Aunty B, I’ve got another toilet problem I need your help with

Dear Aunty B,

My problem isn’t yesterday’s unintentionally messy, clean freak tap washer. She is more than welcome at our office! My issue is with the blokes who pick up a newspaper from the lunch table on the way to the bathroom and then put it back on the lunch table as they come out, just as I am eating lunch!

Honestly Aunty B, what are they thinking? I did ask one of them very pointedly yesterday whether he had washed his hands, (he is the worst offender) and he claimed he did. However, one of the guys I had lunch with me told me he NEVER washes his hands. Was it a joke? I’m not sure.

How should I raise the matter, as it really is quite disgusting?

Miffed,
Hobart

Dear Miffed,

Here is what you must do: use humour. If you don’t have any, find some. It goes a long way to defusing the horror of sharing most of your life in a small glass box with complete strangers.

Divide the papers into two piles. Put one pile near the door with a big sign on top reading “loo paper,” with an arrow in red pointing to the newspapers underneath. When men poke their heads around the door, point them in the direction of the loo paper. Then you place a box outside the men’s with a big sign reading “loo paper recycling.” The idea is that they drop the paper in the box, which then gets tossed in the recycle bin.

The good thing about men, Leonie, is they can be trained. So long as it means either less work (don’t have to return paper to lunchroom) or it makes sense (recycle paper).

Be smart,

Your Aunty B.