A mop and bucket were always last when closing the kitchen for the night.
After the food prep for the morning shift was complete, all surfaces wiped down and everything put in its proper place, I’d start a sweeping up of the floors prior to the mop & bucket routine.
While sweeping, I would always notice a crumb that appeared to have been missed by the previous night’s closer or a hard-to-reach sport between the ovens that had not seen a broom in days.
My initial reaction was frustration and accusations of laziness and that others were not putting in the effort to leave the kitchen spotless and ready for the morning crew. It was late, I was hurrying to finish and wanted to go home — but now I had to stretch and reach and scrub spots that others were ignoring or were simply being negligent.
One evening I made the extra effort to thoroughly scour the floor, pulling the stainless steel prep tables and ovens and fryers away from the walls to get behind/under/around and make the floors health-inspector-spotless.
I would like to think my motivation was to purely get the kitchen neat and clean, but perhaps I was self-seeking and expecting accolades and pats on the back from the kitchen crew the next day on the amazing job I had done.
I do not recall if anyone remarked on a”job well done” or maybe they felt my effort had simply met the expectations for closing duties.
With a now clean floor throughout the kitchen, I thought I would start leaving a crumb here and there to see if the next guy got to it… turns out he was doing the same.
Never got done, waiting for the next guy…
Rather than seeking to blame others and becoming consumed with frustration, I could have simply cleaned up and met my own standard.
The kitchen would be clean and ready for the morning and I would turn out the lights, leaving frustration behind and taking satisfaction with me.