Okay so I gotta ask you all something because I think I’m right but some people here at work are acting like I’m the worst person ever. And I just don’t get it.
So I work in an office, nothing fancy, just a regular job. We got a breakroom with a fridge and a microwave and stuff. Like most places, we got rules about keeping it clean and not leaving your old food in the fridge for weeks on end. It’s just common sense, you know?
Most people follow it. We got a whiteboard where someone writes “Fridge Cleanout Friday” every week, and everyone usually clears their stuff out. But then there’s Brenda. Brenda, oh man. Brenda just does not care. She’ll bring in her lunch on Monday, eat half of it, then leave the container in the fridge until Thursday, sometimes even Friday. And it’s not like it’s a sealed container either. Sometimes it’s just a plate with Saran Wrap over it, or a bowl. And her stuff starts to smell after a few days. Seriously, it stinks up the whole fridge.
I’m not the only one who noticed. I heard other folks grumbling about it. Someone even put a note on the fridge that said “Clean out your old food, people!” but Brenda just ignored it. She’d just move the note if it was on her container. I saw her do it!
So, I waited. I waited for a few weeks, thinking maybe she’d get the hint. She didn’t. Her old food was still stinking up the place. One time, I opened the fridge to grab my yogurt, and this smell, this really bad smell, hit me. I looked in, and it was one of Brenda’s containers, a plastic one, with something green and fuzzy growing on top. I almost threw up right there.
That was it for me. I decided enough was enough. Someone had to take charge because obviously, Brenda wasn’t going to. So, the next time Fridge Cleanout Friday came around, I took matters into my own hands.
Brenda had left this big Tupperware container in there since Tuesday. It had some kind of pasta salad or something in it. I knew for a fact it was hers because it was a specific color of Tupperware she always uses, and I saw her put it in there. And it was past the “Fridge Cleanout” time. So, I grabbed it. I walked right over to the trash can and dumped the whole thing out. Not just her pasta, the container too. Because honestly, who wants to touch a container that’s had old, stinky, maybe moldy food in it for days? I figured if she cared about her containers, she’d clean them out. And if she didn’t, she didn’t deserve to keep them.
I put her empty, dirty Tupperware on her desk. I didn’t say anything. I just wanted her to get the message.
Well, Brenda came in Monday and saw her container. She didn’t say anything at first, just looked at it. Then she went to the breakroom. I heard her rummaging around in the fridge, and then she came out with this look on her face. Like she was mad.
She walked straight to my desk. “Did you throw out my lunch?” she asked, real quiet but you could tell she was mad.
I looked at her. “Brenda,” I said, “it was Fridge Cleanout Friday. Your stuff was in there since Tuesday. It was smelling up the whole fridge. Someone had to do it. You never clean your stuff out.”
She got all red. “You threw out my container too? That was a good Tupperware! And it wasn’t even moldy yet!”
“It was past cleanout time,” I said. “And it stank. You need to be more mindful of other people, Brenda. This is a shared space.”
She started going on about how I had no right, and how it was her property, and how I should have just talked to her. But I did! I mean, not directly, but like, everyone knows the rules. We all see the notes. She just ignores them. And I tried being patient. But enough is enough, right? Someone has to step up.
Now she’s telling other people that I’m mean and I’m a bully. And a couple of other coworkers are looking at me funny, like I did something wrong. But all I did was enforce a rule that everyone else follows. And she was being totally inconsiderate. Her food was gross! I just wanted the breakroom to be a clean place for everyone. I don’t think I did anything bad. I just solved a problem.
Am I The Jerk? I really feel like I was just doing what needed to be done for the good of everyone. Please tell me I’m not crazy here, because I swear she’s the one who’s in the wrong for being so messy and then getting mad when someone finally does something about it.
