Cornered in the Breakroom

[glow8490]

I've been at my new job for 4 months now and I guess "the honeymoon is over".  I enjoy the work that I'm given from my boss, but there is not enough of it. I went from one extreme to the other. I do let him know I need more to do, thinking maybe he hasn't passed on everything to me yet, but I think he has at this point and now he's looking for things (from other dept employees) to add to my job.

But..........I just walked into the breakroom to get my lunch and there were 3 employees in there complaining about how gross the refrigerator was and didn't I know it was my job to send out a notice to everyone to get rid of their stuff inside by a certain date because I would be cleaning it. They were not hostile about it and kind of made it into a joke, but did emphasize that, yes, that was one of my job duties. Hm......I don't think I signed on for that one.

One of the reasons I left my old job was because of all the menials tasks I took on because no one else would.  Would you clean the fridge?

[gee4]

In my last job we had cleaners employed to clean the fridges on each floor.

In my job before that we had a janitor who cleaned it out every so often but if employees are using it, surely it is each individual's responsbility to remove items that are out of date or no longer being used.

The point is if you knew about this I am sure you would have acted upon it.  However these little tasks are the kind of things that managers forget about and when no one is about to hand over to us in a new role, then we cannot be expected to know that these kind of duties are part of our job.

Have a word with your boss or line manager and see if you can bottom out what other tasks you have not been told about.

[mlm668]

I wouldn't clean the refrigerator anymore than I would clean a restroom at work.  I'm an admin, not a maid.  There are some menial duties I have that I recently told my boss that if had they been mentioned in the interview, I probably wouldn't have accepted the job.  They aren't as bad as cleaning out a refrigerator, but they are tasks I don't enjoy because they are either so tedious or can't be done without a lot BS from others that causes constant rework for me.

I'd definately have a talk with your boss and find out if you really are responsible for this and anything else they neglected to mention.  You need to find out now what they expect of you so you can make the hard choices of whether the job is worth sticking it out or you need to start your search back up.

Michelle

[itsme_calista]

If I don't clear/defrost the fridge then no-one else does!  Drives me insane but at least I know I'm not going to get food poisoning!

Thre's a list of jobs like this that I "have" to do because no one else will but  ....!  I just do it and suck it up!

[laurafmcdermott]

I wouldn't clean it just because some coworkers assume it is your job.  I would however, set up a rotating cleaning schedule between departments so that each department has an assigned week to clean up.  We are a small company so our schedule is set up where each person has a week, but you only end up doing one week every 8 months or so.  

In my opinion, everyone who has a hand in messing up the breakroom should also have a hand in cleaning it.  Since you are new to the job this is the perfect time to change how things have always been done.

[lucie33]

Tricky one.  There's a danger that once you take on too many of these jobs that 'nobody else will do', it gets assumed that anything under this category somehow becomes your task, and it's hard to get away from that.  On the other hand, it's not practical to refuse to do anything...  

I think Laura has a good point - it might be your responsibility to make sure that the room gets cleaned, in which case set up a rota or similar,  but not to always do it yourself.

[gee4]

It's just another thought, but people will take great pleasure in telling you as the "new person", that certain tasks belonged to the person who previously did your job.

Before you do anything I would ascertain if this is the case.  You don't want to look stupid and just do something because staff in the "breakroom" said so.

Be careful, you have only been in this job 4 months.  There are always people out there who will take advantage.

[geminigirl]

No way would I clean it.  As someone else said, others use it, make it dirty, they should take turns to keep it clean and also take responsibility for their own food & drink that's in there.

If they spill coffee or whatever on the counter, do they just walk away from it and assume someone else will clean up after them??

[diamondlady]

And take heart that once you start doing that on a regular basis, it becomes your job weather you want it to or not.  I would do it on occasion if I saw a real mess, but to do it on a consistent basis, it's assumed to be your job.

Diamondlady
Peer Moderator

[msmarieh]

If I did clean it, I would just dump everything every Friday (regardless of what kind of containers or how recent the food). That fridge would look brand spanking new because it would be 100% empty!

However, no I would not do it. I would have the janitorial staff do it or I would just put up a simple cute sign saying your mother doesn't work here. Clean up after yourself.

Marie

[dettu]

A co-worker and I police the fridge on our floor--she is more diligent about it, she will send out notes etc. and I usually take responsibility for throwing away obviously spoiled food regardless of what kind of personal container it's in. She is not an admin.

[peaches2160]

We have a cleaning staff that cleans the fridges on each floor every so often.  They dump everything, uncluding lunch bags, silverware, you name it, it's gone.  They do post a note on the fridge the week before giving people enough time to take their stuff home.

Do you have a janitorial staff that will do this?  I would not clean the fridge.  I have to draw the line.

[Atlanta Z3]

I agree with the poster that would clean out the entire contents of the fridge on Friday.  I would post a note Wednesday of my intent with a time on Friday to have contents removed or all will be destroyed.  As for cleaning the fridge that part I probably would not do - removing old containers yes.
My current position was open for several months before I came along - I had to do deep cleaning in my area, inlcuding contacting the janitorial staff to do a better job.  (That incuded complaining about the rest of the office's cleanliness which still isn't up to standard in my opinion.)
Short answer I would 'empty" the fridge the first Friday, then speak to my boss that I did this as a one time good deal, however I'm sure the company does not want to pay my hourly rate for maid service.
And finally I would suggest as one company I worked for did - drew up a calendar for monthly break room duty between departments.  It was up to the department manager to assign the duty.  This company was big enough that a department would only have breakroom duty once every ten months or so.