For refusing to drink from mucky vile mugs?

[ShittyTea]

Just started a new job. I was shown the kitchen and put my lunch in the fridge. I was going to make a coffee but saw the start of the mugs and almost threw up. Absolutely vile. Luckily I’d taken a bottle of water.

Anyway 10 minutes later someone stands up and declares a tea-round. I politely declined. I was asked “do you not drink coffee?” So I said I was cutting down. I then got hassled to have a coffee. I continued to decline. I got told not to be so polite and everyone needs a coffee before the day starts. I said I didn’t want one.

an hour or so later someone else comes in with a tray of coffee, one was plonked on my desk. I said “ no I’m ok thank you” The sight of these mugs was making me want to shower the room in vomit. I couldn’t stand it near me and pushed it out the way. Obviously my face said more than my mouth did as the coffee maker asked what was wrong with it.

AIBu to refuse to drink from these filthy vile mugs??? If I take my own mug in tomorrow it will be obvious what is up.

At my old job, some of the mugs were stained inside but disgustingly so, no way would I have used them. Currently, especially after lockdown, we have our own mugs. I scrub mine after use. I’d be cross if someone used it.

I work in the nhs, drink out of tannin stained mugs everyday. I wash them thoroughly first and then use them. I haven't died yet...

how embarrassing that you made such a fool of yourself on day 1

I would have taken a mug on day one tbh.

I'd be annoyed with the insistence on having coffee, as I don't drink tea or coffee after breakfast.

Though it's a talented maker of beverages who can remember the milk and sugar preferences of so many people

I cannot believe one of them cannot take a bottle of bleach in and soak them

We were not allowed to take cleaning products into my office, reason given was health and safety. We had to use the official ones provided and nothing else. Our unofficial bottle of washing up liquid was confiscated!! (We were supposed to use the dishwasher) as was the air freshener someone put in the loo.

Yuck no.

Bring your on mug tomorrow and keep it locked up when not in use.

Buy one with your name on it.

I cannot believe one of them cannot take a bottle of bleach in and soak them

I would not be impressed to come into work and find someone had been putting bleach in my mug

What's the connection between lockdown and tea stained mugs.

Is there a new strain of covid that spreads by disguising itself as a tannin stain? 😀

Soaking mugs in bicarb plus a bit of elbow grease cleans tannin stains too. Less stinky than bleach.

This was my takeaway from the post too! I've worked with a few people who didn't drink tea or coffee and I didn't try and force them to have one. That's just weird.

You dont need to bleach tea stains. A cleaning up brush does the job just fine.

I’d rather drink out of a stained mug than a bleached one. Dark mugs are the answer. Can’t see the stains.

My job provided a basin for all the used cups to go in in the sink. At the end of the day cups were swished around in this basin and deemed clean for the next day. The worst bit, they sold mugs amongst other things so provided their 'named' ones and when I brought my own in they were disgusted with me. I was there about 4 months before ending up wfh thank goodness.

This

Ew no I wouldn’t drink out of them and I’m not sure why they were so persistent.
People are saying wash them but I’ve seen mugs so dirty (in the workplace) that washing them wouldn’t make them acceptable to drink out of for me.
Since you’ve only just started though I probably would of just taken the coffee and tipped it away when no one was watching or said I don’t like hot drinks then they would of stopped asking.

I'm with you OP. I even wash perfectly clean mugs at work before using them. I also take my own coffee in a flask because I don't want works shitty coffee. A lidded cup that you take home each day is the way forward - it also gives you a chance to have a drink in the way to work. I just say I'm super fussy about my coffee. No one cares.

How can a mug, used for coffee be that bad? Surely they're just a bit stained?

Really odd that your colleagues didn't just take no for an answer though. Who cares if someone else has coffee or not?

People would rather drink from cups that have been bleached than one with tea stains in?

In the olden days when everyone used a teapot, you never washed the pot. The stains were supposed to enhance the flavour.

I worked somewhere like this. I found the communal tea rounds and communal mugs pretty gross too. But I accepted the occasional mug to show willing and even made rounds myself sometimes. Most of the time I made my own tea and coffee in my own mug.

It’s calling “getting along” I think 😂

I don’t understand.

The mugs were so vile you couldn’t drink from them?

Yet everyone else was happily drinking from them.

You’re going to need to describe the actual problem with the mugs.

Scald them in the sink if you think it will make them more comfortable to be around, and bring your own cup. What an overreaction to tea-stained cups though; that's pretty standard where there's no dishwasher.

You sound like a nightmare. How bad can the cups be - clue: everyone else seems happy to use them!

Oh god, are you my new colleague? We had someone new start in our team this week and our mugs are pretty vile. We are moving office soon so no maintenance is being done to the kitchen on our floor and both the hot water and the dishwasher are not working. So washing our mugs (a selection of random free sample ones mainly) in cold water means they have got pretty stained and yuck. They are clean though, just stained!

hoping you’re not my colleague as while we offer to make one while we’re doing one for ourselves there’s no pressure, and she seemed happy drinking a bottle of coke!