Like many workplaces, we have a tea room/staff lunch room/break out room. Whatever you want to call it, it amounts to pretty much the same thing. A room where staff members can eat their lunch without having to leave the office, and away from the prying eyes of the public.
This tea room, like many others, has a dish washer.
It has become an issue from time to time, that some people are making a mess in the tea room, and not cleaning up. It has also become an issue that some people are misusing the dishwasher. The main crime is opening the dishwasher before it has finished its washing cycle. This causes the dishwasher to stop, and people tend to open the dishwasher, notice that it has not finished, and then just close the door and walk away. This leaves the dishwasher sitting there full of half cleaned dishes, and dirty water everywhere. Not surprisingly this really frustrates many others in the office. It has been raised a number of times at our (semi) weekly staff meetings, and there is even a big sign on the front of the dishwasher saying not to open it until the dial is showing that it is finished.
This is not what annoyed me. I am fine with this. I think it is a bit silly that it is something that needs to be brought up at meetings, but I get the point. I can honestly say that I am not one of the people who make a mess without cleaning up I guess good parenting and working at Maccas has instilled a "clean as you go" philosophy in me.
I also have enough intelligence to be able to read and understand signs such as the one on front of the dishwasher.
The situation that pissed me off was this: One day, the Hippie was looking for a mug for her herbal tea. She couldn't find one that suited her in the cupboards, so she went to the dishwasher, and without checking, opened it. She discovered that it was part way through a wash cycle. She muttered an "oops" and I made some comment about the sign on front, to which she responded with an "oh well" and left it there without turning it back on. I left the tea room with my coffee as some other workers were entering, and when I came back in, The Hippie told me that she had blamed me for opening the dishwasher!
This is what pissed me off. She thought it was funny, and I later heard her telling another team member that she gets off on that sort of thing: shifting the blame to other people.
Shifting the blame is, in my view, totally wrong. It shows cowardice, and an unwillingness to accept responsibility for one's actions. Anyone who tries to shift blame is beneath contempt. Even though this is just a small issue, it demonstrates a possibility of it happening with larger issues.
This is not really what got my goat. My cynical nature half expects people to fail morally, or in competency. What really bugged me was the fact that the Hippie was trying to blacken my name. Trying to make me look incompetent.
I take a certain amount of pride in the fact that I am not an incompetent slob. But I find it aggravating when my work ethic is brought into question.
As far as the Hippie was concerned, it was all just a joke. But even jokes can ruin a reputation.
This is my view in the greater world too. My reputation is MY reputation. If I do something to fuck it up, then I reap the rewards of my own efforts. But if a smear is made on my reputation (even only in jest) then it can irreparably damage it. Even little dents can add up over time. I value the good will that I have built up with people, both in my professional and private lives. I do not appreciate this being placed in jeopardy simply because some Hippie wants to have fun, and try to shift the blame.
This may seem a little bit like over reaction for something so little as opening a dishwasher, and I may be making a mountain out of a mole hill. But I like to remember the example of the par-boiled frog. Many little instances can add together to make a big issue.
DPS
1 comment:
Hippies are cool. Lovely people. Maybe she is a try hard hippie? No?
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