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.

Could you get a surreptitious photo of the mugs and post it here for a more objective appraisal of the their state? ☠

(And if you are my new colleague, no one will mind if you bring your own mug, lots of people do!)

My thoughts exactly. Cover the room in vomit? Reallllly? I think you might need to speak to someone about that (and bring your own damn mug in!). And if its just the tannin stain I think you need to grow up.

I often wondered about the state of office fridges after lockdown though seeing as many people were essentially told one evening - after they'd left for the day - that they had to work from home going forward. Would not have envied those going back to find 3 month old milk 🤢

You sound ridiculous. We have stained mugs at my work and I know they are all washed in the dishwasher after every use. It's just tannin stain and is very common. It seems the rest of the staff manage to drink from these "vile" mugs and yet remain healthy. If you are that concerned why don't you wash the mugs?
I wonder what next week's complaint is going to be?

I work somewhere with scruffy mugs. They looks scratched and stained but no one has ever been ill from them, I just take my own nicer mug. It’s really not a big deal.

It's not a herculean effort to wash a mug ffs, yabu. I doubt they were even dirty, just tea stained. It gets boiling water in it several times a day, how manky could it get.

I would go without before using a mug, cutlery and plate from work. I take my own mug and cutlery set. It's not so much the shareing but some people have very questionable washing up habits. However, if offered a drink somewhere I wouldn't be a drama queen and a I would drink it. After all, I happily drink from mugs in cafés, etc. Everyone at my place has their own mug but some of them are vile. Still, I don't have to drink from them.

I think, seeing the OP apparently wants to 'shower the room with vomit' because of a tannin stained mug, we can take with a pinch of salt (possibly a block of salt) how much she was 'hassled' over not drinking coffee.

Also, the chances are the afternoon coffee person was different to the morning person.

OP, you are being extremely unreasonable, pulling faces and pushing away a cup like a petulant child. You've marked your card now. Really should have just said 'oh thanks, I really can't drink much coffee. Thank you anyway'. You'll have survived the non-existance 'hassle'.

I thought this was going to be a thread about ‘mucky’ mugs like the ones where people’s clothes disappear when you put hot tea in… disappointed 🤣

Why don’t you wash them then? If it’s tannin stains they’ll come off with a Brillo pad.

OH drinks strong tea, the mugs gradually go dark brown inside. All he does is a little drop of washing powder (clothes) and fills them with hot water and leaves them overnight. In the morning a quick rinse and wipe restores them to whiteness.

Good tip.

Is he waiting for one of the women to do it ?

I wouldn't be comfortable sharing unwashed mugs in a post-COVID world OP, but your reaction to stained mugs does seem extreme.
Just take your own mug in or wash the mugs? A soak with warm soapy water and a scrubby sponge does the trick!

Just wash one.

Such drama, vile, vomiting nonsense.

Way to go to mark yourself out as "the weird one who won't have a drink" on your first day at work.

Really?

You make your new colleagues sound like drug-pushers. Are you sure they asked you 6 times if you wanted coffee?

With you on the filthy mugs though. Just stick to water & tell them you don't do caffeine. Sorted.

Where my Son works, he says the mugs are awful and brown stained, so he takes his own and brings it home at the weekend, along with all the teaspoons as they are also stained. He works with about 40 women and 20 men, I cannot believe one of them cannot take a bottle of bleach in and soak them.

Why do you think somebody should whip out the bleach, but your sainted Son (capitalisation noted) is exempt?

You’re a bit dramatic but if you say you don’t want a drink for whatever reason you shouldn’t be hassled about it

I've worked in a couple of places with really disgusting kitchens. You really needed to set your position on day 1 but it's not too late.

Your choices are:
Pretend for evermore that you don't drink hot drinks. This can be awkward if you're caught necking a Starbucks in the car park.

Bring your own mug in and just hope they all forget you turned your nose up at their grubby mugs the first day.

Always be the one to make tea so you can give your mug and extra wash.

Burn the place down to be sure you won't be forced to drink out of them ever again.

Resign.

You sound a bit dramatic but it’s fair enough to be put off by the state of the mugs. Probably would advise not to look inside the kettle either, that usually what puts me right off!

I always take my own mug because I only like drinking out of certain colour or shaped mugs, even at home. I tell people that is the reason and they just think I’m odd but no one’s offended.

You'd hate where I work. We do 4 month trips at sea and 90% of us don't wash our cups for the 4 months. It gets a wash before it's packed to go home. Gross to normal people. Tradition to us but we are all a bit odd

I was given a great tip for cleaning a stained cup by a colleague. A damp paper towel and a couple of spoons of sugar make a very effective scourer. 30 seconds and you have a sparkling cup. Take ten minutes and clean them all.

On one hand you have endless threads about people feeling excluded at work, nobody ever speaks to them, they are bullied.

On the other hand, colleagues proactively making coffee for their new colleague have "no boundaries".

Can't win.

And yes, pulling faces, pushing mugs away and wanting to shower the room in vomit is just pathetic.

I'm sure you're just fine, unless you're all regularly vomiting?.😉

Eeeewww stained mugs are grim. Tells me everything I need to know about tea drinking, toilet brush owning, front door answering, dry wipers!