up before she leaves. I try to tell her not to, but it's just who she is, and I'm sure people know that and take advantage. Not everyone, but some.

BUT, her biggest pet peeve is when someone finishes the toilet paper and doesn't replace the roll. Or they use the last "spare" roll and don't go to the closet to replace the spare.

That would aggravate me too! How hard is it to replace a roll of toilet paper?

Unfortunately, a lot of people have the "It's not my job, I don't get paid to do that" work ethic these days. I personally think it sucks. If you see something that needs to be done, then just do it!! If you see trash on the floor, pick it up! You know how many people just walk over the trash??

 

[GingerJay]

I think I must be pretty lucky- I work in a small law office; there are only 6 of us- including our boss. We have a pretty good system of keeping everything clean, but I think it has a lot to do with the "mama" of the office ordering us younger folks to clean up our mess

Our office is pretty clean and we don't have any problems with the shared areas like the kitchen, microwave, or fridge

 

[PatsMom]

One lady in my office was doing a great deal of cleaning up iin the kitchen. She was the first one in so she started the coffee and emtpied the dishwasher while it was dripping. Then at the end of the day she made sure the dishwasher got run. She would clean up all the dishes left in the sink - mostly left by the men. We knew who they belonged to by what was in them.

One day she decided she'd had enough. She took all the dirty dishes that she could identify the owner of and deposited them on that person's desk. With a note saying she would be glad to demonstrate the process of rinsing and putting them in the dishwasher at the next staff meeting if they needed assistance in that area. Helped for a while.