As a shared space and a place that people need access to, the kitchen is probably the one room, besides the bathroom, that everyone uses at some point. It’s also the one that can get gross fast. While you may not be someone who did much of the cleaning in your house growing up, once you are out and part of the workforce, you have an obligation to clean up after yourself. Here are three places in the office kitchen that your co-workers will appreciate you keeping clean.
The Microwave
If you make a mess, clean it up. Even if your company has a person that does basic housekeeping every day or every week, grunge in the microwave can build up. It shouldn’t be too much to ask that you wipe down the giant glob of butter you over-microwaved or the explosive splatter of your spaghetti and meatballs. Just do a quick wipe down and you’ll be good to go.
The Sink
The sink is not a dumping ground. Let me repeat this in a different way. Don’t drop your dishes in the sink and walk away. Whoever did your dishes as a child will not be going to work with you to clean out your coffee mug. Please do your dishes. And if your place of work is awesome enough to have a dishwasher, please don’t assume that someone will take your dishes out of the sink and place them into the dishwasher either. Further, if the dishwasher has clean dishes, you can always be a dear and empty it.
The Refrigerator
It’s wonderful that we live in a society where we don’t have to purchase lunch every day. What makes that possible? A lunch box yes, but also a refrigerator. No one likes BLTs that are warm and have gotten soggy. Refrigerators are great, but their capacities are some times taken for granted. There may have been that one day you left your Thai cuisine lunch in there and then forgot about it. Three weeks later it’s still there and… “ew”. Clean out the old food that you do not want anymore because no one else wants to do it.
Don’t be that person that everyone else has to clean up after. It will not make you the most popular, that’s for sure. Others will appreciate you for taking responsibility to clean up after yourself, and if you’re reading this but have a culprit in mind, feel free to share it in an e-mail blast. Hopefully, your messy co-worker will take the hint.
Photo Credit: Nastuh Abootalebi on Unsplash.