Milk!

[Foodieasfuck]

Very petty post but would appreciate your views please.
I work in a small office. There are 8 of us. Management buy all the tea, coffee and sugar and we have a kitty for the milk. There are guests in and out all day for meetings etc. We all put £2 a week in a pot which more than covers the milk needed for both the staff and the guests. Every now and then biscuits get bought out of the leftover kitty which is seen as a bit of a treat. All good.
Someone has started having their breakfast at work so every morning they use the milk to have their porridge or whatever.
I don’t really see it as a big deal bit it has caused a real issue by some of the other staff.
I’ve been there years and some of the staff have asked me to have a word with the breakfast / milk person. I really don’t want to as I really don’t care.
For clarity, I’m not the manager. Just someone who has been there the longest.
I can’t get worked up about it bit I’m sick of hearing all the moaning.
Ridiculously, I’m sat here hoping the person involved has bloody toast in the morning!
We usually all get on fine with no issues.
What would you do?

I'd say they should speak to the manager and stay well out of if you don't care.

Yep, refer the complainer to the manager every time.

Surely, the bigger issue is that staff are paying for milk used by guests. The milk should be covered by the office costs.

"I really don’t want to as I really don’t care."

So that's all you need to say to anyone who asks you to be the spokesperson. If they care that much then they can say something.

If someone is using extra milk there's less money for biscuits. Cereal person needs to put in extra, or buy their own milk for breakfast.

I'm not really sure it should. Arguably you could say that 'the company' are swapping tea/coffee/sugar for the occasional glass of milk. They're likely getting a paid tea break too which isn't contracted.

If someone's having milk on their cereal everyday it would be simpler if they didn't pay into the kitty and just brought their own milk.

Just stick a label on the milk bottle that says ‘shared milk for tea/coffee only’. I’ve worked in a few offices where they provided the milk but obviously didn’t want one person rinsing it for their cereal so had a notice along those lines. But it does seem cheap AF that the company doesn’t cover the cost of milk when it’s also for guests!

Tell them to speak to the manager.

The manager gets paid to deal with this

Well, the tea and coffee are supplied free of charge from the management. £2 per week is a bargain. I couldn't be bothered by this either, unless this person's breakfast meant we were running out of milk. I also would not be bothered about the milk being used for guests, as the tea and coffee is free.

As an aside £16 a week is a lot of milk - and occasional biscuits. We are £9.60 a week for 16 pints of semi and 2L of oat milk!

Breakfast person needs to put extra in the kitty or bring their own milk.

Tea coffee and milk is provided in my office, but rule is it isn't used for cereal

I find it bizarre that people are having to buy milk for guests/customers! Surely that is part of providing tea/coffee for guests. I'd ask management why THEY aren't providing this?

It's been common in places I have worked for an all staff email to be sent every so often saying Milk Is not for breakfast use

Moany fuckers. If it bothers them that much they can bloody ask the person for an extra £1 a week or something. To be fair though £2 for milk is quite high. That cld buy a big 4 pint of milk.

I'm not bothered by biscuits so if I were the person bfast having bfast think I'd just buy my own.

Strange that the company doesn't pay for the milk too when it is also used for guests of the business .. anyhow yes the cereal person is being a CF (unless they don't take milk in drinks?). A management issue though, surely, not your job to deal with it.

Thanks all. I consider £2 a person per week a bargain for all the cups of tea and coffee we have. We get through a large container of milk most days. We have lots of visitors - it’s just the way it’s always been done. We never have to buy tea, coffee, sugar etc.
I’ve ducked right out of it. Maybe the person who has suddenly started having their breakfast at work instead of at home is super skint.
Someone has gone to the manager today (because I refused to). The manager is going to send a memo out to all without naming names.
Whilst I admit it’s a bit cheeky of cereal person to do it, it really isn’t worth getting so worked up over.
I just needed to vent so thanks again!

Problem is that people use a shedload more milk for cereal than they do in tea.

So if more people start using it for cereal, the milk consumption is going to go up by quite a bit. Then you might get someone coming along wanting milk shake. And they should be allowed to make it, because the first person uses a shedload extra for their breakfast and et cetera.

It is sad. No matter how easy and informal you try to make life, there is always someone who comes along and takes the piss which breaks the nice informal agreement. Which is why there are near endless rules in things like tax accountancy.

I think you all should campaign for free milk.

We get free tea/coffee/hot chocolate/milk/apples/bananas/oranges and soup.

Tea coffee and milk is provided in my office, but rule is it isn't used for cereal

I have one colleague who has milk in cereal but no hot drinks. Not sure why it's diffeeebt

Problem is that people use a shedload more milk for cereal than they do in tea.

That's not always true though. One of my colleagues has about 5 milky teas a day, one has a bowl of cereal & black tea. I don't like milk 😆

Put up a passive aggressive sign.
Milk is for tea and coffee only.

Perhaps the cereal eater does not drink milk in their bevarages, so is just getting their money's worth.

I don't think anyone should be using the milk for cereal, so "people" are right to say something.
I've worked somewhere where this happened and it really is using a disproportionate amount of the supplies (in terms of people buying it and carrying it in as much as the cost).
Of course, if you aren't bothered, and you don't manage the team then it was odd that you were asked to say anything but the milk user needed to have it pointed out to them that they need to bring in their own milk for meals - the kitty is just for drinks.