‘It came from the refrigerator!’

Navigating that shared-food space at work can be pretty scary

By Marco Buscaglia (From October 2017)

There are some scary things one can encounter at the workplace. There's the don't-go-in-there closet that still holds coats from workers who were laid off in 2008, the timer-run lights that leave the late-night employee in total darkness and the guy who works in the windowless office who seemingly hasn't left his desk for years. And the, of course, there’s the refrigerator. 

“Disgusting, absolutely disgusting,” says Riley Bevins, a 27-year-old mechanical engineer who recently switched jobs because of what she calls some “hygienic concerns” with her former coworkers. “The refrigerator is indicative of what the office is like. I know I’m in a male-dominated field, but these guys would eat fried chicken for lunch and just put a half-eaten breast in the fridge, like right on the shelf. That’s so gross on so many levels. And they were gross at their desks, too. Greasy keyboards, 12 cups of old coffee, just disgusting.” 

But it was the refrigerator that annoyed Bevins the most. “That’s a common space, something that everyone has to use,” says the Indianapolis resident. “If you’re putting food in there, put it in one of those Glad containers or something. And then eat it. That guy with the chicken breast? He’d leave that thing in there all week until someone threw it out or he ate it. I’m not sure.”

Common ground

Bevins’ concern—the idea of sharing a contained space—can be minimized if people keep their food in sealed containers, says Tara Louis, a physician’s assistant in Fort Worth, Texas. “You should never put something you’ve started eating back into a company refrigerator if it’s uncovered. You’re not only exposing yourself to germs, curious fingers and whatever substance may fall onto your food, you’re also creating an environment of uncleanliness,” says Louis. “I’m not saying a half-eating sandwich that’s just sitting on a paper towel is going to make the rest of the refrigerator a petri dish for disease, but it’s pretty unsanitary.” 

The company refrigerator should have certain rules, according to Louis, and “no uncontained food” should be No. 1 on the list. “Not in a sealed bag or bowl? Throw it out,” she says. 

Paul Talbot, a loan officer in Chicago, says the refrigerator is a source of passive-aggressive conflict at his office, thanks to mysterious food thieves. “People come in and see six cupcakes, so they grab one cupcake,” he says. “Or if there’s a Snapple or something, it’s probably going to be gone.” 

Talbot says the search-party efforts for evidence are the stuff of office legend. “One woman had chocolate-covered strawberries her husband sent her for her birthday and by the end of the day, she had two out of six left,” Talbot says. “She checked every garbage on our floor, every keyboard for chocolate stains. It was intense.”

Space hogs

Scott Ryan, 23, has been temping since he graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in May. He says he’s quick to learn the refrigerator rules if he knows he’s going to be at a certain office for more than a week. “People are really territorial,” he says. “I’ve had people take my lunch and put it on the counter because I took their spot in the fridge, like a parking space. People are nuts.” 

Ryan says his biggest pet peeve is the employee who has “home-size food” in the at-work refrigerator. “This one guy had an entire gallon of milk and a bunch of yogurts, like an eight-pack or something. It took up half the fridge,” says Ryan, who will be teaching in Madrid, Spain, in January. “Pack your lunch for the day and leave the rest of it at home.” 

Bevins agrees. “People would bring full packages of hot dogs, a big box of chicken nuggets,” she says. “I’d have a little bento box of veggies and cheese and I could barely fit it in.”

Ooh, that smell

Despite the various fridge infractions, the potential for offensive odors is usually the top complaint. Talbot says leftover restaurant lunches are the worst. “When you’re in a city like Chicago, people go out for Thai food, Indian food, sushi, whatever,” he says. “And then you have a bunch of foods fighting it out for worst smell. And together? Man, it’s brutal.” 

Talbot says his desk is about 50 feet from the kitchen. “And if there’s something rank in there, I smell it all day,” he says. “People open the fridge door and this smell just comes flying out. My friend calls it the Fridge Genie, like it’s this spirit that’s been locked up for centuries and escapes the first chance it gets.” 

Bevins says restaurant leftovers weren’t a problem at her previous workplace. “None of those guys would ask for a doggie bag,” she says. 

But that doesn’t mean the odors weren’t there. “We had a guy who grilled on Sundays and brought in charred chicken and barbecued ribs on Monday morning,” she says. “By Wednesday, the refrigerator smelled like garbage.”

Bevins says her new coworkers have a much more civilized approach to the company fridge. “They’re pretty respectful,” she says. “Everything is sealed and it seems like there’s food coming and going, not sitting there all week.”