Is it executive exceptionalism at work here? Supreme lack of self-awareness? A wicked sense of humor? You decide.
Exhibit a) from Reva in Reedsburg, Wisconsin

Exhibit b) from Peggy at the University of New Brunswick

Exhibit c) from Jess in San Francisco

related: Please respect my fellow employees and stop leaving notes

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“Due to budget issues,” writes our submitter from Nashville, “coffee in our office is now funded through donations by those who drink it.” (Cost: 50 cents per cup, on the honor system.)
While some office workers no doubt continue to fill their cups without paying, the passive-aggressives in this office found their own way to convey [...]

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“Some serious shit must have gone down with the previous office toaster,” says our anonymous submitter from Canada. (Maybe it was left without wearing any socks or shoes?)

Meanwhile, Marilyn in Pittsburgh says that her office lunchroom has inexplicably gone through nearly half a dozen toasters over the past year. “It’s unclear as to what keeps happening [...]

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Explains our submitter in New York: “This note is the result of a less-than-enthusiastic holiday food drive. Our office is a gray, lifeless place — what can one expect?”
(I don’t know…maybe some munchkins now and then?)

related: But what about Hawaiian Shirt Day?

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Vaguely fishy notes like this one from Toronto are pretty common around office kitchens…

…but I’ve never seen a note that gets right to the point quite like this one from Amber in San Francisco.

related: It’s not a race (it’s a social construct)

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“Our office manager was upset that people weren’t responding promptly enough to the Christmas party invitation,” says our submitter in San Diego.
In keeping with the holiday spirit of things, the office manager  apparently channeled that anger into the posting of this (uncredited) About.com excerpt in the office kitchen, for the edification of all. How that’s [...]

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A parable of the state of the “hot dot-com” workplace in 2009: The story goes, according to our anonymous submitter in California, “that some executive-level person decided to put a pinball machine into our break area. After several months, someone must have complained about the noise, because a note went up telling us it was [...]

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As we’ve noted here before, the white-collar nuisance known as the nibbler has been pathetically picking his (half)way through office kitchenettes across the land for some time now.
While the nibbler’s actions are usually met with disdain, one oh-so-compassionate office-worker from Omaha decided to take a different approach — an e-mail intervention, of sorts. I’d also [...]

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With morale at many companies coasting towards all-time lows, those peppy human resources specialists keep coming up with new budget-conscious ways to keep us worker bees happily humming along. To wit: “Popcorn Thursday.” Sounds like a total blast, right?

Meanwhile, an anonymous post-it writer in Denver speaks up for how employees really feel about these “morale [...]

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There’s a Milton in every cubicle farm, it seems…and I believe you have his stapler.

And a Dwight and a Jim…
(Just click on the image below to enlarge!)

related: that’d be great

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Another sign of the times: Nick in Tampa, Florida says the sodas in his small office used to be free, but now they cost 50 cents. And yet, Nick says, “when they’re left out unguarded and unsecured, naturally, people steal them.” 
Eventually, one coworker thought instilling the fear of god would make for a good theft-deterrent…which [...]

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Writes Justin in Iowa: “This was written by a coworker of mine last winter, and covers three sides of the tissue box. The tissues are long gone, but the box was apparently worth saving, and remains on the desk five months later.”

The full text: I had a cold/cough & I decided to buy some Puffs [...]

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Extra P in Charlottesville, Virginia found this note in his office break room. He draws our attention to two sections in particular: “the ‘let there be closure’ line, which seems more appropriate for a break-up note, and the ‘mark an X if you threw it away’ part, which reminds me of grade school mash notes. [...]

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Writes Mike in Seattle: “I work in a large in-house call center for a giant of the aerospace industry. My office has 50 to 75 technical support folks, many of whom can be somewhat…less than hygienic. Following a rash of uncharacteristically hot days, this note showed up in the mens’ room, accompanied by a bottle [...]

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Simone in Austin says a coworker at her office invited several people over to a house for a game night, and helpfully distributed hand-drawn maps to help people find their way. Later that day, she found of those hand-outs back on her desk, along with the following bit of anonymous feedback. What a peach!

related: silent [...]

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Passive-aggressive? Oh, heavens no! These are just a few selfless public service announcements.
From an office in Oregon…

New Zealand…

and Kentucky…

related: the overly friendly coworker: ruining your day since you held the elevator for her that one time

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“One of my coworkers — normally a calm, even-keeled woman — sits near the door of the office,” writes Ali in Minnesota. “When others come in at night to write reports or look up info, they apparently destroy her desk in the matter of minutes. After a series of coffee cups and chair-lowerings, up went [...]

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Alec in Houston found this little work of art on his desk, he says, “after I went out for lunch and didn’t do the dishes like they had asked.” With gritted teeth, he goes on: “They have ‘too much work’ and I have ‘none’ so I might as well wash them!”

related: Al Gore knows you [...]

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writes our anonymous submitter in hartford, connecticut: “we’re not much for posting notes in our restroom at work., so the situation must have been pretty dire for someone to go to the trouble to craft this one.”
i appreciate the initial sentiment here — i really do. this website has already condemned the cutesy rhyme that [...]

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Our submitter, Glenn, says this all-staff e-mail “just kinda sucked the life out of us” around his office. “It was like a Mom saying ‘Guess what, kids?” in a really excited voice, and then saying ‘You’re going to the dentist!!!‘”

But the best part of this note — besides the pitch-perfect forced jollity — is the [...]

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“in the staff area of our library, there is a single-stall, co-ed bathroom,” says our anonymous submitter in berkeley, california. everyone got along okay, more or less, until recently, when one of the library’s male employees “left quite a mess behind.” then a female coworker responded with the note below.

and then, well, the lines were [...]

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If you’ve ever bought Twizzlers from a vending machine, you probably know that there’s a good one-in-three chance that one tiny corner of the plastic packaging is gonna get stuck — and bang on the glass all you want — only yielding after an extra 75 cents is inserted. Some folks, however, aren’t willing to [...]

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our anonymous submitter in pittsburgh says this note was sitting atop a copy-room filing cabinet — and a stack of 50 or so identical print-outs of the jo bros. “guess someone in the office is on team taylor swift!”

related: let’s not mince words
extra credit: taylor swift’s passive-aggressive swipe at joe jonas [youtube]

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Our anonymous submitter in Cleveland found this note taped to the office paper shredder. “My first thought was, ‘Wow, this person has issues deeper than the full shredder.’”

related: especially deborah

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just a humble suggestion for 2009…

(spotted by charles in minneapolis)

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