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Original poster

Mugs in the office

90 replies

HotChocolateLover · 10/10/2019 07:30

Lighthearted Would you take someone else’s mug in the office which has their name printed on it?!! I had to rescue mine from someone’s desk which was half filled with cold coffee yesterday and think it’s really rude, especially as there are plenty of other cups. The offender didn’t even wash it up and didn’t apologise. It was a present from my husband. Will she be rooting through my handbag next time??!!

OP posts:
Girasole02 · 10/10/2019 08:46

Totally with you. Mine stays in my lunch bag between uses and is taken home at the end of the day to go through the dishwasher. I'm not a clean freak or particularly territorial, I just like my things for my use. Why do I want someone else's germs on my cup? I hate the 'what's yours is everyone elses mentality'

Original poster
HotChocolateLover · 10/10/2019 08:47

@nailsathome ‘peopled’ 😂 I love this! Going to have to start using it but tbh it’s kind of how I felt.

OP posts:
AnchorDownDeepBreath · 10/10/2019 08:50

All mugs in the kitchen cupboard are treated as communal where I work, regardless of who brought them in, if you want to keep one for yourself you need to keep it somewhere like your desk or locker.

This is standard so even if it hasn't been overall in your new workplace, there's always going to be people who think it is the case.

I wouldn't want people using my mug either, really. Keep it in your desk Smile

Tonnerre · 10/10/2019 08:51

I used to have a boss who had clearly taken a fancy to my mug and would grab it whenever she had the chance. The particularly annoying thing was that she used to have only one drink a day and the mug then sat in her office till the end of the day when I could have been using it. It became a stupid silent battle between us to see who could get to the mug first, till I saw the light and just took the mug home and brought in a boring one instead. I would still see my boss in the kitchen forlornly looking for the original mug for months afterwards.

chemenger · 10/10/2019 08:52

I work in a very male dominated workplace, my mug, even with my name on it, seemed to be first choice for many of the men, who had no shame about drinking out of a mug with a female name on it. I worked out it was because it was clean. Once I had drunk tea without milk a few times and stained it brown it became less attractive. Then I got a pink metallic finish mug with a gold rim and they never touched it again.

EmpressJewel · 10/10/2019 08:58

Communal mugs tend to be neglected in many office so end up stained and chipped. That's why people tend to gravitate towards 'owned' mugs as they generally in better condition.

That's why I keep my stuff (mug, bowl etc) in my desk.

ItsOnlyBloodyBread · 10/10/2019 09:09

Someone used DH's mug at work the other day, wouldn't be that weird except for the fact its one of those ones where you get a picture printed on, and it has a picture of me, him and DS on it. Very weird.

Simonsaysitschristmas · 10/10/2019 09:51

I’m another one who hates peoples using my mug!! In our place all communal mugs (and there are plenty) have the company logo on so I don’t know why people don’t use those rather than steal mine.

My biggest annoyance of office life though is when people use the last of the milk in their cereal so there’s no milk left for peoples drinks Angry

Deathraystare · 10/10/2019 10:15

It is annoying but if the mug means that much to you get another with your name clearly on it, or maybe something twee and girly then at least you can tease him (it is a him isn't it?) then you can tease him about it.

Original poster
HotChocolateLover · 10/10/2019 10:18

@deathraystare Was that post meant for me? If so then my original post clearly says that the mug has my name printed on it 😂

OP posts:
Original poster
HotChocolateLover · 10/10/2019 10:18

And that’s first name and surname.

OP posts:
NatashaAlianovaRomanova · 10/10/2019 10:32

I'm with you OP!

I'm very particular weird about my coffee mug & have the same one at home, work, my mums & my best friends house.

It's not even that exciting I just like the shape & size of it.

It has a big N on the front & back & I'm always the first one in so it's already on my desk when everyone arrives. As I am a clumsy bugger don't like things hanging around my desk I take it back to the kitchen when my coffee is finished.

The new girl has started taking the daft thing for her morning tea it's not for tea at 9:30 meaning it's on her desk with manky tea dregs & bright orange lipstick on the rim when I want a second coffee at around 11! You can still buy the mugs so I'm tempted to buy her one with her own bloody initial on it!

WatcherintheRye · 10/10/2019 10:41

My biggest annoyance of office life though is when people use the last of the milk in their cereal so there’s no milk left for peoples drinks

Are you sure you're not getting mixed up with a camping trip? Grin

Ninkaninus · 10/10/2019 10:44

I’ve got my own work mug and I keep it in my drawer. The cupboards are full of random mugs for communal use. I think if your mug is in the cupboard some people are going to assume, quite reasonably, that you don’t care if it’s used.

Keep it on your desk or in your drawer.

Original poster
HotChocolateLover · 10/10/2019 10:57

@Ninkaninus It has my full name on. Why on earth would it be for communal use? No-one else in the office is called @hotchocolatelover

OP posts:
Tehmina2 · 10/10/2019 11:22

I don't have an office so I actually bring my mug in every day & leave my water bottle inside it so everyone can clearly see it's mine!

I'm very fussy about it & im the only one who does this, I don't care what my colleagues think!
I see them not washing the communal mugs properly urgh.

antisupermum · 10/10/2019 12:46

My mug was stolen in my last office i.e. taken out the cupboard and never found again. I searched everywhere and can only assume that a) someone used it and broke it. b) someone actually took it home with them. It was a very nice rainbowy mug.

Two years later and I am still annoyed by this...

MissDew · 10/10/2019 12:56

I’d hate to work in an office where people were territorial about mugs.

I did once. The silly woman was babyish beyond belief. I still remember her calling Ribena, 'mybena.' (This was a grown adult woman with no disabilities. It didn't stop her being a bitch and getting pandered to though.) I think I once made the mistake of using her mug or making a drink for someone else and giving them her mug because I didn't know/care it was hers.

Oh I couldn't help but raise a little smile to myself when someone else (yes, really) accidentally dropped her cup in the sink and it smashed. Petty ? Hell yes.

MissDew · 10/10/2019 13:05

I would still see my boss in the kitchen forlornly looking for the original mug for months afterwards

I use a mug at work. It's larger than average, just right for warming soup up in. To my horror, I couldn't find it one day. I later located it (swiped it directly off someone's desk with their cold dregs in it) washed it, warmed up my soup which I ate then put the mug back in the kitchen.

The other person must have gone, 'ah !' when they saw it and swiped it back. OK I thought. The next time I saw the mug I washed it and now stash it on my desk. I've also got a tea mug on an adopt-a-mug basis.

DappledThings · 10/10/2019 15:14

Even with someone's name on I would see any mug left in the communal kitchen as for communal use. I would probably assume the person who had their name on it didn't actually like it and had left it somewhere communal so it was being used and the person who bought it for them was none the wiser!

I keep mine on the windowsill near my desk because my desk is not technically my desk and we all hot desk and I can't be bothered to use my locker. But if someone took it off the windowsill and used it I would consider it fair game as I'd left it in a public space.

ExpletiveDelighted · 10/10/2019 15:32

Yes, I would also tend to assume that if someone has brought a named mug in and put it in the communal cupboard it was because they didn't like it enough to want it at home and couldn't charity shop it with a name on.

Ninkaninus · 10/10/2019 15:34

@HotChocolateLover Oh don’t get me wrong - I’m totally with you on this one and even if I was a random communal mug user I’d never use one with someone’s name on it, just in case they did care. But plenty of people obviously don’t think that way and if your mug is there in the free-for-all that is the random mug cupboard, then some people might assume that it’s just an unwanted gift from aunt sally/hated MIL or DIL/ex boss/whatever. They probably think that if you cared you would keep it on your desk or in your drawer. Smile

You could make up a threatening note/passive aggressive poem, laminate it and store it in the cup to make people aware that they’re not to use it!

Original poster
HotChocolateLover · 10/10/2019 15:40

So for the people that say they would use names mugs, would you choose them over ones that didn’t have names on? there are others that are clearly communal and for visitors (we’re NHS but not a trust) so there’s plenty that could be used. Why choose something with a name?

OP posts:
DappledThings · 10/10/2019 15:44

So for the people that say they would use names mugs, would you choose them over ones that didn’t have names on? there are others that are clearly communal and for visitors (we’re NHS but not a trust) so there’s plenty that could be used. Why choose something with a name

I think you might be ascribing more thought process to this than there is. I keep my own mug but if I were picking one from a cupboard I would go by size then whichever one had fewest stains on it. The pattern or anything else wouldn't really register

mrsm43s · 10/10/2019 16:07

Anywhere I've ever worked, mugs kept in the kitchen are communal, regardless of what name/logo/decoration they have on them. If you have your own mug, which is not to be used by others, then you keep it in your drawer/locker/bag etc.

If you're putting it in the communal kitchen, with all the other communal mugs, how the hell is someone supposed to know its not to be used?

By all means keep your own mug for your own personal use, but don't store it in the communal kitchen with all the other mugs for communal use.