The Company Refrigerator Syndrome

Some day, my tombstone may say "Here lies Joe.  He's the guy who coined the phrase Company Refrigerator Syndrome."

What is Company Refrigerator Syndrome (CRS)?  Well here you go:  A few folks decide to order pizza for lunch.  A couple pieces are left, so they put it in the company refrigerator for later, or perhaps to share with others.  The next day, these same folks go out for hamburgers, forgetting about the leftover pizza. Nobody else eats the pizza because it isn't theirs.  The weekend comes.  By Monday, the pizza is dried out in the back of the fridge and totally forgotten.  Nobody else throws it away because it isn't theirs.

Oh, by the way, a parallel thing was happening--kind of like a parallel dimension-- with different people and the same refrigerator.   The food involved was a quart of milk, leftover French fries, 4 hard boiled eggs, and chips and salsa.  Not to mention the bottle of salad dressing left in there by the guy who got fired two years ago.  Bottom Line:  The fridge is disgusting. It is absolutely full, but nobody wants anything in there.  Some people are afraid to open the door.

I can see many of you nodding, saying "that's exactly what happens with our company refrigerator!".  Yes, Company Refrigerator Syndrome is very contagious.    

Why does this happen?  It happens because everyone feels free to put something in the fridge, but no one feels empowered to take something out and get rid of it.  To top it off, there are no bad intentions.  That, my friends, is Company Refrigerator Syndrome.

Making matters worse, CRS is contagious beyond refrigerators.  It can spread from the fridge to lots of other things:

1.  The Company Tool Box or tool cabinet.
2.  The Computer Server and Hard Drives
3.  The Conference Room
4.  Inventory
5.  The Office Supply Cabinet
6.  Your junk drawer at home

I've even created a mathematical formula for CRS.  Albert Einstein would probably be jealous of this one:

More + More + More = Nothing

The formula means that anything infected with CRS has the practical equivalent of being worth nothing.  There is so much clutter that no one is willing to go through it to find something that they need.  Here's a real example.  The office supply cabinet has so much junk in it that nobody remembers there are two boxes of paper clips way in the back--right behind a spare toner cartridge from a printer that died 3 years ago.  So instead of hunting down those paper clips, people just order more.

I see more of you nodding, fully understanding the ravages of this wicked disease.

I write about CRS somewhat humorously, but it really can be a problem.  Whether it is projects on your list, or real items in a cabinet, there can be so much clutter that you effectively have nothing.

I have found the best way to prevent CRS is to de-clutter a tiny bit every day.  You don't have to make it a big project, and you don't have to be perfect.  (I certainly am not.). But if you just do a tiny bit every day, you'll soon make Company Refrigerator Syndrome a thing of the past.