The shared office fridge

Source A: an original contemporary non-fiction-style account.

The office fridge was a small republic with no agreed constitution. Milk occupied the door, although ownership of each carton was a matter of heated interpretation. A jar of mustard had outlasted three managers. On the middle shelf, a sealed container waited with the solemn patience of an unanswered email. Nobody knew whose lunch it had once been.

One Monday, a notice appeared: PLEASE LABEL YOUR FOOD. By Tuesday, everything had a name except the mustard, which seemed to have acquired permanent residence. My colleague labelled her apple twice after somebody took the first one. Another person wrote a date on his yoghurt so large that it resembled a deadline for the whole department. The fridge door became the place where our reputation for friendly cooperation underwent its most exacting test.

We eventually agreed on a Friday clear-out and a shared milk fund. The solution was disappointingly ordinary; no dramatic confrontation occurred. Yet opening the door became easier once responsibility had a timetable. I still think a visitor could learn more about our office from the fridge than from the values printed beside reception. The values had never had to decide what to do with somebody else's leaking salad.

Refer to the whole of Source A. Analyse how the writer uses language to use humour to present tensions around the shared fridge. Explain the effects of specific words, phrases and language choices, using evidence from the passage.