Sometimes, it spills quietly into our boardrooms, our break rooms, and even our bathrooms.
There was a recurring issue at the office.
The bathroom was often left in a state that left everyone uncomfortable.
Skid marks. No flushing.
Housekeeping tried. HR tried. Gentle reminders were posted.
“Please flush after use.”
“Keep the space clean for the next person.”
Nothing changed.
Until one day, we decided to go beyond the posters and the politeness.
A colleague from HR sat down with the gentleman in question—quietly, respectfully, and without shame.
And his response?
“I’m not used to it. At home, my wife takes care of that. I just don’t think about it.”
It wasn’t said with pride or arrogance—just honesty.
And that honesty opened up a whole new reflection for us as a team.
Because the truth is, this wasn’t a “toilet issue.”
It was a socialization issue. A culture issue.
A quiet reminder of how domestic responsibility—or the lack of it—follows us into our professional lives.
How many boys were raised to believe that house chores were “for girls”?
How many men arrive in adulthood without the basic awareness to manage shared spaces—because someone, somewhere, always did it for them?
This is not an attack. It’s an invitation to reflect.
You see, when a grown man cannot flush a toilet at work because “his wife does it at home,”
we have to ask ourselves:
What else are we normalizing in silence?
It shows up in the employee who expects the office assistant to always “clean up” after meetings.
In the team member who assumes someone else will take notes, tidy the breakroom, wash the mug.
It shows up in emotional labour too—in the ways we sometimes expect women to “just handle it”… silently.
And suddenly, a small domestic habit becomes a corporate culture flaw.
We can’t build organizations rooted in excellence without raising people who understand shared responsibility.
The way we raise our sons, the expectations we set in our homes, the beliefs we reinforce in our churches, schools, and communities—they matter.
Because a person who doesn’t respect the person who cleans the space,
Will likely not respect the space itself.
Let’s raise boys who wash their own dishes.
Boys who clean their own shoes.
Boys who flush the toilet and leave the space better than they found it.
Because that boy grows into a man who leads with consideration, not entitlement.
And that man becomes a colleague, a leader, a husband, a father—who doesn’t expect the world to clean up after him.
It may seem like a small thing, but culture is built in the smallest of things.
Let’s raise better humans.