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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU with people in McDonalds?

78 replies

ZeddyByeBye · 03/04/2015 13:54

I called into a McDonald's today. (I'd been on the road all day and wanted something hot and quick!)

Place was busy, but I got served quickly and went and sat down. In the time I was in the store, I saw maybe ten or twelve people leave all their mess on the tables. One couple went as far as pouring their left over drink on the floor under their table and just generally making a huge mess.

One woman with a small child used a large amount of baby wipes and just left them on the table, despite the fact she was two feet away from a bin!

The man working to tidy up asked a few people to pop their rubbish in the bin and was laughed at, ignored, and told 'it's your job to clear up after me.'

It honestly made my blood boil. It's so flipping rude and uncalled for. AIBU to think these people have no manners? It takes very little time to shove your rubbish in the bin on the way out!

OP posts:
987flowers · 03/04/2015 18:11

Yanbu. I think that times have changed, when I was a child you automatically tidied after yourselves whereas today people don't seem to care.

Seriouslyffs · 03/04/2015 18:14

deja where do you live?
It's definitely cultural, I read an autobiography of a dancer who'd grown up in Communist China (Mao's last dancer, v good read) and he was embarrassed to be served, even going so far as to try and clear his own tray on an aeroplane! Other cultures definitely see nothing wrong with leaving their stuff for others to clear away.
It's quite a litmus test for anyone bought up here- I can't think of an exception to 'make a mess = entitled wanker.'

SmillasSenseOfSnow · 03/04/2015 18:22

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say somewhere Spanish-speaking, Seriously. Grin

nooka · 03/04/2015 18:24

If you are in a restaurant then you get a different level of service than in a fast food joint. A server assigned to you, food brought to you at the table, everything cleared up etc, and you pay for it (and often tip too). At somewhere like McDonalds you queue to order your food, take it to an available table, eat, clear up and leave, and you pay much less. The difference is fairly obvious. Cafes can lie in between, generally if there is an obvious clear up place then clear up, otherwise just leave things tidily. Either way, no excuse for being rude to staff, they are people, just like you.

shadowfax07 · 03/04/2015 18:56

Surley part of eating out is that someone else tidies up. Obviously making a mess delibratley (sp) is arseholey. I usually tidy up in there tbf but if dcs are kicking off, in a hurry may leave it. Its all part if mc not wanting to employ more people.

(Disclaimer - ex McDonald's employee here, whilst I was in sixth form)

If you want that level of service, then go to a restaurant with waiting staff, not a McDonalds. How difficult is it to put wrappers and drinks, etc back on your tray and empty it into a bin?

OP, YADNBU.

rosedavo · 03/04/2015 18:58

Thats totally shit that people do that

Capricorn76 · 03/04/2015 19:00

I worked in Maccy Ds to pay my way through 6th form and some of uni. It was soul destroying. The way I was spoken to, the unnecessary mess...my DD will be brought up to never treat serving staff like slaves. I feel so sorry for people who are customer facing especially in fast food places, they really attract lowlifes who take out their status insecurity on those they believe are below them although most of the staff are in higher/further education and those that aren't are often ambitious people trying to work their way up.

Outside of McDonalds I've found that some of the worst are the groups of mothers with young kids who literally wreck the area and get up and walk away without even attempting to pick up their crap, some of which was clearly brought from home.

Seriouslyffs · 03/04/2015 21:39

Smilla I'm guessing the OP is in UK but deja said she never sees it where she lives.
I'd guess that Hispanic speaking and Arab countries expect staff to bus and Scandinavian ones customers clear up after themselves in self service restaurants.

itosh · 03/04/2015 21:50

This thread is really making me crave a McDonalds :(

goldopals · 03/04/2015 21:52

I worked at McDonalds for eight for long years and hated it when customers would purposefully leave a mess. We did not always have someone rostered specifically to do the dining room and no other duties and it was hard to keep up.

When we got groups in after certain events, they would regularly and purposefully leave ginormous messes- silly string, smearing things on surfaces and unmentionable crimes being committed to the toilets

goldopals · 03/04/2015 21:52

I worked at McDonalds for eight for long years and hated it when customers would purposefully leave a mess. We did not always have someone rostered specifically to do the dining room and no other duties and it was hard to keep up.

When we got groups in after certain events, they would regularly and purposefully leave ginormous messes- silly string, smearing things on surfaces and unmentionable crimes being committed to the toilets

Fromparistoberlin73 · 03/04/2015 22:00

Yanbu

I always wipe the table down after use !

Lulaloo · 03/04/2015 22:01

Forget McDonald's, you should have seen the state of our local cinema yesterday when we got up to leave! Even worse it was a children's film and parents were happy to just get up and leave food and drink everywhere!

TattyDevine · 03/04/2015 22:05

In a way I agree with Amy in that if a table looks a wreck it will get the attention of staff and a good spritz with that pink stuff, wheras if it looks sort of clean someone will quickly sit there and it wont get attention, but generally YANBU, there is a level of acceptability of what you leave, and when my children were younger and made a mess I would get down and pick stuff off the floor even though I didn't have to technically. I tried to leave it no worse than if there were 4 adults, if that makes sense. In McD's its not hard to shove your stuff on a tray and then shoot it through the chute so to speak.

Southeastdweller · 03/04/2015 22:10

Awful. It's one reason I usually avoid these places - the people they attract (t least where I live). Like one or two others, I even stack plates and tidy up the cutlery. Having worked in hospitality I know what a thankless industry at the 'bottom' of the chain - some of the general public really are vile.

MissYamabuki · 03/04/2015 22:31

I think that part of the problem is the language used in the UK - staff are "serving" you as opposed to just doing a job as respectable as any other. There is a thinly veiled nastiness towards and contempt of waiters etc that you don't see in other countries IME. Sad is it a class thing, an age thing?

minionsrule · 03/04/2015 22:46

Lulaloo - Cinemas really pee me off - I see that too. Always make sure DS takes his rubbish with him to the bins outside. I almost want to ask parents 'would you allow your DC to leave your living room in that state?'.
Once DS's friend dropped his popcorn all over the floor, made sure we picked up most of it and put it back in the box and took out to the bin afterwards..... some people are just shameless

Coyoacan · 03/04/2015 22:54

I normally clean up after myself at a table in a restaurant, but the more people clear up after themselves, the less jobs there will be in these restaurants.

Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost · 03/04/2015 23:02

A women leaving baby wipes on the table is one thing but a grown couple pouring a drink on the floor deliberately well thAt's another story all together. How rude.
You're right it takes no effort to throw your rubbish in the bin.

Original poster
ZeddyByeBye · 03/04/2015 23:15

I'm not convinced by the less jobs argument. I'm sure the staff have other jobs to do besides cleaning tables. I've seen them scrubbing blinds and cleaning walls and such like when it's quiet.

OP posts:
Seriouslyffs · 03/04/2015 23:23

MissY IME we're bang in the middle. Many countries are much more overtly respectful of waiters etc. and many are worse.

DancingDays · 03/04/2015 23:30

I always bin my stuff in Mc Donalds, it seems to be the minority that do in our local one.

I used to stack plates in cafes/pubs until MN taught me the error of my ways, I still feel a bit guilty not doing it though.

EstRusMum · 04/04/2015 00:24

My DS(10) is always insisting to take the rubbish away. Yesterday we went there: me, my DS and my DSis. We ate and I decided to go home, but my DSis stayed as she was waiting for a friend who works there to finish work. She said to leave the tray, so she would take it away later, but my DS actually started arguing with her.
And then he couldn't put the tray away, as the little shelf for them was full of rubbish. Got him proper upset, as he didn't know where to put it, bless him. Easter Smile

grannytomine · 04/04/2015 07:59

I hate the way they wipe the tables, at least in our local McDonalds. The clothes are sopping wet and leave the tables wet. I always have to get some serviettes and dry the table.

The people spilling their drinks are ridiculous.

foreverton · 04/04/2015 09:06

I currently work at McDonald's ( pt evenings ) and I covered a shift recently on the "dining area" it was hard.
We had groups of youths sitting at a table with no intention of buying anything, intimidating customers etc, manager scared to deal with it.

The majority of customers where we are do use the bins thankfully and its not regarded as a "naice" area.

I've found its the way you're spoken to by the minority, ie "how long does it take for the food? You're all thick, no wonder you work here" etc etc.

I can't see me staying long term, it's a shame really as it suits our family but the general consensus is that staff feel like second class citizens:(