The office coffee room is a place to escape from challenging projects and difficult bosses to catch up with co-workers over a piping hot mug of coffee.However, while the coffee break can serve as a workplace safe haven, it can also be the site of fierce battles between co-worker battles regarding issues of etiquette. If coffee break wars are currently brewing in your office, here are a few ideas to consider implementing to keep the peace. If you empty it, replace it!Each morning in most decent workplaces across the country, the rush to the office kitchen begins – for coffee, of course!But many coffee lover’s days are ruined everyday, by going to fill a cup with free coffee, only to discover, rather too late, that just a single drop remains in the coffee machine. When you use the last of anything in the break room, try and be decent enough to replace it as a courtesy to your co-workers. Be it coffee, sugar or any other shared items that regularly run out in your office, act the gentleman/lady by implementing this rule. Clean up your mess In a random mini survey I held among office workers privileged enough to have bosses who actually buy coffee for their team, nearly half the number immediately cited leaving messes for others to clean as the most annoying coffee room habit.True, you spend more of your time at work than at home, but this does not turn the workplace into a home environment. If you make a mess either by spilling a drink or by leaving crumbs of snacks, you should find it in yourself to clean it up. And it does not even matter whether the office has got a full-time cleaner paid for the job.Don’t steal food!Have you ever brought a snack to work, saving it for your lunch break, only to discover its crumbs spilled all over the kitchen sink? Know how frustrating this particular situation can be?Stealing of food – as indeed any other form of theft – at the workplace can lead to heated accusations and an air of mutual suspicion between co-workers. Not the best atmosphere in which to put your best foot forward on your job, right?However, should you insist on being the office thief, you are unknowingly inviting a situation in which it will be required of all employees to clearly label their food and ask for permission before taking a co-worker’s break room goodies. You can be sure that no person in their sane mind envisions such a nursery school-like scheme at their workplace. Steer clear of gossipThe office break room is a convenient location to escape unreasonable deadlines from the boss and enjoy a nice cup of coffee or mid-morning snack. However, few things can ruin that break more quickly than being trapped with co-workers who insist on gossiping about others in the workplace. By enforcing a strict no gossiping rule, you’ll ensure the break room remains a temporary place to escape workplace stress.While some break room rules may seem like common sense, never assume all co-workers were raised in a similar fashion as you. The best way to keep break room peace and ensure this area remains a treasured workplace location is to create rules and ensure each employee understands them. By posting the rules and enforcing them, fewer battles will occur, resulting in a more harmonious work environment.
