As a Christmas bonus to the entire office - give everyone a place setting of dishes with their names etched on it. Also silverware. And maybe punch a hold on the handle of the spoon so that they can wear it around their neck in a string. Hee Haw!!!!

This is so weird and gross. Why doesn’t everyone bring their own lunch container, eat from that, and take it home at the end of the day? There is no need for communal dishes.

Op, being a low level staff member truly sucks. I hope you’re at least in a role with opportunity to move up.

Depends if they're personal dishes or not. One former workplace of mine had a dishwashing machine in every kitchenette and a stock of communal plates, cutlery, coffee mugs, etc. The "culture" that developed over time was that people left dishes in the sink to be loaded in the dishwasher by admins or custodial staff. Why? Because if it wasn't anyone's job to load and unload the dishwasher, we'd end up with a purgatory of half-full and half-washed dishes. It's hard enough at home among your own family to keep track of "are these dirty? are these clean?"

It's different if they are truly "personal" dishes that people bring in. Basically no one else should be expected to ever have to handle anyone's personal plates and mugs.

I used to manage the receptionist/office manager in my former company. People were disgusting turds and thought she should clean up their nasty tupperware in the sink or collect coffee mugs to put in the dishwasher etc. She had the go ahead to throw out any dish that was left in the sink daily or the fridge at the end of the week. We got rid of all mugs/plates/silverware and replaced with plastic/paper.

Our receptionist was a business associate and not a maid.

Is this impacting your ability to complete your tasks?

I think it is just an office norms thing. If I saw people coming back to put away their single dry dish, yeah, I would follow. You could put up a small sign and stop doing it, but it is hard to change a norm.

I bring my own dishes in my own lunch and wash them at home (in the dishwasher). We do have dishes and plates and a dishwasher provided. Admin staff generally do unload the dishwasher. It would be pretty odd expectation that everyone comes back to find and put away the dishes they personally used. Rotating the task means that only the suckers (women) do it. Our janitor staff does not do dishes.

Yeah, let them pile up. If somebody thinks it is your job, dare them to say it to your face. Ridiculous.

Because you are taking the dishes and putting it in the cabinet, employees think that these are highly clean dishwasher sanitized dishes that have been put there for their use. They think that it is hotel housekeeping service.

You can bet your hat that if you let if be on the drying rack, people will not use it because they will not think it is properly clean and sanitized.

Trust me on this.

Anonymous wrote:Switch to disposable plates and cups. Problem solved.

This too.

Anonymous wrote:Just stop putting them away. No one will notice or care. If there's no room on the drying rack people will stack the dishes on top.

Throw away the drying rack. Print instructions that everyone needs to wash their own shit. Things not washed will be trashed end of day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume they're on the drying rack to dry. How can they put them away immediately?

If you don't want them on the drying rack- toss the drying rack and make everyone use a paper towel.

Our cleaning crew is the one who cleans the fridge and tosses everything/ makes sure the kitchen is clean.

The dishes have been sitting in the drying rack over night and into the next day before I finally put them away

You are triggered by seeing the dishes on the rack. Others are not. You need to let it go. It is not your home kitchen.

Communal dishes they don’t go through a dishwasher sound gross to me.
Did your boss tell you to put up the dishes? If so, it is your job and you should do it. if not, maybe just stop doing it and see what happens? I do agree with the poster above who warned about not losing your job. When Lower level people insist that upper level people should be doing menial tasks, it can mean or imply that the lower level people are not necessary hires. I mean you were getting paid to do stuff that the higher-ups are not assigned to do so they can do other things. Can they answer their own phones and put up throwing dishes and make their own copies? Sure, but if they do that, what’s the point of you being there?

Anonymous wrote:It's not about culture or respect or manners... companies would rather one admin whose hourly pay is low put away the dishes at the end of the day instead of expecting several highly paid employees to come back to the kitchen at days end to put away their cup/bowl. Do you want them to empty their own office trash bins at days end too? At our company the the building cleaners do this, not admins, but I've worked at small companies where they did such tasks.

What? Why is your company paying anyone to clean up their own lunch? Yes, highly paid employees should clean up their own dishes, and they shouldn't get paid to do so.

Don't do it. BTDT.

Anonymous wrote:It's not about culture or respect or manners... companies would rather one admin whose hourly pay is low put away the dishes at the end of the day instead of expecting several highly paid employees to come back to the kitchen at days end to put away their cup/bowl. Do you want them to empty their own office trash bins at days end too? At our company the the building cleaners do this, not admins, but I've worked at small companies where they did such tasks.

I love that you frame it as the company’s preference, that they don’t want highly paid people to do a 30-second task.

Switch to disposable plates and cups. Problem solved.