Funny Office Kitchen Cleanup Signs

Marcianne Kuethen

May 28, 2013

Last week, you may have read our business manager’s article on company policies that work–or not. It reminded me of the laughable sign we used to have in our staff kitchen telling everyone to please clean up after themselves. Day after day, the kitchen would accumulate dirty dishes because everyone was too hurried and no one was in charge of enforcing the policy. Since the janitor only came on the weekend, one of us often had to take the overflowing trash out back to the dumpster midweek. Plus, we shared the space with renters, who became a convenient scapegoat whenever someone left a mess.

We finally accepted the fact that our kitchen was doomed to be messy as long as employees were in charge. A couple of us resigned ourselves to occasionally washing a sinkful of dirty cups and silverware, cleaning up the counters and cupboards, and throwing out all the old food that had come to life in the fridge. Yuck.

Then, light dawned. When we moved to our new office, we discovered that the new cleaning crew comes in every single day and cleans the kitchen along with every office. I guess that’s one way to get rid of an unenforceable policy! We still have to clean out the fridge, but it’s amazing how when a room is cleaned every night, people treat it more respectfully.

So, here are some funny signs you can make for your office kitchen, from funny to funniest, in my opinion:

• This is a self-cleaning kitchen. Clean up after yourself.
• Keep this area clean. Your mother isn’t here…so clean up after yourself! (or, The maid is on strike so clean up after yourself.)
• Notice: If you are a lazy slob who doesn’t clean up after yourself, please warn others so they can pick up the slack.
• Strange new trend at the office. People putting names on food in the company fridge. Today I had a tuna sandwich named Kevin.

Do you have an unenforceable policy in your office? Maybe it’s time to question, rethink, or rewrite the one that bugs you most every day.