The Little Blue M&M

I don't really know which came first: my tendency toward compulsive cleaning, or working for a company that enccourages it. Either way, this compulsion does not extend to my home office, but that's an entirely different story.

While my company staffs all the paying-visitor areas with its own employees to keep the place spotless, cleaning the office buildings is generally done by outside firms. When we moved into our new digs, I was given a schedule of when my office would be vacuumed, when the "common areas" of our suite would be vacuumed, and when my office trash would be removed (twice weekly, thank you — but the communal kitchen trash is removed daily, thank you even more).

Apparently, though, "common areas" don't include the truly common area between office suites, around the central atrium. About a month ago, I noticed a lone, blue M&M on the carpet, just down the way from our suite. Most people would (and apparently, do) just ignore that kind of thing, but me, I notice. Resisting the temptation to just pick it up and throw it away, I kicked it a bit further out from the wall, to make it easier to vacuum away.

It's still there, exactly where I kicked it.

Yesterday, there were maintenace folk in the building, and two of them were trimming pulled carpet strands to keep it all uniformly flat. Knowing how long it's been since this carpet has been cleaned, I'm glad it wasn't me on hands-and-knees.