Sharing an Office Kitchen Avoid These 3 Faux Pas

Sharing an Office Kitchen Avoid These 3 Faux Pas If you work in an arbeitszimmer environment, a dedicated kitchen area can be a really useful and desirable amenity. Having access to a microwave, a fridge, dishes and silverware allow you to expand yur midday meal options (so youre not stuck with a sad desk salad or a squished PBJ), and some newer office buildings even offer swanky kitchen bonuses like Nespresso coffee machines and taps for draft beer. However, a shared office kitchen requires teamwork from all users youve gotta work together to keep the kitchen a reasonably tidy and welcoming environment for anyone who needs it. If you find yourself in a kitchen-equipped workspace, do your part to keep the peace by avoiding these 3 controversial activities.1. Leaving your dirty dishes in the sink.Last month, comedian Andy Richter posted a Tweetlamenting the frequent messes left in his office kitchen, stating this all-too-relatable observation It is astonishing to me that people I work with leave dirty dishes in the office kitchen sink for interns to do. Astonishing.And you know what? Richters completely right. It is astonishing that adult humans in the professional workforce dont realize that they need to clean up their own messes. So we implore you do your own dishes. Every single time. Dont leave it for the interns. Dont leave it for the custodial staff. Just grab a sponge and some dish soap and get to work. And if your office has a dishwasher (as Richters does, according to his follow-up Twitter comment), you have even fewer excuses. 2.Using the microwave for strong-smelling foods.This ones a pretty well-established dont for good shared-kitchen citizens the fish in the microwave cliche is a trope for a reason. Even so, every office has a few people who dont think that this unofficial but generally-accepted rule applies to them. Hot tip it does. According to Alison Green of Ask a Manager, you can absolutely have a policy against heating up strong-smelling food in the office microwave, and plenty of offices do. But even if your workplace hasnt expressly banned pungent foods from the microwave, its mucksmuschenstill a practice to avoid. If you cant imagine a lunch break without salmon, stick to cold preparations like salads or chilled noodles. As an alternative, you can spring for a single-serving crockpotand plug it in when you arrive at work. By the time lunch rolls around, youll have a hot meal without marking your territory in the microwave. Everybody wins3.Forgetting to label your food.We can probably all agree that, in an ideal world, thered be no need to grab a Sharpie and write our names on our food before storing it in an office-kitchen fridge or cabinet. And one day, we sincerely hope well live in a time where common decency prevents folks from swiping other peoples snacks. But thats not our reality quite yet. For that reason, you need to remember to label your stuff. Its especially important if youre one of the fortunate souls w ho works in an office building with a great maintenance staff good office custodians perform regular fridge clean-outs (for which were deeply grateful), and if you dont want your future eats tossed prematurely, make sure theres a name and date clearly displayed on the items. As for the unscrupulous lurkers who freely take food that doesnt belong to them...unfortunately, we cant promise that labeling your leftover quiche will deter such scoundrels, but it may slow them down.