Spooning.

There is a kitchen where I work and it's in use twenty four hours a day, every day of the year. There is a constant trail of people heading backwards and forwards to make various hot drinks or use the micro-waves to heat their lunch; we drink a lot of tea and coffee at my place. It's rectangular and approximately ten feet square, there are four fridges, two microwave ovens, a stainless steel sink with drainer and one of those large wall mounted boilers so there is a constant stream of hot, drinking water. There are wall and floor mounted cupboards and in two of the cupboards there are draws with towels in one and cutlery in the other, including tea spoons. That's where the trouble starts.  

We don't have a cleaning fairy in our kitchen which is often pointed out by those who feel the need to wash and clear up the dirty cups and plates left lying around by those who can't be bothered to do it. The usual scenario is for someone to go into the kitchen, become so upset by the state of it that they feel compelled to wash up and then come back into the main office and send round a sarcastic and accusatory message to all the other members of staff ranting about having to do it. The messages often include such comments as. 'AGAIN!!!!!' or 'I'm not here to clear up after YOU!!!!!' and similar. We had one from a staff member the other day bemoaning that she had to wash up all the teaspoons. Now, I agree that crockery should be washed up and put away by the person who uses it but, in my opinion, teaspoons are a moan too far. 

The spoons are usually left lying around the sink or draining board, the reason for this is that there are in almost constant use. If you wash them up and put them away then I expect it would take no more than an hour and a half for them all to be back on the draining board again. Therefore putting them away is completely pointless. We drink so much tea in our house we always have a teaspoon in the sink or on the draining board; we just wash it and re-use it. So, would I do it at home? Damn right I would. Anyone stupid enough to waste their time gets no sympathy from me. No one asked her to wash them, we have cleaners for that, if she'd rather be a cleaner then I'm sure she would have no trouble getting a job. Clearly she ought be getting on with her own job rather than hanging round in the kitchen doing someone else's. She is clearly not busy enough if she can come to work and all she worries about is the bloody spoons. If you want to wash the spoons, that's fine in my view but don't come and bitch about it by grabbing the moral high ground and trying to make everyone else feel bad because they don't share your obsessive need to tidy up. No one asked her to and no one expected her to.

From a mathematical perspective, if you have a total of twelve spoons and twelve spoons are on the draining board then you have reached finite mass as it were. It's not as if you going to be wading waist deep in spoons if nobody put them away. It has yet to be demonstrated to me how twelve teaspoons, when used correctly for their intended function, are a risk to health and safety. 

The sport of 'Washing and Bitching' is not just a female pastime; we have some males who practicing it as well. It just so happened that it was a female this time. I have washed up cups and plates before now that weren't mine, I just did it. No drama as they say.  Perhaps the woman who moaned about the spoons was bitterly disappointed there wasn't a couple of plates or bowls as well so she could feel really indigent and be twice as cutting in her missive to the office. No doubt there will be champion spoon-washers who will read this and be aghast at my slovenly attitude and reply with some withering and caustic comments. Personally I shall continue to leave my spoon in the sink for the next person to use. Tea anyone?