to think that people in food courts should clear their rubbish away

[workshy]

went to my local shopping centre tonight, ended up staying longer than anticipated so decided to eat there

got food with 2x DDs, went to find an empty table and all the empty ones were covered with rubbish with one member of staff trying to keep on top of it

there are about 20 bins on this food court -how difficult is it to put your stuff in the bin ffs????

I ended up clearing a table myself for us to sit down -when we had finished eating DD2 took our stuff to the bin I'm not advocating child slavery, she enjoys doing it strange child and the man cleaning up went to help her and said thank you so enthusiastically, it was as if she was the ONLY person who had put their rubbish in the bin all day!

Torn between PMSL and being shocked to the very tits at: I always cleared my own rubbish, until I realised it was someone else's livelihood.

So if we leave our revolting half-chewed leftovers for someone on minimum wage to clear up, we are actually doing them a favour????

I have truly heard it all now.

The people whom I have seen clearing tables also have other duties. The nice lady in McDonalds gives out balloons, cleans the floor, refills napkins etc. I don't think she would lose her job because I decided my children and I could clean up after ourselves.

Depends on the place to me.

If I go into a McDonalds where they have a space for putting the trays beside the bin then I think they expect us to clear away our own rubbish and do so.

If I go to a place where there are no places for trays etc then I assume that I am meant to leave my rubbish to be cleared away by staff. Otherwise what am I meant to do with the tray after? Leave it on top of the bin or propped beside it on the floor?

I do try and stack my stuff neatly on the tray ready for clearing away though.

BalloonSlayer, perhaps you might want to defer pissing yourself until you've actually found out whether anyone's employment depends on it. You may find it revolting- although if you and yours leave a lot of half chewed leftovers when you're eating I suppose I can see why- but I'd like to see you say that to someone who'd lost their job or some of their hours because of your attitude.

You, Limitedperiodonly, and a few others, need to understand that although you find this job gross, it might be someone else's livelihood. The fact that it's menial and poorly paid doesn't alter that. Do you seriously think they'd thank you for taking it from them? I'm sure you assume you're being kind and polite, which is nice, but that would be no great comfort to someone who can't find employment doing anything else. Anyone who finds that amusing either hasn't thought about this or has some warped priorities.

I don't eat at McDonalds so I don't know anything about that.

Zukiecat, not half as rude as taking someone's livelihood from them. As we're bringing in personal experience, mine is very different to yours- I worked at an events venue while I was studying, doing waitressing, bar and cleaning. The manager booked X number of staff to come in depending on how big the wedding was, and sent people home if she thought there wasn't enough work to justify it, like if the bar was quiet or whatever. Poor employment conditions I know, but unfortunately that's common in waitressing and cleaning. I wouldn't have thanked anyone for scraping their own plates, as fewer staff would've been needed, and I might have been sent home. Or for taking their own glasses back to the bar, as I'd have got fewer hours cleaning the next day. No doubt some of the posters on this thread would think they'd have been doing me a favour, I'd rather the wage than the paternalism.

But of course, if there are signs asking people to clear rubbish away, that suggests that nobody is being paid to do it. So you wouldn't be interfering with anyone's living, and of course you should do it then. That would differ from any food court I've ever been in, though. Or is everyone now going to claim that their local food court is full of such signs, despite not having mentioned it before?

I totally don't buy the keeping someone in a job argument, does that make it ok to litter the streets?

Oh, someone's already said that!

My understand was (and I used to work at McDonald's) that customers are expected to chuck away their own rubbish. There is quite enough else for staff to do - no-one would be out of a job.

I think 80% of people who don't chuck their own stuff away are lazy feckers, About 20% are people who don't know what's expected of them.

I don't know why there are no signs up - there are at Ikea, for instance.

my understanding was

I was going to give up shoplifting but clearly it would be selfish to put store detectives out of work.

Watch out Fenwicks, here I come (with a clean conscience).

I suspect - no proof - that if there were signs up, the 80% would continue to be lazy and some of the 20% might notice the signs.....

I got told off once for taking my tray over to the stacking shelf things in the Kew Gardens cafe. The woman cleaning the area seemed most offended and insisted I put it back down on the table.

Flangelina - I appreciate your experience, but I think that most people know, or suspect that fast food restaurants and food courts are a different kettle of fish.

Rhubarb - I expect she did not want to invite comparisons with McDonald's .......

flangelina so leaving your rubbish for a minimum wage drone to pick up is a humanitarian act, a bit like donating a kidney?

Thanks for alerting me to my warped sensibilities.

Some of you people are hilarious!

Pick up your shit, don't make excuses and stop setting such a piss poor example for your children.

Christ alive.
It's this simple.
If there is a sign on the table, wall, tray etc or you are in a maccy Ds clear your bastard table.
If you are in the ivy them don't.

And yes, great big bins with a space on the top for your trays are an indication of you having to clear your own table.

"I'd like to see you say that to someone who'd lost their job or some of their hours because of your attitude. "

Flangelina are you seriously for real?

We are emphatically NOT talking about establishments with "waitress service" here. We are talking about Self-Service establishments, such as McDonalds, KFC, and other Food Court stalls, where you get your food yourself and take it to your table yourself, and the subject under discussion is whether you should then be expected to clear away your litter yourself. The clue is in the name: the SERVICE (ie the job of the server/waiter) is done yourSELF.

I refuse to be ashamed of an attitude which can be summed up thus: "Unless I am paying (and tipping) a waiter or waitress to bring my food to the table and clear away the remains, then I MUST clear my own debris away, for to do otherwise would make me an ill-mannered fuckwit who thought that my leftovers were someone else's problem and beneath my dignity to clear up."

And yes I would happily say that to someone who had lost their job because I had the bad "attitude" of feeling responsible for my own litter. You find me someone who has been let go because "Sorry mate, people are too clean round here" and I will still say it to them, sympathetically of course.

I clear up after myself - unless I am somewhere like in a restaurant where it is clearly not the done thing - and I am teaching my children to do the same. There is a word for people who do not, that word is litterbug.

Whatever next - criminals claiming that they are only committing crime so that their local bobby doesn't lose his job?

Flangelina - I do find it a bit strange that you assume people are denigrating people who do menial jobs. Actually it's the reverse - I don't want someone to have to pick up by child's discarded gherkin from the floor, or their snotty tissue.

my

On a related note .......

I seem to be in the minority in taking my litter out of the cinema...

You're not jamie.

My mum once berated the person next to us who left her popcorn strewn all over the floor the girl just looked at her and went: 'Whaa??'

Then my mum noticed how many of these bastards champions of the low-paid had done the same and tried to help the attendant clear up until he said: 'Thanks but it's okay. I'm used to it. Nice of you to say something though.'

The people here who claim they're doing staff a favour must really enjoy making life just a little bit shittier for the people they consider beneath them.

Thinking about this jamie we're not in the minority.

It's just that people who bountifully dispense their litter in a job creation scheme of their own imagining just make it look that way.

I always put my litter in the bin at the cinema, in the street, on the beach and at concerts/events. Why wouldn't you? I find this thread baffling.

Yes, ffs just clear your rubbish away and set your children a good example. I'd be ashamed of my kids if there were bins there and they just left their food wrappers for someone else to clear away.

Flangelina - non of your arguments hold weight. There is no evidence to say that clearing our rubbish away in a food court/McDonalds etc will lead to people losing their jobs.

At the end of the day, it is expected in these sort of places and it is just plain lazy and rude not to di it.

Your wonderfull comment - Lastly, I'm perturbed by the pair of prejudiced snobby sows that have tried to link views on cleanliness with levels of education. You both need to go and fuck yourselves.

Shot yourself in the foot with that comment. I generally find that people who lose an argument and have to resort to swearing, generally have a low level of education/intelligence.