Richmond Proper: On office kitchens

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas most offices see an increase in food brought in to share, whether it’s leftovers from a big family meal or an overzealous baking spree. Take a look at the following tips to keep office kitchens bearable despite the holiday influx.

November 30, 2010; 6:00 AM • by Tess Shebaylo

For many of us who bring lunches to work, the shared office kitchen is a battleground strewn with last month’s leftovers and dirty coffee cups.  And that’s just during the rest of the year. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas most offices see an increase in food brought in to share, whether it’s leftovers from a big family meal or an overzealous baking spree. Take a look at the following tips to keep office kitchens bearable despite the holiday influx.

Respect the rules of the kitchen.
Take note of how many people you’re sharing the fridge with, and use space accordingly.  Don’t bring in a month’s worth of groceries; bring only what you need for a week at most.  Keep your items corralled to your specific area of the fridge or cabinet, so that others don’t have to push 41 of your tiny yogurt tubs out of their way when they want to reach something else. If a coworker is deathly allergic to peanuts or gets nauseous at the smell of popcorn, don’t bring those foods in to work. You can enjoy them just as well at home. If you use up the last of the coffee, plastic utensils, or other resource, be a big kid and replace them or make arrangements to replace them.

Clean up your mess.
Each time you leave the office kitchen, take a second to make sure it looks exactly the same as when you entered.  If necessary, throw away trash, wash dishes, wipe off countertops, and clean the microwave.  Never, ever, ever leave your dirty dishes or leftover containers sitting in the sink.

Keep up with your own food.
If you are storing food in the office refrigerator (and don’t forget the freezer), check it every once in a while to make sure it hasn’t expired. Make sure not to leave a bunch of questionable containers in the fridge, growing mold and grossing everybody out. Seriously, someone else should not have to purge the kitchen of your leftovers from two years ago. Labeling things with permanent marker will help you if you’re forgetful.

Don’t help yourself to others’ lunches.
Apparently this is an actual issue that exists among grown-ass adults. Do not take food that does not belong to you unless the owner has given you special permission to help yourself. There is nothing worse than hungrily trotting to the office fridge only to find out your lunch has already been eaten.

Keep opinions to yourself.
Please resist the urge to comment on every single thing your coworkers eat. Do not chirp out things like “Something smells like cat food,” “Hey, your whole meal is the same color,” or “Pizza again?” These comments are humiliating for the other person, and they really show off your rude side. Your coworkers do not appreciate having their eating habits monitored and narrated back to them, no matter how food-conscious they are.

As Judith Martin points out, the underlying creed of office etiquette is “Look, we’re all jammed in here together, so let’s try not to get on one another’s nerves.” Amen. Richmond Proper would love to hear your office kitchen horror (and success?) stories.

November 30, 2010 6:00 AM 6