I’ve always believed you can tell a lot about a home, and the family that lives there, by the kitchen.

The same can be said about a workplace.

Like many offices, The Evening Sun newsroom is equipped with a kitchenette. This is where the morning coffee is brewed, fragrant leftovers are both stored and re-heated, and the requisite water cooler conversations take place.

Until a few months ago, the continued care and cleanliness of our corner kitchen was overseen by the lovely Jan. My office mates and I just assumed that this KP duty was a part of her assigned tasks. But as we belatedly discovered, Jan was performing these duties not because of any line-item in her job description, but rather out of the kindness of her own heart.

Kindness which, I’m sorry to say, we had worn perilously thin.

Frankly, we’d been spoiled. We never had to worry about putting our own dishes in the dishwasher; She’d do it for us. Spill a little coffee when filling your cup? No problem, Jan would take care of it with a swipe of a cloth. And no need to bother turning off the coffee machine after we’d had our fill. She’d be right there to turn it off and get it all set for morning.