Photo: Reddit / Canva Pro
It's cold lunches from here on out.
By Nia Tipton — Written on May 28, 2023
A hospital was criticized for a new policy they put in place where they would be charging their employees to use an appliance in their staff room.
A photo of the notice was posted by a Reddit user to the subreddit r/mildlyinfuriating — a popular online forum that allows people to share images of annoying instances. The undisclosed hospital claimed that employees would soon have to start handing over cash if they wanted their food heated up.
Hospital staff were told they would need to start paying to be able to use their break room's microwave.
“Sign posted at my friend’s job (hospital behavioral health unit),” the Reddit user wrote in the caption of the photo. The image featured a single sheet of white paper that was taped to a wooden surface in the hospital staff's break room.
Photo: Reddit
The notice read that staff members would have to start paying $2 for every time they needed to use the microwave shared between them all. If they didn't want to pay the $2, the staff members were also given an option of investing in the "monthly, unlimited pass," for $30.
"My friend just started the job, saw it, took a picture, and sent it to our group chat saying ‘look at this bullsh-t’, and I thought this sub would enjoy it,” the Reddit user who posted the photo wrote, adding that the acronym on the sign reportedly means behavioral health unit social workers. “That’s all I know.”
They also added that even though there were other microwaves that hospital staff could use for free, the organization still decided to post that sign in the staff room.
In the comments section, some people found the sign quite humorous.
"Buy the unlimited pass and charge everyone else $1 for you to heat their food up,” one Reddit user wrote, while another added, "I’d just buy the whole microwave for $2.00 as advertised."
A third user chimed in with an easy fix, joking that "everyone [should] chip in for the unlimited pass and vote for one person to do all the microwaving."
However, some people were in full support of employees having to pay to use the shared microwave based on their own negative experiences in their workplace.
“Having worked in environments where the shared appliances are not taken care of, lunches stolen, messes made, I do not think this is out of line at all,” a fourth Reddit user shared. “If they have a separate part of a floor for their unit to gather then it’s their right to manage their space as they see fit.”
Another commenter agreed, writing, "I used to bring a George Foreman to work to make grilled sandwiches. Lasted a month before it was so caked with sh-t that I took it home, then the guy who [messed] it up complained for months [afterward] about me taking care of my own belongings."
One Reddit user offered a simple solution that would help out the other hospital staff members and prove how useless such a policy really is. "My workplace did this in the break room, so I bought a microwave for $10 at a yard sale, put it on top of theirs, and put a ‘free unlimited use’ sign on the front."
Nia Tipton is a Brooklyn-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.