The Kitchen Cops are calling for backup

October 11, 2010 11:19 AM

How can my coworkers be made to do their dishes?

My office of about 35 employees has a common kitchen -- two-basin sink, common set of dishes, two fridges. There are always dirty dishes in the sink.

The forces of good (myself included) in the office have tried the following: doing them on a regular basis, which seems to lead to a further taking for granted on the part of the forces of evil; sending angry emails, which clears up the problem but only very temporarily; passive-aggressive tactics like placing dirty dishes on guilty coworkers' desks, which leads to mutual animosity and bad morale all around.

There's a "your mom doesn't work here" sign above the sink, and the HR person regularly sends out emails about the problem to little effect. What more can we do? What has been proven to work? Help!

posted by i'm offended you're offended to Human Relations (51 answers total)

Best answer: Take away the common set of dishes.

Once people start bringing in their own, begin throwing unwashed items away at the end of the day.

It sounds harsh, but the nuclear option is the only way to deal with this.
posted by peachfuzz at 11:22 AM on October 11, 2010 [46 favorites]

Yes, the nuclear option. Simply throw dirty things away at the end of the day.

Alternatively, pay the cleaners extra to do the dishes or buy a dishwasher.
posted by GuyZero at 11:24 AM on October 11, 2010

You can schedule each employee for a week of cleaning with a calendar up in the kitchen so people know whose job it is that week.
posted by sciencegeek at 11:24 AM on October 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Honestly, you can't. Best solution I ever saw was a dishwasher in the kitchen, which at least made it a bit easier for the people who wanted to help, but even then the slobs were slobs and other picked up the slack.
I worked in a very small office with an apartment kitchen and we ended up having the cleaning service take care of it, because the 2-3 people who were the most frequent presence in the office were damn pigs and the place was filling up with fruit flies. This place was more like a home than an office, and even then they couldn't be arsed to act like they were responsible for the space - frankly, most people DON'T feel responsible for office/common spaces. You can't make them. But what you can, perhaps, do, in a small office is make them feel it in their wallets - if you need to engage a cleaning service to handle what they won't, make them contribute to the expense. This way they can choose what they prefer - pay a few bucks and have it taken care of, or keep a few bucks and wash a damn dish now and again.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 11:25 AM on October 11, 2010

I'm a positive reinforcement fan, but on this one, I'm with peachfuzz. Put up warnings first, of course, that in one week, five days, three days, one day, any unwashed dish will be tossed at end of the day.

I am sorry about your mug, elsietheel. Did you put up a pitiful note promising eternal gratitude for its return?
posted by bearwife at 11:25 AM on October 11, 2010

I'm pretty sure it's not legal to just steal and throw out other people's shit, even if they are horrible delinquent dishwashers.
posted by enn at 11:26 AM on October 11, 2010

Have you ever just let the dirty dishes pile up until there aren't any clean ones left? That seems to work in my office as a motivator for people to clean up their own junk. It's unsightly but it works.
posted by joan_holloway at 11:27 AM on October 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Get rid of the common dishes so people have to bring their own, but rather than throwing them out at the end of the day, kidnap them and hold them to ransom for a few dollars, which will then go to charity.
posted by Wroksie at 11:29 AM on October 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

bearwife: I did. I put up a forlorn sign over the sink lamenting its loss, describing the mug, the date it was last seen at the sink, and I even drew a sad little picture of it in MS Paint. It never appeared again.

But yeah. Even though I miss my mug, I agree with everyone suggesting the nuclear option, as long as you warn people. Get rid of the communal dishes and then post a sign that says "ALL DISHES LEFT IN THE SINK WILL BE DISPOSED OF DAILY".
posted by elsietheeel at 11:30 AM on October 11, 2010

I work in a large office with a communal kitchen and there are never dirty dishes in the sink, so it's not impossible.

The trick is to figure out who is That Guy in your office - That Guy who is capable of getting management to listen based on the fact that s/he will not stop annoying them until an issue is resolved, yet s/he's too important to fire. Get That Guy on the same page about this issue and, eventually, someone's job description will be re-written to include washing the dishes.
posted by muddgirl at 11:31 AM on October 11, 2010

Get That Guy on the same page about this issue and, eventually, someone's job description will be re-written to include washing the dishes.

If my job description was rewritten to include washing the dishes I would be PISSED.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 11:32 AM on October 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

If my job description was rewritten to include washing the dishes I would be PISSED.

Then get That Guy to convince management to hire a cleaning service.
posted by muddgirl at 11:33 AM on October 11, 2010

Yep, I left a clean mug next to the sink once and it got thrown away (I think, either that or someone stole it) and I never left anything near the sink (let alone in the kitchen) ever since. I don't know what the legalities of throwing other people's stuff away, but it's definitely one strategy that works.

Another suggestion: Place someone in charge of the clean dishes. Others can "borrow" the dishes with $5 or their driver's license. They'll get back their cash/license when they give back the clean dishes they borrowed.
posted by two lights above the sea at 11:38 AM on October 11, 2010

Nominate a dish-cleaner-upper from among the Forces of Good... with a $25 or $50 monthly bonus as a reward (a gift card might work well -- either get the boss to cover it or have the clean-dishes brigade pitch in). Then pick a new volunteer (i.e. someone who is willing and eager to do it) each month. With luck, the dishes will be clean, the lazy folks might even want to get to clean the dishes, and it'll come out cheaper than trying to hire someone to clean them.
posted by vorfeed at 11:38 AM on October 11, 2010

Put a double-sided dry-erase board in the kitchen area, with a note saying "write your name here when you do the dishes so I know not to pester you". Then you ask the person who did the dishes the longest time ago to do them. When both sides of the board are full, you can erase the old side.

Trying to get a group to do something is harder than trying to get one person to do it, because of diffusion of responsibility.
posted by topynate at 11:39 AM on October 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Have the option of disposables, bundled into the cost of the other office supplies. Bought in bulk they're cheap. Not ideal, but neither is the mess. For those who don't want to contribute to the landfills, they can use the common dish-ware and clean it when they're done. For those who're too lazy, or don't have time to clean-up, or who have been coddled all their lives and never learned how (and you probably don't want them washing the dishes that you also use), they can use the disposables. It may guilt-trip a few into converting over to washing the freaking dishes. Bottom-line, if that doesn't work, there's absolutely no excuses unless the supply of disposables isn't kept-up. If there is, your office has other issues relating to the caliber of its employees that may require addressing for the good of the many.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 11:40 AM on October 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

The dishes are common, right?

I'd say one more reminder email, and at the end of the week, if there are dirty dishes, then ALL the dishes get removed.

Either people can bring their own, or a collection will be taken up and disposable dish items will be available.

A big sign will be posted that at the end of the day any unclean dishes will be disposed of because of sanitation issues.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 11:41 AM on October 11, 2010

My office has a dishwasher... and management STILL ended up having to pay the cleaning staff to gather dirty dishes from the sink and other locals, load the dishwasher and run it at night.
posted by kimdog at 11:41 AM on October 11, 2010

Pay the cleaning service to do it if you're concerned about morale and animosity. The nuclear option works, but it will make people even madder than "your mom doesn't work here" signs and putting dirty dishes on people's desks.
posted by Mavri at 11:44 AM on October 11, 2010

I'm not sure about the scope of your problem. If you're complaining about a couple of people leaving coffee mugs, a plate, and a handful of silverware overnight, that's considered "normal." If these people are cooking four course meals and leaving piles of filthy dishes, that's more of a sanitation problem.

I would get rid of the common dishes, either way, so people are forced to wash up their own cups and whatnot when they want to use them, but stop short of going for a 100% clean sink at all times. And unless it really is a sanitation problem, do not throw people's stuff away. All of these "throwing dishes away" and "leaving dirty dishes on people's desks" solutions sound very passive-aggressive and possibly not even necessary. I'm trying to picture how that would go at my job, where we have a teensy kitchen and there are regularly a couple of things in the sink. The person who just started throwing stuff away would piss people off WAY more than the guy letting his Tupperware soak.

Alternate solution - get rid of the common dishes and have disposable plates and maybe silverware available via a donation system.
posted by wending my way at 11:44 AM on October 11, 2010

Put a new sign up with eyes on it.
posted by bq at 11:46 AM on October 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

We have a chore assignment chart -- we all sign up for a month of something at the beginning of the year (cleaning the fridges out, doing the dishes, "kitchen monitor" which is cleaning the microwaves and tables, etc.) -- that way if something's not being done, we KNOW who's not doing it, and the rest of the time we don't have to worry about it.

Of course, we do have a dishwasher -- doing all the dishes by hand would be much more cumbersome so maybe signing up for one-week shifts would work? Anyway, having the chart hanging right there in the kitchen so you know who's accountable for this stuff at any given moment works really well for us (and we're a much bigger organization than you are).
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:47 AM on October 11, 2010

You could set up a web cam to catch the offender and publicly humiliate them into doing their dishes (and everyone else's for a month). I guarantee your dirty dishes problem will go away (but may be replaced by angry workers and/or privacy lawsuits).

Do not provide dishes for use.
If dirty dishes are left in the sink, throw them out.
There will be complainers saying they didn't get a warning.
Let them know their dishes being thrown out WAS their warning.

Presumably you work with adults who know when they are leaving a mess for others to clean up. Do not enable this childish behavior. Do not wash dishes that are not your own. Take a hard line and throw the dirty junk out.
posted by fenriq at 11:47 AM on October 11, 2010

Yeah, get rid of the common dishes. I share an office kitchen with about 50 other people, but people have to bring their own dishes and are pretty good about washing their own stuff. That said, you can't eliminate the problem entirely. People will often leave dishes in the sink to soak, for example, which I think is reasonable if they return a little while later to finish washing them.
posted by spinto at 11:52 AM on October 11, 2010

Figure out why people are leaving dirty dishes. It's most likely because people are lazy, but it could be because they feel pressured to get back to work. Is there enough of a lunch break to make the food, eat it, and then wash the dish? If not, would it really hurt to give people longer off for lunch or otherwise assure them that they won't be seen as wasting time if they're washing dishes?

No matter what you decide on the above, the communal dishes should go. Make people bring their own and I'll bet the problem will at least start to take care of itself.
posted by theichibun at 11:53 AM on October 11, 2010

L'Estrange Fruit: "frankly, most people DON'T feel responsible for office/common spaces. You can't make them."

Sure you can. That's part of having a job- abiding by the rules. Is the boss/CEO aware of what's going on? In an office of 35, this is a problem that needs a top-down solution, not a bottom-up one. muddgirl's "put it in the employment contract" idea is off the rails, but her basic gist is correct- someone needs to make The Powers That Be aware and willing to create consequences. Usually that person is HR- your rep needs to be stepping up here.
posted by mkultra at 11:53 AM on October 11, 2010

Every single place I ever worked has had a dishwasher and an expectation that the cleaning staff will collect up the dirty dishes and load the dishwasher, just the same as the cleaning staff empties the bins and hoovers the floor.

Unless the office staff are paid less than the cleaners, this is simply more cost-effective than having the office staff do it themselves.
posted by emilyw at 11:56 AM on October 11, 2010

Every single place I ever worked has had a dishwasher and an expectation that the cleaning staff will collect up the dirty dishes and load the dishwasher, just the same as the cleaning staff empties the bins and hoovers the floor.

Yes; if, as the OP writes, he or she has tried washing everyone's dishes him- or herself, people are probably just assuming that the cleaning staff are doing it and that management would prefer they get back to work and leave the dishes for the cleaning staff, which is not a crazy assumption, because that is the case in many offices and perhaps in the offices they worked in before.
posted by enn at 12:00 PM on October 11, 2010

One place I worked, the cleaners went around every office every evening, and took every plate and mug to the dishwasher, and left it running over night.

Another place had no communal mugs, dishes or plates - but did have a large supply of cheap disposable cups for visitors.

A third place would (at least claim to) take antisocial behaviour into account when deciding on raises, bonuses and promotions.

All of these actions rely on having management support.

I'm pretty sure it's not legal to just steal and throw out other people's shit, even if they are horrible delinquent dishwashers.

Like pirating music and exceeding the speed limit, it is unlikely you would be identified as the perpetrator of such a crime, let alone proven guilty and punished by the law. Of course, as with pirating music and exceeding the speed limit, you have to answer to your own conscience.
posted by Mike1024 at 12:00 PM on October 11, 2010

Put a double-sided dry-erase board in the kitchen area, with a note saying "write your name here when you do the dishes so I know not to pester you". Then you ask the person who did the dishes the longest time ago to do them. When both sides of the board are full, you can erase the old side.

I once lived in a shared apartment where a similar system worked extremely well for keeping up with toilet paper buying.
posted by the_blizz at 12:08 PM on October 11, 2010

I'm with the people who say get rid of communal dishes and make it very clear that unwashed dishes left out at the end of the day will be tossed.

I have no patience, no respect and no sympathy for the kind of selfish, lazy, inconsiderate person who fails to behave with communal respect in a communal area. Go nuclear on them. It's all they deserve.
posted by Decani at 12:11 PM on October 11, 2010

if it was my business, i would put up a sign indicating that failure to keep the place clean would be regarded as contributing to a toxic work environment and would lead to the perpetrators being fired for cause.

then i would do exactly that.
posted by paradroid at 12:20 PM on October 11, 2010

Communal dishes are the problem. I used to work as a receptionist in an office with communal dishes and a dishwasher. It was one of my responsibilities to load, run, and unload the dishwasher (assigned to me because, without this policy, dirty dishes languished in the sink as at your office). A few people voluntarily put their dirty dishes in the machine, but most left them on the counter or in the sink. These were not lazy, malicious people, just people who didn't have a stake in washing the dishes. They seemed to think they were doing their part simply by returning the dishes to the kitchen at all. I imagine their habits would have been different had each person brought in his own mug, and had abandoned mugs been given to Goodwill. (At least, the "bring your own mug and it'll get tossed if you leave it in the sink" seemed to work at other jobs I've had).
posted by Meg_Murry at 12:27 PM on October 11, 2010

If you're complaining about a couple of people leaving coffee mugs, a plate, and a handful of silverware overnight, that's considered "normal."

Maybe in your workplace. It's not considered "normal" in mine. Empty sink and clear, wiped-dry counter at the end of the day is the standard around here. Different workplaces have different expectations.

Nthing "get rid of the common dishes". Hell, I'd be inclined to put up a poster titled "TRAGEDY OF THE COMMON (DISHES)" explaining why the common dishes have been removed and stating that beginning X days from now, the nuclear option will be the way things are done. Don't want your dishes thrown out? Then wash them after you use them.

It's not like dishes used for office lunch really need to be soaking for as long as people leave them. Nobody's simmering anything for hours, or getting burnt-on crust on the bottom of the pot — at worst, it's residue from heating the food too long in the microwave. Soaking for longer than 10 minutes is unnecessary, in my experience, and just leads to resentment about making the sink unavailable to others who might need to use it.
posted by Lexica at 12:29 PM on October 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's rapid response.

Step 1: Get rid of shared dishes. Make a rule that unattended dishes have to have a name label on them. If someone wants to keep their coffee cup and tupperware stuff at their desk unlabeled, ok. Putting stuff in the fridge requires a name on it, be it labeled containers or a plastic grocery sack with the name scribbled on (a lanyarded sharpie on the fridge helps). That's just good refrigerator etiquette anyway. (Where I work, unlabeled food and dishes get thrown away every Friday after lunch. It's a well known procedure and nobody can blame anyone but themselves if their stuff goes missing on Friday.) Get management to bless this procedure.

Step 2, the most important step: the forces of good have to frequently check up on the kitchen. If there's something unlabeled in there, you have to make a big "Minnesota nice" production out of it. "Whose cup? Someone left a cup. Bob, is this your cup? I'd hate for your stuff to get lost. You should label it so nobody will steal it or throw it away" Return it to the person's desk. If nobody claims it, throw it in a cardboard box in the cupboard. Throw the box away every Friday with the fridge purge. If it is labeled, just return it to the person's desk. Most people will be annoyed enough by that to stop doing it but only if it happens every time, and right after it's left there. Two hours' delay breaks the cause-effect chain in people's head for some reason, and then you're just being a PITA.

The trick to preventing sink pile-ups isn't a trick. It's just to police so often that there can't be a pile-up. Yes, this is more work for the kitchen police, but it works a lot better for getting ongoing cooperation than throwing a fit over a mess that's already accumulated.
posted by ctmf at 12:35 PM on October 11, 2010

Make "dish duty" mandatory and rotate between all employees. Believe me, there will be a couple of people who will be ANGERED by this, and they will bring holy Hell down on anyone who leaves a dish in the sink. It will make the inquisition look like kindergarten. Share the pain, and the people will police each other. Just be prepared for passive aggressive notes for the foreseeable future.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 12:36 PM on October 11, 2010

This might seem like a silly question, but is it easy to do the dishes? Jumbo soap bottle, multiple sponges, and a large rack to dry them in?

Sometimes it's not laziness but if the dish rack is perpetually full or there isn't a sponge right there, it's enough to prompt the "I'll do them later" response.

Like any menial job, if you have the tools and space ready and at hand, the chances of following through in a timely manner are much higher.
posted by gyusan at 12:37 PM on October 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

Well, I must have a bad attitude. I'm at the office to work not do dishes. Why have a communal kitchen at all? Because it increases productivity. Instead of the workers taking a refreshing stroll to the coffee shop, they can refill and get back to work asap!

If the workers must do this then, yes, make sure it is very easy to do with all the tools right at hand. Get a dishwasher or countertop dishwasher. Get rid of communal plates. And/or assign kitchen cleanup to the cleaning staff or support staff.
posted by amanda at 12:53 PM on October 11, 2010

if it was my business, i would put up a sign indicating that failure to keep the place clean would be regarded as contributing to a toxic work environment and would lead to the perpetrators being fired for cause.

And you would be the laughingstock of the internet approximately three hours after the sign went up. Extra points if you fired people "for cause" for not washing dishes whose job duties did not entail washing dishes.
posted by AkzidenzGrotesk at 12:58 PM on October 11, 2010

Response by poster: The hivemind has spoken: get rid of the common dishes. I will do my best to heed and obey (though I'm not technically the decider on this issue, I think I can talk her into it). I'll let y'all know how it goes!
posted by i'm offended you're offended at 1:04 PM on October 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

What about confiscating the dishes and replacing them all with paper plates and plastic sporks?
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:42 PM on October 11, 2010

Don't throw the dishes away immediately. Put a plastic dish pan under the sink and put dirty dishes there. On Fridays, throw them away. Put up a sign describing the policy.
posted by donpardo at 3:04 PM on October 11, 2010

Maybe in your workplace. It's not considered "normal" in mine. Empty sink and clear, wiped-dry counter at the end of the day is the standard around here. Different workplaces have different expectations.

Yeah, that was my point, though I guess I defaulted to the idea of mine as "normal." If the culture at OP's office is like mine, I was trying to say that a coffee cup or two is not actually unsanitary or going to hurt anyone. It's just annoying to people who would prefer a different environment. If they're in the minority, though, it's kind of presumptuous to make the culture of the majority conform to them, ESPECIALLY by throwing out their stuff.

My main concern would be those people who never plan on doing the dishes they used. That's why I said get rid of the common dishes either way.

(FWIW, I never leave dishes anywhere. I have a weird fear of them disappearing, even though that's never happened to me. But after reading the large number of people who think it's okay to throw away other people's stuff if it doesn't correspond to rules that they made up with no discussion or input, I guess I'm glad I haven't.)
posted by wending my way at 5:48 PM on October 11, 2010

Put a new sign up with eyes on it.

I put up a picture of Smokey the Bear saying ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT DISHES PILING UP IN THE SINK.

It hasn't totally solved the problem, but it cracks me up whenever I'm in the kitchen.
posted by heatherann at 6:53 PM on October 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

I don't know. If the attitude toward shared office chores is changed maybe the problem would adjust itself. Everyone wants a productive, attractive work environment and everyone has to work together to achieve it.

At one of my temp jobs I filled in for the receptionist. An employee luncheon and meeting was scheduled. Lunch was ordered and the 60 - 70+ employees on site came to the conference rooms and had lunch, sat through the meeting and then filed away to work. I went to clean up the area and found ... two chairs hadn't been pushed in. That's it. The tables had been wiped, garbage thrown away, there weren't even any crumbs on the floor! All that was left for me to do was to put away the leftover sandwiches. I. was. stunned. To this day I have never seen a company function end so ... cleanly!

The company implemented 5S methodology and that may be too regimented for some. But, offices were immaculate, breakrooms spotless, everything from office supplies to employee desk drawers were organized and labeled in a standardized manner. Now, on the one hand, employees were limited to the amount of personal things in their area but, for what it's worth, you knew where everything was! It was a dream for a temporary employee. If an employee saw a mess they were expected to clean it up whether it was their job or not. Pride in the workplace was strongly encouraged and offices and common areas were reviewed on a monthly basis. I'm still impressed and have taken some of their methods to heart at other jobs.
posted by Allee Katze at 7:04 PM on October 11, 2010

What about giving people their own dishes as a silly Christmas gift? Everyone gets a custom (Or different) mug, plate and bowl, along with utensils.

Then take mug-shots (No pun intended) and put up in the kitchen. Put names. Claim it's so that people won't take other's stuff and it won't get lost.

If just having their own shit doesn't work, shame 'em when you find the kitchen dirty.
posted by Quadlex at 7:22 PM on October 11, 2010

Print out this thread and post it in the kitchen:

Waiter, there's a roach in my coffee!
posted by SuperSquirrel at 8:00 PM on October 11, 2010

Nominate a dish-cleaner-upper from among the Forces of Good... with a $25 or $50 monthly bonus as a reward

I just wanted to point out that at approximately 20 workdays in the month, a bonus of $50 would constitute $2.50 per day for washing up the mugs/glasses/dishes/utensils/plates/microwave containers, etc. for around 35 people (a few people would probably still take care of their own stuff), and also represent enough time that it's terribly unlikely that the dish-washer could just integrate it into their own work schedule, so they'd be working overtime. Washing dishes. For $2.50 a day.
posted by taz at 9:51 PM on October 11, 2010

I just wanted to point out that at approximately 20 workdays in the month, a bonus of $50 would constitute $2.50 per day for washing up the mugs/glasses/dishes/utensils/plates/microwave containers, etc. for around 35 people (a few people would probably still take care of their own stuff), and also represent enough time that it's terribly unlikely that the dish-washer could just integrate it into their own work schedule, so they'd be working overtime. Washing dishes. For $2.50 a day.

So scale up the money appropriately, or ask more people to volunteer. It's not like the Forces of Good in this scenario haven't already been working overtime, washing dishes, for nothing... and I've seen people do much stupider human tricks for Starbucks gift cards than dishes-overtime.
posted by vorfeed at 2:34 PM on October 12, 2010

Get a rather dirty looking rat and put it in the dishes.
posted by zia at 5:40 AM on October 13, 2010

Response by poster: Update: the common dishes are going into a box as we speak. HR is going to send out an email shortly I think. PRETTY FLIPPING EXCITED OVER HERE. Further updates as events transpire.
posted by i'm offended you're offended at 10:04 AM on October 15, 2010 [2 favorites]