I'm shocked at the entitlement, others think it's normal..?

[Bigstyle]

I work for a small charity. There are three very important, very well paid executives and a small team of "workers".

The executives like their coffee and mostly make it themselves, using the office pod machine. But at the end of the day they bring their cups into the main office for the most junior staff member to wash.

Now, I get that our job is basically to support them, but I can't imagine doing this to my staff. The "junior" doesn't have hot drinks so it's not even like she's going to wash her own cup.

I think it's outrageous, the general attitude it demonstrates rather than the task, but they clearly think it's perfectly normal.

Is it?

I once worked where the only sink was in our office. Everyone in the other office brought their mugs in and left them in our sink. Eventually the boss emptied a bin, put all their cups in it and put it in their office. They washed their mugs after that.

I'm all in favour of direct action. It's the passive-agressive stuff that sets my jaw. Just be direct is what I'm saying, don't try to be clever or talk down to people (even if they are being a lazy arse).

Several years of dealing with teenagers has taught me that people respect you more if you are direct and respectful, even if they aren't, and don't try to patronise/infantalise them. I'm not saying ypu should stand for any shit, but never be dragged into any pettiness.

Many years of dealing with teenagers has taught me that if you infantilise them and don’t ensure they wash their own dishes then they grow up to be adults who don’t know how to behave in the workplace and don’t take kindly to any form of instruction, regardless of how you word it.

If you demonstrate infantile behaviour at work then expect similar wording on notes in return - and live with the consequences of your actions.

You mean allow yourself to be dragged down to their level?

I thought my post was clear enough, but for the avoidance of doubt - don’t give a shit about whether your rude colleagues get triggered/upset/whatevs by some words on a bit of paper telling them to clean up after themselves.

No, not normal. Someone might be asked specifically to empty the dishwasher. It's everyone's job to clean up after themselves (put cup in dishwasher or wash it).Cleaners come and clean and sort dishwasher on their days.
If they can't wash their own cups, they need to pay an appropriate professional, it's not an admin task.

Once the cleaning company decided to do a deep clean and put all the crockery in a box. Everyone got much better at washing up after that 😂 The crockery wasn't going to be removed but some were afraid it was going to be.

There are behaviors that demonstrate to others, your potential…..
The senior people are already at the top. It doesn’t matter for them.

The others - who will you promote?
The passive aggressive people who just leave a problem unsolved (dirty mug in sink), bitch about it and complain about entitlement; or the one who silently washes a few mugs and sets them to dry (amount of time & effort very small).
To some, if would be indicative of a person’s work ethic, teamwork, office politics, problem solving …

If there’s a rubbish on the floor at work, do you step over it, or pick it up and put it in the bin? A phone ringing and ringing … ignore because it’s not your phone or answer as it might be a client, the copier is out of paper, leave it or put paper in? Keeping workplace clean, safe and efficient is team responsibility IMO.

People observe your behaviors and trust those who are supporting the workplace even if it’s washing a mug.
If you are motivated to move up the ladder, & be rewarded financially… then play the part of enthusiastic team member.

Yes, good to show enthusiasm. A junior staff member is unlikely to be so highly qualified they are too grand to wash a cup. In my office we all make each other tea, those who have it. At the end of the day a cleaner gathers the mugs. That’s in their job description. The overall boss has a PA to bring tea if it’s needed - the boss doesn’t wash up.

I think you're fooling yourself if you think silently washing up other people's cups is registered as a plus point.

Mostly silently cleaning up after others goes unnoticed. And often leads to the problem persisting and even escalating as more people just assume someone else (you) will keep on washing them.

It's one thing to help out clearing up after an event or something like that, but just being the self-appointed daily dogsbody isn't going to get you far.

Anyone who finds themselves working for a company or organisation that watches whether their junior staff wash the senior staff’s dishes and then promotes them on that basis should look for another job immediately. This is not somewhere anyone in their right mind should work.

Oh give over, will you!. I am guessing, from what you are saying, that maybe you were/are one of those people, in a senior position, who puts their mug in the sink expecting someone lower on the hierarchy, to wash it for you? No one is above washing their own dirty mug. It’s not a good look for the person doing it, and you will be judged by others.

No one is too grand to not have to wash up after themselves. I used to have the boss like this. They would sometimes stop me, mid work, to ask me to make them a cup of tea and bring them a newspaper, even though I was very busy, and it wasn’t in my job description. And then they would leave their dirty cup in the sink. I really resented them for this nonsense behaviour. It just showed their disregard for me. Your boss should get up and make his own tea, and clean up after himself. It’s 2024 not 1964.

Not read the whole thread so it may have been mentioned. Has anyone seen Greg James (radio 1) insta post about work mugs this week? 😁

Wrong sad person. I’m the one leading by example, pitching in and getting the work done. Whilst your ilk look after only yourself and think you are better than the team.

At ours, most people pitch-in, and do what needs to be done. They’re the ones get selected for new initiates, teams …. It’s the bitching office jobs-worth who doesn’t quite understand teamwork who is overlooked/and lowest performing and doesn’t quit no matter how much they complain about everyone else.

The problems persisting …. A mug? Jeez u r sad.

At one workplace, it did escalate into lots of people leaving their mugs in the sink and even their dirty plates & lunch-boxes, expecting the washing-up fairies to come. The sink was constantly full.

Good workplace culture can easily slide with a few lazy buggers and the helpful people eventually getting fucked off with doing it, quite rightly.

Better to have a workplace culture where you clean up after yourself.

Ilk? Who talks like this? 😂😂I’ve been in senior roles myself, and i would never expect someone else, in my team, junior or otherwise, to clean up after me. If there was an event of any kind we all pitched in to clean everything up. And I always cleaned up my own mug. If i ever found that any of my other colleagues, were being disrespectful in regards to expecting the juniors in the team to run around , cleaning up after others, I would be having strong words with them. Like you said, lead by example by not being disrespectful towards the people you work with.

So you definitely are one of those individuals in the office who puts their dirty things in the sink, for others to wash up, because otherwise you wouldn’t be getting this upset about it. Just wash your own mug.

Yup.
you are that employee who just doesn’t understand the very clear messaging.

What clear messaging? That people who are your juniors are expected to wash up your dirty cups because you think you are more important them, but by continuing to wash your dirty crockery, their careers will develop exponentially within a very short space of time - because they washed your mug?

What employee would that be then - someone who stands their ground and refuses to wash their entitled colleagues’ dishes? They sound fantastic - they’re the kind of person who I’d love to have in my team, someone who knows their worth, refuses to bow down to disrespectful senior members of staff and recognises it’s not 1963 anymore .

The employee who didn’t read, Or didn’t understand, the messages in prior posts,

The jumped up jobs-worth with huge chip on shoulder who doesn’t bother …

I think she is referring to me as the “employee”, saying that I don’t understand her posts, how I am not a team player etc.

You must be devastated…