Pete Hanson’s Daily Blog: Life According to Palmolive

At our office, we have about 25 full-time employees. And no professional cleaning service. We (in theory) just try to take care of it ourselves. We do a pretty good job of looking after our own immediate areas; dusting, vacuuming, taking out the trash. It actually works pretty well. Thank God the restrooms are serviced by the building management.

And then there’s the kitchen. The dreaded common area that falls under no one person’s jurisdiction. It just also happens to get the most traffic and potential messes. The refrigerator(enter at your own risk), the microwave (exploded spaghetti sauce from 1988), the coffee pot, the sink, the dishes, the floor…you get the idea. So, we rotate through a list of all employees, and everyone gets a week of kitchen duty.

While kitchen duty seemed to be a simple, practical solution to a cleaning problem, it has actually turned out to be a little more than that; nothing less than a glimpse into the soul of each co-worker. Really. Want to get an idea of how someone is wired? Keep an eye on the kitchen during their week of duty.

There are three kinds of kitchen cleaners in our office. There’s the group that does a good job making sure the kitchen is taken care of. They wipe everything down, keep dishes clean, and generally do a good job of picking up. Things look cared for during their week of service. The second group is the super-cleaners. They vacuum, clean the fridge, wipe down the microwave, empty the trash. They own the kitchen during their week on the list. They might even be crazy enough to help pick up during someone else’s week. The third group are the “What my week?,” kitchen patrollers. Not only are they probably unaware it’s their turn, but you likely wouldn’t be able to tell the difference even if they did know.

Here’s the rub; it’s not just about cleaning the kitchen. It seems that how someone maintains the kitchen during their week on the clock says a lot about how they tick. Kitchen week isn’t some isolated event in our lives, but rather a window to our souls. Is any one kitchen week a big deal? Nope. Do you secretly learn a lot about someone from their kitchen week? Yep.

What counter top/toaster/fridge/sink/coffeemaker are you watching over? What does the job you do say about you? I’m just sayin’.