# I pit the rude, lazy and annoying people in my office
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [February 13, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332 "2006-02-13T20:57:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/1 "2006-02-13T20:57:47Z")
Annoyance 1:
The guy sitting in the cubicle directly adjacent to me loves to chew ice cubes, with his mouth open, really loudly. **CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP slurp slurp** , all day long. I KNOW I should say something to him, but it’s awkward… I just think, doesn’t this idiot know that this loud chewing is annoying and offensive to his neighbors?
Oh and it’s not just ice cubes. Most days for lunch he will eat a bag of chips, very loudly, with his mouth open. He eats the chips like he hasn’t eaten in a week and he’s starving, and he stuffs his mouth and chews really fast, with his mouth open. It’s disgusting.
Annoyance 2:
We have aproximately 13 people in our office at any one time. We have a communal kitchen with a refrigerator and sink and communal dishes, glasses and silverware. Certain unknown people will eat a meal or drink a beverage with the community dishes and just leave their dirty dishes sitting in the sink. In the amount of time it takes you to bring your dish to the kitchen, place it in the sink, and fill it up with water, why not just wash the damn thing?? What, do they think their mother or wife is going to show up and wash it for them? The dirty dishes and the little bits of food sitting in the sink is disgusting. I jsut don’t get this mentality!
You’d think professional adults would have more manners…!!!
Please share with me your similar experiences and help me understand what makes people act like this!!
---
### Author:  [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/2 "2006-02-13T21:09:17Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#):
>
> Annoyance 2:
> We have aproximately 13 people in our office at any one time. We have a communal kitchen with a refrigerator and sink and communal dishes, glasses and silverware. Certain unknown people will eat a meal or drink a beverage with the community dishes and just leave their dirty dishes sitting in the sink. In the amount of time it takes you to bring your dish to the kitchen, place it in the sink, and fill it up with water, why not just wash the damn thing?? What, do they think their mother or wife is going to show up and wash it for them? The dirty dishes and the little bits of food sitting in the sink is disgusting. I jsut don’t get this mentality!
>
> You’d think professional adults would have more manners…!!!
>
> Please share with me your similar experiences and help me understand what makes people act like this!!
Be brutal. Take the dishes out of the sink and throw them on the floor.
Post back here and let me know if this works.
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/3 "2006-02-13T21:14:41Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#):
>
> What, do they think their mother or wife is going to show up and wash it for them? The dirty dishes and the little bits of food sitting in the sink is disgusting. I jsut don’t get this mentality!
My sixth grade teacher used to have a sign up in his classroom that said
> [@](#):
>
> Your mother doesn’t work here: clean up after yourself!
It really pissed my mom off. Why, she raged, is he raising kids to think that their moms exist only to clean up after them? That’s a terrible thing to teach!
I suggested an alternate sign:
> [@](#):
>
> Your mother doesn’t work here. You don’t **have** to clean up after yourself.
Nobody but me was amused.
---
### Author:  [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/4 "2006-02-13T21:16:44Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#):
>
> Be brutal. Take the dishes out of the sink and throw them on the floor.
> Post back here and let me know if this works.
This is what I would do. Everyone has to bring their own dishes and put their name on them with permanent marker. If they leave a dish in the sink, it will be placed back on their desk or thrown away. Anything not labeled will be thrown away or given to someone else who wants it and will put their name on it.
It is guaranteed this will solve the problem. These slobs should be ashamed and embarassed at themselves!
---
### Author:  [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/5 "2006-02-13T21:20:09Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#):
>
> My sixth grade teacher used to have a sign up in his classroom that said
> It really pissed my mom off. Why, she raged, is he raising kids to think that their moms exist only to clean up after them? That’s a terrible thing to teach!
>
> I suggested an alternate sign:
>
> Nobody but me was amused.
How about this:
Your mother/father/spouse/maid/roommate doesn’t work here, and your coworkers don’t get paid enough to clean up after you, so please clean up your own dishes.
OR
The maid service is on permanent vacation. Please clean up your own dishes from now on.
Any other witty sign ideas??
---
### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/6 "2006-02-13T21:24:24Z")
I can offer no explanations, only sympathy. I have never been able to figure out what would make anyone over the age of say, eight, think it’s acceptable to leave dirty dishes in a public place. Heck, I don’t even allow that in my home, but that’s a different topic altogether. How about the shitferbrains who will leave three drops of coffee in the pot? Too stupid or lazy to make another pot?Fine, dickhead, but could you at least turn the burner off so the pot doesn’t scorch? And hey there, bitch, would it kill you to replace the toilet paper roll when you’ve left exactly one square of paper on it?One square that is actually GLUED to the roll, no less. I really really wish someone could explain this mentality to me. Anyone?
---
### Author:  [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/7 "2006-02-13T22:50:08Z")
I can empathize, until very recently I sat next to someone who loudly enjoyed eating sunflower seeds still in the shell w/ her mouth open and then spitting the shells into her garbage can. Crack crack crack. Crunch, crunch. Suck, slurp. Spit. Repeat. She did this most of the mornings and some afternoons and I cringed all day. I mentioned this to my boss (who is her boss) who told me one complaint could get food removed from all desks for all time and did I want to be to blame for that? I’m still a temp, so the answer is obvious.
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### Author:  [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/8 "2006-02-13T23:44:23Z")
I’ll have to check the posting again as I don’t use the community stuff so I didn’t pay close attention to it. In our break room there’s a notice stating that any dishes in the sink after 4pm will be thrown out. I know it pertains to some new OSHA regulation, but I’ll have to read it tomorrow to know for sure.
Anyone know if this is a new regulation or did I msread it and it’s just a company policy?
Either way, they’re following through and throwing shit out. Every day the problem becomes less and less.
---
### Author:  [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/9 "2006-02-13T23:56:23Z")
> [@duffer](#):
>
> I’ll have to check the posting again as I don’t use the community stuff so I didn’t pay close attention to it. In our break room there’s a notice stating that any dishes in the sink after 4pm will be thrown out. I know it pertains to some new OSHA regulation, but I’ll have to read it tomorrow to know for sure.
>
> Anyone know if this is a new regulation or did I msread it and it’s just a company policy?
>
> Either way, they’re following through and throwing shit out. Every day the problem becomes less and less.
See the problem is, the dishes/glasses/silverware are communal, they belong to everyone, so I doubt the offenders will care.
I think I am going to post a sign. Any ideas for something funny yet firm?
---
### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/10 "2006-02-14T00:02:17Z")
> [@ns](#):
>
> Please share with me your similar experiences and help me understand what makes people act like this!!
There was a great [Miss Manners column](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/04/AR2006020401082.html) about this recently:
> [@](#):
>
> There is a monster in the next cubicle.
>
> It coughs and honks. It shouts on the telephone and blasts out music. It whistles and hums. It reeks of body odor and offensive perfume. It burps and snorts. It chews gum and eats malodorous food. It chomps and belches. It spits – and does worse.
>
> The odd thing is that it never has any trouble finding or holding jobs. Every office built on the popular open plan employs at least one. Miss Manners knows this because she gets reports on the monster’s activities from cubicle neighbors. […]
>
> You would think that those who invented the modern open office might have realized that these daily irritants were bound to occur.
>
> But no. Overstimulated by the realization of how cheap a way this would be to pack workers in, they babbled of the productivity and camaraderie that would result. […]
>
> It does not seem to have occurred to management that people have various habits and quirks that become annoying to those who spend significant time in their vicinity. […]
>
> So there is no system in place for dealing with the inevitable clashes. Management neither sets rules about petty forms of behavior nor arbitrates disputes. Its attitude is that all those people it has crowded together should find a way to get along.
>
> The result is that some seethe and do nothing, while others go on the attack, which inspires counterattacks. This does not make for a pleasant workforce.
>
> Like it or not, management has to be the promulgator of rules that it culls from the workers themselves. Such matters as noise levels, restrictions on gum chewing or eating, and the degrees of minor illnesses tolerated at work should be reasonably regulated.
This is so true. Face it, some people just have unpleasant personal habits, and when a whole bunch of people are essentially put into the same room under the pretense that each little open fabric box in the room is a private space, they are going to annoy their neighbors with those habits. What makes people act like this is the failure to realize that they’re working in public, not in the privacy of an office of their own, and they have to use decent public manners.
---
### Author:  [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/11 "2006-02-14T02:14:23Z")
I don’t work in an office, but we’ve got similar issues with people leaving dirty utensils in the sink, not cleaning up after themselves, leaving boxes and containers in a jumble, etc. It would be a wonderful thing if everyone was militarily (is that a word?) neat like my most outspoken coworker, but we’re also under pressure to complete tasks within a certain time without going overtime; ergo, sometimes _I_ have to leave a mess for someone else to clean because _I can’t have OT, so I can’t clean it up._
Now I realize that the obvious response would be, “Well, then you must complete everything in a timely manner.” Um, you never worked in the food service industry, have you? 99% of the time it’s impossible, 100% if you’re monstrously busy.
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### Author:  [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/12 "2006-02-14T04:01:43Z")
I made up a set of [Biohazard "blossoms](http://oregonstate.edu/research/Images/hazbio.gif) in the [Terror Alert Colors](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020312-5.html), to indicate the gneral hygienic threat level posed by our break room.
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### Author:  [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/13 "2006-02-14T04:15:42Z")
> [@kiz](#):
>
> but we’re also under pressure to complete tasks within a certain time without going overtime; ergo, sometimes _I_ have to leave a mess for someone else to clean because _I can’t have OT, so I can’t clean it up._
So the other person that presumedly can’t get OT has to clean it up?
Look, if you can’t clean up after yourself, create a different lunch menu. You really need to have the rest of the workers conform to your need of free silverware?!?
If you have to use silverware to eat your lunch, and can’t be asked to spend 30 seconds washing it, bring your own from home. That way you can wash it at your leisure. The fact your attitude attemps to justify making someone else clean up your mess is a little telling.
And don’t give me any shit about this. Even if you **must** eat lunch because of diabetes or (like me) because of meds, you can do it without the community dishes. If you don’t want to wash them, don’t use them. If you do need them and don’t want to wash them? Bring them from home and take them with when you leave.
Jesus Christ, you need fucking overtime to wash your dishes? Spend a few minutes after your shift and wash the shit. Why should the company pay you to wash them?
Wash them on your own time or don’t use them. What is so fucking difficult in understanding this basic social functioning?
---
### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/14 "2006-02-14T07:29:37Z")
Communal dishes? Jeesh! Talk about your bad ideas. Just having a refrigerator and microwave alone can be a nightmare. Let alone _communal dishes_
If it were me I’d kindly sugest paper plates and plasticware instead of communal dishes.
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### Author:  [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/15 "2006-02-14T10:25:01Z")
Whoa, **duffer** – before you jump down my throat let me explain.
I’m not talking about lunch utensils. I’m not talking about communal dishes used for eating. I’m talking about stuff like spatulas, scoops, knives, pastry bags, steel bowls…the utensils used in my line of work. I’m talking about the jumble of icky-sticky stuff left in the sink at the end of the day which causes my aforementioned outspoken coworker to scream bloody murder because _she_, as the PTer in my department, usually has to clean it.
Management’s way of thinking? \* Oh, she’s PT. She doesn’t get OT. Just shut up and do it.\*
A bit more explanation: Most retail workers, whether or not on a register (myself included), are timed on their productivity. Cleanup is not considered part of it. If one’s productivity falls for whatever reason for a certain period of time, it can lead, at least in my chain, to suspension and possibly termination. Therefore the unspoken mantra is, _Do everything as fast as you can and if you can clean up afterward, great – but if you can’t, don’t worry about it._
Listen, I was a lowly PTer for a long time. The FTers used to dump the same crap on me, and I’d complain until I turned blue to no avail. It wasn’t until I went FT that I understood the reasoning behind it.
I’m not complimenting nor condemning the practice. It’s part of the industry. I certainly do clean up after myself if I have the time, but if I don’t…_erk_
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### Author:  [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/16 "2006-02-14T10:44:13Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#):
>
> Any ideas for something funny yet firm?
Once a week I jack off into the sink. Is today your lucky day?
---
### Author:  [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/17 "2006-02-14T12:15:50Z")
> [@kiz](#):
>
> Whoa, **duffer** – before you jump down my throat let me explain.
Ahh. That 'splains a lot. Disregard the previous response, that was a different situation than I understood it to be.
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### Author:  [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/18 "2006-02-14T14:06:23Z")
I don’t understand why “adults” can’t do a simple thing, like clean up after themselves. It’s a simple thing, and doesn’t require hours of overtime to do. You just wash and rinse the dish. I wouldn’t want to eat off a communal dish anyway. I work with a few people who come in to work, even when they are sick as hell - and then they act like a martyr about it. It’s bad enough to work around them, with the coughing, sneezing, etc without having to eat off the same dishes.
Then again, talking about “the monster”, we have some of them too. I had to go off on one Thursday AND Friday. I was working (horrors!). The SOB kept jabbering about stupid nonsensical shit, kept calling to me over the dividers to demand attention, and ignored repeated answers that I was doing something complicated and can’t be distracted. Then he had the nerve to act all upset, and tried to lay the guilt trip on me. Plus he’s a slob too. The guy next door to him (has since retired) would come in to work evenif he was on death’s door. He was hording leave time like it was gold and didn’t want to “waste” it being sick, so he’d come in and everyone gets sick.
Communal dishes??? No. Way. Ever.
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### Author:  [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/19 "2006-02-14T14:23:46Z")
I love my system.
Instead of plastic cutlery, or communal cutlery, I bring my own. (Three forks/spoons for a buck at the Dollarama downstairs, how can I lose?) I keep them in my drawer or pencil holder, and if I go a few days without washing them nobody is bothered but me.
And I generally eat out of the plastic containers that get abandoned with great regularity in the kitchen. Some blessed soul washes them and leaves them in the cupboard, at which point I use them, take them home and wash them, and then they are mine, all mine!
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### Author:  [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-rude-lazy-and-annoying-people-in-my-office/344332/20 "2006-02-14T14:27:24Z")
These are the kind of annoyances that office email circulars were designed for.
I recommend firing one off right now.
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