update: colleague doesn’t wash his hands after he goes to the bathroom, and people are making it my problem

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.

Remember the letter-writer whose coworker didn’t wash his hands after he using the bathroom and was pawing through the communal snacks (#3 at the link)? Here’s the update.

First of all, I’d like to apologise to the racoon population for comparing my colleague to that noble animal. Calling him a bin chicken might have revealed too much about my location.

Second, I found a solution which has pleased everyone — since the colleague in question had a strong preference for chocolate biscuits, I started adding individually wrapped mini-chocolate bars to our regular grocery order. It turns out that he likes these even more than chocolate biscuits, but now there’s enough sweet treats for everyone, and the biscuits are unsullied and safe to eat.

I wish I could say that someone in charge told the bin chicken to stop being disgusting and wash his hands, and he was so ashamed he became a model of hygiene. Alas, the world isn’t that perfect. On the other hand, thanks to the suggestions at AAM, a change in my own attitude, and a small upgrade to the kitchen facilities, the culture in my office is much improved, and one man is no longer ruining it for everyone. All we need now is for our fruit supplier to stop loading up our weekly fruit box with pears, and maybe throw in a citrus now and then, and then we’ll have achieved office kitchen perfection.