Break room etiquette1/17/2024 ![]() “I've had to ask men not to pee on the toilet seat in a shared bathroom,” said Donna Flagg, author of Appearing to be unavailable by wearing a wireless earpiece or headphones.Failing to silence cell phone ringtones.Sharing too much information by gossiping loudly or having a deeply personal cell phone conversation in a common area.Clicking pens, tapping fingers and chewing gum loudly.Blasting music in an open work space and singing along to favorite tunes.Taking half a cookie or piece of cake and leaving the rest behind.Storing a week’s worth of groceries in the office refrigerator. ![]() Emptying the coffee pot, water cooler jug or printer paper tray and not refilling it.Yet there are plenty of things, in and out of the break room, that employees do that get on other people’s nerves, he said, such as: “Leaving messes in a common area will have colleagues wondering whether you’re just as careless in other aspects of the job.” “Many people believe their actions in the break room go unnoticed, but subtle behaviors can send a message about an individual’s consideration for others,” said OfficeTeam executive director Robert Hosking. Stealing a co-worker’s food came in second, at 19 percent, followed by leaving spoiled items in the refrigerator, at 18 percent. Opened an umbrella at their desk to block cold air.Įxperts say communal areas, such as the office break room or copy room, create ample opportunities for annoying behavior.įorty-four percent of 432 U.S.-based office workers surveyed by the staffing company OfficeTeam in July 2010 said that leaving a mess for others to clean up tops the list of annoying break room behavior.Used their hands, rather than a spoon, to retrieve unwrapped candy from a candy jar.Complained about the distance between their desks and the water cooler.That’s why HR professionals must be equipped to manage a vast, constantly changing universe of scenarios, ranging from the bizarre to the mundane.Īccording to postings on the Society for Human Resource Management’s HR Talk bulletin board, HR professionals were dealing with a number of mini-dramas in mid-2010, such as employees who: The little things that happen at work-like the employee who stores open containers of cat food in the office refrigerator-can drive employees crazy.
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