A reader writes:
I work in a creative company that employs over 50 people, of whom about 30 come to the office regularly. It’s a great place to work overall, but I’ll be honest, I’m in a bit of a frustrating professional moment. After being laid off from my more senior role earlier this year, I took a junior position here because, times are tough and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
My current role involves managing the studio space, including keeping our tiny kitchen clean and running the dishwasher. I don’t really mind this, I run the washer every night before I leave and empty it in the morning so there’s always room for dishes. I am disgusted by the fact that a group of my coworkers keep leaving their dirty dishes and cups piled in the sink, despite the fact that there is a fully functional dishwasher in there.
I’ve already sent out a group message asking people to put their dishes straight in the dishwasher instead of leaving them in the sink, and that helped for a while, but the old habits are coming back. I’m now regularly cleaning up after adults who absolutely know better.
To be honest, I know cleaning the kitchen is technically part of my job. But after spending years in more senior roles, there’s something that stings about feeling like an office maid to people who can’t be bothered with basic manners. I know this might be an ego thing of me and I’m trying to keep that in mind, but it’s hard.
My question is: How do I communicate clearly and professionally that this behavior needs to stop, without coming across as pushy or encroaching? Is there a way to move this forward so I don’t feel like I’m making too much out of the recipes? And is there anything I can do to manage my frustration in the meantime?
It depends on whether or not to clean other people’s dishes supposed To be a part of your work. In some offices, this may be along the lines of the idea that they want other people to be able to get back to their jobs quickly or not have to take time off between back-to-back meetings and/or they have accepted the reality that if they don’t specifically make it a part of someone’s job, the kitchen quickly becomes messy.
If it’s an intentional part of your job… well, it’s work, even if painful. If that’s the case, you have a few options: You can put up with the work by seeing it as a perfectly respectable task, even if it’s different from what you’re used to, or you can push your boss to do it. No part of the job (although this may be challenging if they specifically want someone charged with this so that other people can get back to their jobs more quickly), or you may decide that you are not interested in a job that includes this element and look elsewhere. But if this is really part of the role and not just your coworkers being inconsiderate, then you have to accept it as the reality of the situation and try not to dwell on it.
On the other hand, if it is No This is supposed to be part of your job – if people have to do their own dishes and you just run the dishwasher at the end of the day and keep the rest of the place clean – that’s one thing. If that’s the case… well, you’ve got a battle ahead of you. This is often the case with office kitchens, which often suffer from tragedy of the commons (Where no one feels it is actually their responsibility to take care of the shared resource). You’re looking for a way to tell people to “get over it” that will actually get through to them and won’t make you melt down in anger, but as generations of people frustrated with messy office kitchens will tell you, there’s no such magical series of words. Instead, realistically, your choices are:
* Continue that cycle where you remind people, they get better for a while, and then back off.
* Enlist someone who has the power to lay down the law with your coworkers about this (which they may or may not be inclined to do this way – and in practice, they may not be inclined to upset a top performer who may have left a mug in the sink while running between meetings).
* Explain to someone above you that the only way to solve this are more extreme measures, such as allowing you to throw out any utensils left in the sink at the end of the day, moving all utensils left in the sink at the end of the day to a “dirty utensils bin” where they will eventually be thrown out if not retrieved, or switching the kitchen to only disposable pots and utensils (possible, but they would have to agree that the problem is bad enough that it can be warranted, And there is an environmental cost to doing so).
* Find a way to make peace with it (even if it’s just deciding that no matter how annoying it is, you like the money you get from not having to deal with it).
