I run a small operation that consists of a dozen employees who share a facility with one kitchen space.

37 Comments

1. AnonymousMay 22,2025 at 4:04PM UTC

   Because they know you will :)

2. AnonymousMay 22,2025 at 4:28PM UTC

   Email with all the bosses CC’d … fridge is to be emptied every week. I totally get the fridge thing , it’s NOT your job, they are adults and you do NOT need to remind them. Tell them that if this situation persists , it will not be tolerated.

3. AnonymousMay 22,2025 at 5:28PM UTC

   Universal problem at all companies. Leave signs and assign either the office Janitorial to clean at night or get a service.

   No one ever feels like this task is their job.

4. AnonymousMay 22,2025 at 7:39PM UTC

   We have cleaning staff that comes, but not daily to clean up people's dirty dishes!

5. AnonymousMay 22,2025 at 6:01PM UTC

   We have kitchen duties that rotate. Make it fun. Kitchen witch of the week. That which makes the rules and delegates tasks. When I’m kitchen witch I give a prize to the most enthusiastic cleaner and tidier and a treat for the most egregious.

6. AnonymousMay 22,2025 at 6:13PM UTC

   This is everywhere! People will leave a rotten egg in the fridge for weeks without ever thinking oh I left my food in there. This says a lot about how people live at home. Which is why I do not do covered dish office parties. Yuck.

7. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistMay 22,2025 at 6:36PM UTC

   The fridge gets cleaned out every Friday - everything perishable gets tossed unless someone is taking it home - make a rotating schedule and have someone do it every Friday afternoon.

   The other stuff. I don't know - you can't teach people to be grown ups.

8. AnonymousMay 22,2025 at 6:45PM UTC

   There is a general understanding that when I go to work I don't do any housekeeping. That means there are people who are there to service that. Like a hotel. Right or wrong that is the mentality. You'd be surprised at how folks conduct themselves away from home.

9. AnonymousMay 22,2025 at 7:32PM UTC

   So you just leave your personal dishes in the sink and hope someone washes them for you? I mean, I get it. . . I'm not asking anyone to vacuum, just to take care of their own personal food stuff!

10. AnonymousMay 22,2025 at 9:39PM UTC

    Part of providing a kitchen for your staff is ensuring it is clean and there are no strange science experiments growing in the sink. Unfortunately the cleanliness goes hand in hand with providing a kitchen. Just like bathrooms need to be kept clean. Sorry the maintenance is assumed.

11. AnonymousMay 23,2025 at 12:33PM UTC

    I like the idea of rotating responsibility for cleaning the fridge every Friday (emptying anything perishable). If they can't clean the microwave or air fryer after each use, that becomes a health issue, and they should be removed. One warning should be enough. As for the trash, who is generally responsible for taking out trash in other areas? If employees take theirs out (as happens often in small offices), then rotate kitchen trash as well.

12. AnonymousMay 23,2025 at 12:46PM UTC

    Unfortunately, by doing it for them, they just get comfortable not doing it for themselves and complacent that you'll continue to do it.The only ways to light a fire under these people are to either remove the privilege of a clean kitchen altogether or put everyone on a cleaning roster.

13. Rae Charlton WagonerMay 23,2025 at 12:54PM UTC

    Pretty sure withholding pay to pay for a kitchen cleaner is illegal, but a Come to Jesus meeting is surely in order.

14. AnonymousMay 23,2025 at 1:39PM UTC

    I don't know what folks think when they use the communal kitchen. We have tried various methods and used the "assigned" duty idea. A team of two was to clean each week for one month. Not bad. BUT nooooooo...folks went nuts. If it was not their "month" to clean they would leave the biggest messes and not clean after themselves (it was not meant to be a "you don't need to clean at all thing") and then when THEIR month rolls around they conveniently "forget" to clean. These are grown folks and it is just maddening!

15. Carolyn MillerMay 23,2025 at 3:15PM UTC

    As an office manager for a small office- 8 people, I keep an eye on the fridge. I will send an email requesting my colleagues take a look in the fridge & remove their own personal expired food. I take care of things like condiments/creamer that we have for everyone & wipe down.

16. AnonymousMay 23,2025 at 4:38PM UTC

    Because you have not set firm ground rules and enforced them. Put up a sign that says any uneaten food that is not with a name on it will be tossed at the end of each day. This means if it has their name on it and it rots then you know who to blame. As for dishes in the sink, put something large in the sink that takes up all the space like a drainer and then they can wash up over that. Signs in your work space will help, complaining here won't.

17. AnonymousMay 26,2025 at 10:01AM UTC

    OP was asking for helpful assistance, not condescending input.

18. IntentionGirl630054May 23,2025 at 6:53PM UTC

    I read all the comments and wonder why no-one has suggested charging for kitchen priviledges to pay a cleaner. You know exactly who uses the kitchen in a small company and there might be a cleaner out there who you can allow access to the break room for cleaning each week.

    To minimize the costs, you might point out that a consistent effort to keep the (microwave/'fridge) appliances cleaned up from food explosions or what have you -- is indicated.

    You certainly should add -- label or lose it on Fridays ('fridge) but this means someone (else) runs the dishwasher once a week, and wipes everything down for a healthy food prep/handling space.

19. AnonymousMay 23,2025 at 8:15PM UTC

    I've read all the comments too. At the end of the day, this is a problem every where. If you are a manager, say look people, our kitchen is gross, not sanitary, and it's up to you to keep it clean. I don't need to assign anyone a day. If it's your mess, clean it. Be an adult, clean up your mess. How you live in your home is your business, how you live in this office under my direction is my business. Clean. Up.

20. Erica NicholasMay 24,2025 at 1:53PM UTC

    We have actual ceramic dishes and metal flatware in our kitchen. I placed a sign over the sink reminding everyone they must wash their own dishes. It works because they don't have anything to eat with the next day if they don't wash.

    As far as the fridge, I send an email every Friday afternoon- take your leftovers home. Anything left behind (other than condiments or sealed drinks) is thrown away at closing time, Tupperware and all. Tough love.

21. GirlBossanova934974May 24,2025 at 2:08PM UTC

    Call a local cleaning company and get a bid or two for kitchen cleanups. Have them come in 15 times per month or so. Then at the beginning of the month, go out and collect from your workers. Be sure you email the final bid and monthly bill to ALL your workers.

22. AnonymousMay 26,2025 at 9:59AM UTC

    That would never fly in my office.

23. Mesha HamptonMay 24,2025 at 2:10PM UTC

    Because that’s how they are at home. You could install a camera and start shaming those who leave a mess. Or take everything away so no one can use it

24. AnonymousMay 25,2025 at 12:30PM UTC

    I bet a lot of them AREN'T that way at home. It's a bit of the whole "someone else will deal with it I have too much to do." At home, they're the only ones who will so they end up doing it.

25. AnonymousMay 24,2025 at 6:32PM UTC

    I think we work in the same office.

26. AnonymousMay 25,2025 at 5:01AM UTC

    I think this is a problem everywhere!

    When I worked as an office manager I had a big sign up in the kitchen that said "Any dishes left in the sink will be thrown away at the end of the day" and "Any food left in the refrigerator will be thrown out, container and all, at the end of the day on Friday"

    I stuck to this! Dishes went in the trash, as did silverware, at the end of each day. We then provided paper plates, plastic cups and plastic utensils only. On Fridays, anything left in the refrigerator got tossed, container and all (I did take some of the nicer baking dishes and tupperware home)! People learned pretty quickly!

27. AnonymousMay 25,2025 at 12:28PM UTC

    Welcome to office work! LOL I well remember this from working in an office. My favorite were the people who would finish off the ice in a tray and then put the empty tray back in the freezer. I once went to get ice and there were four trays, two empty, two with one ice cube each.

    I think it's a bit of "someone else will take care of it."

    My mom's office developed a rotation. Each department takes one day and makes sure the kitchen his clean. Her department has a rotation where each person takes one day a month. It helps keep the place clean.

28. AyianMay 25,2025 at 1:01PM UTC

    I work in a place where we simply wash our own dishes. However, it's a small office and we're all responsible people. Sometimes in an office, people think someone is being paid to do the cleanup or that the person who has been cleaning up doesn't mind. Send an "I'm not your mom" email with brief explanations of your expectations and pictures of how things should look after someone is done. For the first week of anything is amiss, send emails at 4 reminding people to clean up anything they left incomplete in the kitchen.

29. Stephanie ConnellyMay 25,2025 at 4:24PM UTC

    I would suggest assigning weekly or daily kitchen duties of tidying up. And a check sheet for what needs to be done. We did this in culinary school to make sure everyone was cleaning and rotated duties each week.

30. Maegan, Nike Sales Rep & Career CoachMay 25,2025 at 6:49PM UTC

    Set expectations. Send an email AND talk through them on a meeting. Let people know what the standard is.

    In our office, there used to be a huge note on the fridge that said anything left in the fridge Friday at 5PM would be thrown out. People were quick to make sure none of their things were in there!!!!

31. AnonymousMay 26,2025 at 9:53AM UTC

    Ditto on this solution. Once it was made known to all staff using the kitchen and restrooms, everyone pitched in and cleaned up after themselves. Including taking out the trash.

    If you need to implement a schedule of who cleans up on a particular day, you can post assignments. Takes time, but it works for our office of about one dozen

32. maria roseMay 25,2025 at 7:35PM UTC

    I am quite sure this lack of cleaning up behind themselves also applies to the bathroom setup so the choice is quite clear—if finances don’t include a budget allocation for an office detail cleaning service , then everyone who uses both facilities will be held responsible for cleaning up behind themselves with no excuse for the usual forgetfulness. There’s no children working as as adults, no one should be expecting someone else to clean up after them. Sure call it , being the “mother “ but I do get the impression that the OP is the one in charge of this operation and feels uncomfortable with having to having to explain something that obviously is being taken advantage of because they are more of a people pleaser in their approach to others. But the OP is the BOSS and not a perfectly reasonable in demanding that cleanliness is expected by everyone. I especially like the suggestion that every Friday anything left in the fridge is tossed rule. Good luck with this

33. AnonymousMay 27,2025 at 6:34PM UTC

    Thank you all for the comments. Most of the suggestions were for things we have tried. Signs, emails, Friday toss outs, bringing it up in staff meetings, etc. Things only work for a while and then they just fall back to old habits. We have twice weekly cleanings but they don't clean out the fridge. It's the in between messes that drive me nuts. The dishes in the sink until they get around to them, the crumbs on the counter they don't wipe up.

    Nice to know I'm not being unreasonable in my expectation and that it's pretty common for adults to be slobs at work!

34. AnonymousJune 2,2025 at 1:35PM UTC

    You need to care a little less about the crumbs and dishes in the sink. Let it pile up. Keep your dishes separate and let it go. See how long it takes them to be adults and get grossed out.

35. AnonymousMay 28,2025 at 12:46PM UTC

    My advice, if you've tried the signs and having the 'talk'. Close the kitchen area. Get rid of the conveniences and treat them like the children they are behaving like. Can't be responsible adults, they don't get adult toys. They can either take their happy little irresponsible butts out to lunch every day or pack their own lunches in cooler bags.

    Other option would be to assign a cleanup person each day (again still very much a 'mother' kind of thing) but make it part of their job duties and ding them on it if they don't complete it. Have the schedule posted so everyone can see who is responsible for what day, if someone is out it's on them to swap with another person to cover their day. Biggest thing here, EVERYONE has to be on that list including the boss.

36. LiliaMay 30,2025 at 10:48PM UTC

    You are very great, well done!

37. AnonymousJuly 9,2025 at 9:28PM UTC

    I'm curious if the OP tried anything that was suggested and if they've had any progress.