I hit my threshold when it came to the state of mess in the staff break room. It had been bad before, but this was the straw that had broke the camel's back. I went to put my lunch and dinner into the fridge. Upon opening it I was greeted with the pungent smell of vinegar. I found that someone had left a bottle of Worcestershire sauce open and it had been knocked over. Half of the bottle's contents was all over the inside of the refrigerator. When I set my bag of food on the counter to the side so I could sop up the mess, I found that the bag was sticking to the counter. The counter had developed a gooey membrane of different congealed sauces over time. I had had it. There was no safe place to put my things and it was absolutely disgusting. It wasn't my job to clean the break room. That was the reason I hadn't touched it until now, but I couldn't stand it anymore.

All I had was some paper towels and a bottle of Lysol all purpose spray.

After 45 minutes of burning eyes and burning nose from the amount of chemicals I had used, the break room is now clean for the most part. The ground is still super sticky, but I couldn't find a mop to tackle that problem. My head hurts and my nose is still burning from the ordeal, but it's done and I'm pleased with my efforts. -.-;;

Aww, that sucks. At least you don't have to worry about the mess now.

I've noticed it really easy for communal places to get messy since ot is easy to carry the ideology of "not my mess, I don't have to clean it" or become lax with their own mess. It's annoying.

Maybe you can talk to the manager or HR about trying to solve this issue. Everyone should be able to pick up after themselves and for the more routine stuff (mop, counters, etc.) maybe a weekly rotation with a different group in charge of cleaning might be a good idea so that all the work isn't left to you after things get built up to the point of being unmanageable.

It sounds like your place of business needs to hire a sanitation technician (read: a damn janitor) because that sounds absolutely horrifying. Back when I had been working with Wal-Mart, I had encountered the exact same problem you've described in the employee lounge. It was so terrible that I started buying my 'lunches' by getting an apple or a banana and some crackers, etc. then taking everything outside to one of the benches and eating there, rather than packing food that needed safekeeping in the refrigerator, and going to the same place for my breaks regardless of the weather. (I worked 7-9 hour shifts in Dairy, I was used to being half-frozen so temperature extremes don't bother me as much as the next person.)

We have up to 150 people where I work and I refuse to use the communal fridge in the lunch room. The smell alone when it's opened is enough to tingle the nostrils. I have cleaned it out once before and we were sure there were a few science experiments and some evolution going on within some of the containers. That's why I always buy my lunch or eat generic packed lunches. At least I won't get some hybrid version of ebola from that appliance.

Also, we won't talk about the state of our sink... I think 4 days has been the record that the plug wasn't pulled and the water had a skim to it.

i don't have a break room at my job. everyone goes outside through the kitchen.

At a previous grocery store I worked at the to get to the employee only bathroom you had to go through the breakroom. One day when I went into the breakroom for lunch there was a foul smelling liquid with little chunks mixed in all over the floor. I involuntarily added some more chunks to the mix.

I've noticed it really easy for communal places to get messy since ot is easy to carry the ideology of "not my mess, I don't have to clean it" or become lax with their own mess. It's annoying.

It's called the 'tragedy of the commons,' and it's sort of a big sticking point in communal societies to date. Until someone is personally invested in the area, nobody has any motivation to take care of it (or at least, until their threshold of "friggin' disgusting" gets crossed, which varies for everybody and satisfies only the laziest people). The answer is incentive... someone (maybe @oOWonderKinOo) needs to be paid fairly to keep the place in order. Pitch the idea to your boss and you just might get a raise -- and they like that kind of initiative too, so that could also open doors later, if you're into that. Worst they can do is say no. If that happens you should just file regular complaints about the conditions (with pictures, if able, and vivid descriptions of the smell) until management is forced to recognize that it's a real problem, and that you're a cost-effective solution. Then you get more money, and it's sanitary -- everybody wins!

That is pretty damn bad.

Worst I ever had to deal with was an employee bathroom with no doors on the stalls.