I work at a conservative company where employees are not allowed to eat at their desk. The rule has always been in place, but has been more strictly enforced when we developed a pest infestation that was costly for the company to control. The rule seems to only be enforced for the hourly employees. I work in a department that is almost pure salaried, so our managers seem to look the other way. I am reasonably sure that this would not be the case if Human Resources department were to find out about it.
I don't care one way or the about the rule. I rarely eat at my desk and when I do, I make sure to clean up. With one exception, all of my coworkers also occasionally eat at their desk and always clean up after themselves. The one exception is the reason for my question.
A relatively new employee has been getting progressively worse about the food at her desk. There is no smell, but there is constantly food on her desk and in her desk drawers. The food in her desk are open packages of crackers and nuts. Once she had to leave work early for a medical issue and left a partially eaten plum directly on their desk. She was out for two days before she called a coworker and asked him to check her desk for the plum. When he checked her desk, he found the plum covered in pests.
I'm not sure this rises to the level that I should go to HR. I wouldn't want them to crackdown and ruin it for my coworkers anyway.
I also don't want to be the one who goes to my managers. I'm not sure my managers will care and I may damage myself in the process.
I don't think saying something to her would work. A coworker once mentioned to her that what she wears to work violates the dress code, which is a big deal here, and she blew them off.
I don't want to get her fired. She has already been disciplined when a manager caught her surfing the internet.
I do not want to deal with pests at my desk, how can I get her to stop without ruining the perk or her career?