Читать книгу Blaikie’s Guide to Modern Manners - Thomas Blaikie - Страница 31

At school, teachers always say to the litter bug, ‘Would you do that at home?’ Usually the answer’s, ‘Yes, there’s somebody to pick up litter.’ They mean their mothers. In the workplace the attitude is similar. ‘I’m too grand to tidy/ clear away/remove rubbish. The “cleaners” will do it.’

But watch out – perhaps it isn’t the cleaners who are doing it. Zoe turned the meeting room at her PR agency upside down. She was overexcited. She was leading a little strategy meeting for the first time. She wanted a nonhierarchical arrangement of furniture. But did she put it back how it should have been when she had finished? Guess who was in there next? And who had to put it all back again? That’s right. The managing director. Who snagged her Nicole Farhi skirt in the process.

In Matt’s office, the bugbear is the coffee area. It’s a horrible sight: ring marks everywhere, drips and splashes, coffee powder scattered, unattractive brown lumps in the sugar. Not even cats could get it into this state. ‘Every day someone puts the jug back on the hotplate with just a little bit of coffee left. After a while it evaporates, leaving a sticky mess which is hard to clean. Once or twice the jug’s got stuck to the hotplate and we’ve had to buy a new machine.’

Just because you’re in the office, it doesn’t mean you haven’t got to:

 Tidy as you go.

 Leave it as you found it.