Random Rants 94 I rant at the thread title and shake my fist menacingly.

[warpus]

Speaking of office nonsense, one day I was in the office kitchen grabbing a fork and a guy casually says something about rat poop. I stopped and said.. Excuse me? Rat poop? He opens the cutlery drawer and points at the rat poop. I'm like WTH there's rat poop in the cutlery drawer?? Maybe there should be an email about this.. or something? The guy says good idea.

No email ever comes. I have not touched the cutlery from our office kitchen since

 

[Birdjaguar]

Speaking of office nonsense, one day I was in the office kitchen grabbing a fork and a guy casually says something about rat poop. I stopped and said.. Excuse me? Rat poop? He opens the cutlery drawer and points at the rat poop. I'm like WTH there's rat poop in the cutlery drawer?? Maybe there should be an email about this.. or something? The guy says good idea.

No email ever comes. I have not touched the cutlery from our office kitchen since

Why not put a little sign in the drawer: Beware of the rat poop!

 

[warpus]

Why not put a little sign in the drawer: Beware of the rat poop!

One of the problems with our office kitchen is that when we initially got the kitchen.. there were zero announcements, meetings, or anything regarding who is responsible for what. There's a dishwasher there, fancy coffee machine, toaster oven, etc. and some of this requires some maintenance, loading/unloading of dishes, etc. and people just sort of slotted in to do their part as they saw fit. And so.. usually when something needs to get done, somebody will just do it.. but rat poop is not a very common or even expected maintenance item, so nobody wants to touch it. So.. I'm sure there's been some talk here and there about it, and we have rat traps, but absolutely zero communication to the office that this is even a problem or what steps were taken to try to mitigate it. It's infuriating. Putting up signs about the rat problem would take some leadership that has been lacking or well just completely absent when it comes to the kitchen

One poor employee basically also became the "empty dishwasher, and clean out the milk part of the coffee machine" person, since I assume she started doing it out of good will and it just sort of became her job. Over time resentment grew and now we don't even have the milk part attached to the coffee machine.. I used it a bunch of times and assumed we had some sort of system in place to maintain it and keep it clean that I wasn't a part of. Nope, it was just one worker who took on all that and just started doing it, since nobody else was. But yep, now we don't even have that part attached, since she stopped doing it, and I assume there was enough resentment, and who knows what else going on

 

[Birdjaguar]

"Tragedy of the Commons" in the office. Nobody can be bothered to share responsibilities for the common good. If 2 or 3 people all agreed to rotate the cleaning of the milk part, then perhaps it could be put back into use. But mostly people are a selfish lot and abandonment is easier than finding solutions for the greater good. I am sorry for your loss.

 

[warpus]

"Tragedy of the Commons" in the office. Nobody can be bothered to share responsibilities for the common good. If 2 or 3 people all agreed to rotate the cleaning of the milk part, then perhaps it could be put back into use. But mostly people are a selfish lot and abandonment is easier than finding solutions for the greater good. I am sorry for your loss.

It's not that nobody can be bothered it's that there was a lack of communication regarding any of this, so some people jumped in and helped out while others were in the dark about what the plan was. If somebody tried to coordinate this I'm sure 100% of the office would have been happy to help out in the required ways, but there was zero coordination and zero communication, so everything basically fell apart.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Office crap can be challenging and poor communication is often the rule. "Be the change you want to see."

 

[warpus]

Office crap can be challenging and poor communication is often the rule. "Be the change you want to see."

That's what the coworker who took on cleaning out the milk part of the coffee machine basically ended up doing.. but then that basically became her job, lead to resentment, and an eventual end result of us not even using it anymore, ever. Leadership should have stepped up and coordinated something instead of just leaving it to the masses to figure out on their own

 

[Birdjaguar]

That's what the coworker who took on cleaning out the milk part of the coffee machine basically ended up doing.. but then that basically became her job, lead to resentment, and an eventual end result of us not even using it anymore, ever. Leadership should have stepped up and coordinated something instead of just leaving it to the masses to figure out on their own

"Workers unite against the tyranny of bad leadership!" It should be easy for a few of you to to take charge of the situation and restore order in the kitchen.

 

[Samson]

That's what the coworker who took on cleaning out the milk part of the coffee machine basically ended up doing.. but then that basically became her job, lead to resentment, and an eventual end result of us not even using it anymore, ever. Leadership should have stepped up and coordinated something instead of just leaving it to the masses to figure out on their own

This is true. However in any UK workplace there would be a health and safety reporting system that rat poo in a food prep area could be reported to without becoming a job.

In the absence of that anonymously putting a sticker on the draw could fulfil a similar role.

 

[tjs282]

Warpus, does your office not have any janitorial staff?

 

[warpus]

"Workers unite against the tyranny of bad leadership!" It should be easy for a few of you to to take charge of the situation and restore order in the kitchen.

Yeah but again, this requires somebody to take charge and organize us. Nobody did that and nobody's doing it, except for maybe unofficially behind the scenes in ways that are hidden from me. I suspect nobody wants to speak up about it either, because then all of this would be added to their workload.

This is true. However in any UK workplace there would be a health and safety reporting system that rat poo in a food prep area could be reported to without becoming a job.

In the absence of that anonymously putting a sticker on the draw could fulfil a similar role.

I suspect nobody wants to ruffle any feathers by putting up such stickers or signs. I think we're basically hoping that this just.. goes away. I don't think we have a reporting system like that, but I will do some digging, thanks for the idea.

Warpus, does your office not have any janitorial staff?

We do, but for whatever reason the office kitchen's appliances like the coffee machine, the dishwasher, the fridge, and the toaster oven are something they just don't touch. I suspect that has to do with what's in their contract and what isn't? I'm pretty sure that my friend's office kitchen (in the same organization as ours, but diff dept) is serviced by janitorial staff.. or at least.. somebody who doesn't actually work in that office. Could be a case of our director not wanting to actually pay for anybody to take on that work, hoping one of us will do it?

 

[Takhisis]

Can opener gave up the ghost today. I bought it 2003

How do you even manage to break a can opener?

1. Someone at the office likes to put knives into the dish strainer point-up and blade-out. I mean, if you're trying to get someone to cut themselves reaching for a spoon, then well done. You didn't get me today, but keep plugging away, mysterious assassin, there's always tomorrow.

(curses)

 

[Zardnaar]

How do you even manage to break a can opener?

(curses)

The handle spins in circles and doesn't rotate the gears.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Put out a placard that says, "If we all generously contribute to dish-area cleanliness, none of us will have to be assigned the duty of cleaning up rat poop or catching the rat."

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I guess dropping a word to the Board of Health wouldn't help. After all, it's technically a food prep area.

 

[Strong Reaction]

People who suck:

If you back your car into to your driveway or in any type of parking spot, you suck.

If you don't put the grocery cart back in the proper stall after shopping and leave it haphazardly in the parking lot, you suck.

 

[really]

What's wrong with backing in?
You drive past seeing the space is clear vs swinging in and not knowing if there is an obstruction like a haphazardly abandoned trolley.
When driving out you have greater visibility vs reversing out possibly relatively blindly.
Reversing in takes a few moments as does reversing out.
Reversing in means you generally know how you are going to get out vs reversing out you might be depending on someone not being where you need to reverse.

If you need access to your boot sure drive straight in.

 

[Narz]

Can really feel the days getting shorter.

4 minutes less every day adds up quickly.

Yeah getting ready for a long depressing winter in England. Ah well it'll get warm again in July!

On the positive I do sleep better in the cold and dark.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

People who suck:

If you back your car into to your driveway or in any type of parking spot, you suck.

I've often heard the complete inverse of this opinion, but never this. Intriguing.

 

[Birdjaguar]

In China 1.4 billion people regularly do back in parking.