Sir, – I am constantly perplexed at how others cannot understand that an office kitchen environment where food is shared is a space for everyone. How can people not think of others when using this space? I’m sure some of your readers will need the following tips, and others will feel my anguish.
If you are trying to open a sliced pan of bread, please don’t rip a hole in the packaging and then leave the whole sliced pan exposed to the air, as it will go stale.
The manufacturers have taken great care to build an opening into the sliced pan which can be revealed through removing the sticker with the date on it; this is generally a different colour to the packaging.
But the beauty of this sticker, which the manufacturers thought long and hard about, is that it is reusable and can actually reseal the sliced pan so no bread will go stale. This will help avoid the panic that some people feel on a Friday when there is no bread.
Please do take great care in opening packaged meat, so that the meat isn’t left exposed to the air in the fridge. This may come as a surprise to you but meat left exposed in the fridge will harden and become very unpleasant to eat. This can heighten anxiousness for other people in the office on a Friday where panic and hysteria sets in due to no bread or no meat.
If you open a packet of biscuits, please don’t leave them exposed to the air as they will go stale and will have to be thrown out. Someone may have their day planned around getting a biscuit but they can’t because you let them go stale. In most kitchens, there is always an ample supply of plastic wrap or tinfoil. Either one of these items can be used to wrap the packet of biscuits to help preserve the contents.
This may also come as a shock to some people but milk can actually go sour. It can go sour if left out on the kitchen worktop. When milk is not kept in the fridge and left on the worktop all day, this increases the likelihood of the milk going sour and being thrown out. This can lead to very erratic behaviour on a Friday when others cannot make a cup of tea or, worse yet, a coffee. Even more erratic behaviour occurs when the realisation kicks in of no bread or meat to make a sandwich, no milk to make the tea and no biscuits to soften the blow, all of which have become stale because others didn’t help preserve these items.
Finally, there is a very soft object in the kitchen that some people may not be familiar with. It’s generally blue, white, green or yellow and is left beside the kitchen sink. This soft object is a sponge or cloth and can be actually used to clean the surface of the kitchen. Not using this to clean the worktop can actually lead to erratic behaviour as your colleague has been let down with no bread, no meat, no milk, no biscuits, no tea or coffee and then, after they’ve gone out to get food elsewhere, have to deal with a mess where they can’t prepare their food. How do you console them? How?
Please be aware that other people share the food in the kitchen with you and the kitchen area.
So keep it clean and think of others! – Yours, etc,
CELINE MORAN
Kilbarrack,
Dublin 5.