The state people leave cafes in is disgusting

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

I'm not exactly the 'I take my own mop and bucket everywhere' type but short of some dire emergency requiring a quick getaway I couldn't walk out of a cafe leaving it in this state. Surely it is done thing to make at least a token effort to clean and clear up after yourself?

I always tidy up as much as I can however I have to say there have been times my table was much much worse than this

off*

I’ve started picking up stuff my sons dropped before only to have a staff member come over and tell me to stop and start cleaning it. So eh. You can’t win.

My female relatives are known for doing this with their kids. They seem to forget that I frequently take all of their toddlers (alone!) out at the same time and never leave a huge mess. Some people are just wired to be inconsiderate.

I used to work for Costa. I cleaned 3 tables pushed together that had 7 mums and a lots of dc and pushchairs. Only 5 drinks were bought yet the mess was disgusting, then I found an Asda cake box and loads of plates they had swiped from the counter with crumbs on. Only one mum was left, I told her it wasn't on, she swore at me and left. I cleared up drippy yoghurt pots, baby wipes and sausage roll from greggs squished in the carpet. I've even seen a babies nappy being changed on a table!! I could write a book!

It's dreadful. I worked at an ice cream farm (so predominantly families) and this is nothing unusual. In fact there would be easily 4 or 5 tables like this per shift. Usually the same people who would complain that (minimum wage) staff were grumpy and rushed off their feet.

Socially, I ended a burgeoning friendship when friend's DD (aged 3.5 ish so not a baby) crumbled a whole piece of rich fruit cake all over the table and floor and friend just laughed and said "Better make a swift exit"

When I was a waitress I saw way worse than that.
It's still not good though.

I work in a restaurant and the state so many parents leave the tables and floor in can be awful.

If people come over and ask for a dustpan, we always say no, we'll do it, but we really appreciate the fact that they don't want to leave it in a state.

I always pick up after my children, put the crayons back in the pot and wipe up anything that is above the normal crumbs on the table.

Same goes for toilets - how people leave them in the states they do astounds me, and I can't help but think their own bathrooms must be disgusting.

Can you imagine the state of their house?! Vile. I always have extra wipes/nappy sack for clearing up whenever I take my grandkids out, it takes seconds and staff are always happy to hand a dustpan/brush over to you. I went to a Costa a few months ago (under protest but youngest DD insisted), it had been open around 2 weeks and it was already filthy. People are pigs these days.

Sometimes you can't actually win. Once was in a cafe with ds2 when he was 2 he had a cup cake which was particularly crumbly so each bite there was a cascade of crumbs. Once ds had finished eating dh asked for a cloth to clean it up. He was told he couldn't have one they would do it. On the way out we heard one member of staff say to the other how people were disgusting who then went over to the table we sat at in a huff to clean it.

I am a teacher and trying to get pupils to put their own rubbish in the bin after lunch is like using a chocolate teapot on times.

I'm with you. Why people feel the need to dismember croissants so enthusiastically is beyond me. And then there are the napkins shoved into half-full drinks, fags stubbed out on saucers...disgusting. Just don't.

Disgusting.

At the very least, I will put everything on my tray. Usually I take the tray up to the counter as well, unless it's really busy at the counter and so would interrupt the staff to take it.

It's grim and I'd have tutted and judged....but it still wouldn't have made me stop and take a photo of it.

Hideous. All we can do is be the good and do our bit. These people will never change.

YANBU, that's grim. I used to work in a cafe clearing tables and I would dread this sort of thing. It's not just clearing up the used plates/leftover food purchased from the cafe, but all the other assorted mess (food people have brought in themselves, dirty wipes, tissues, blobs of food on the floor and chairs, empty baby food pots, etc. etc.). Yuck.

The people who agree that picture is wrong are the people who were brought up correctly with manners and respect and who clean up after themselves because they have probably worked in retail at some point and know how annoying cleaning up after scruffs is. They’re good people. They stop for pedestrians with a smile and always keep spare tampons for others.

People who are saying it’s not bad are the ignorant, rude and disrespectful people who walk into any shop/restaurant/cafe like they own the place, throw their shit around, let their kids run riot, place stupid requests and always ask to see the manager. They’re the cunts of society. Don’t be that cunt. Clean your shit up and clean your offsprings shit up. It’s really that simple.

I clean up what I can with baby wipes and that's usually more than sufficient.

It's an awful attitude to leave chaos like that. Anything over the mess I'd make as a fully functioning adult is outside the remit of staff to deal with imho.

YANBU. There is no excuse for something like that to be left. It's not like the people could miss it.

Why are some people so dirty? Where I live, the 'naice' streets are covered with litter and dog shit. When we go to the theatre or cinema, at the end it looks like someone has thrown 50 bin bags of rubbish all over the place. Yet when I visit the lovely working-class areas of my childhood, it's all clean and nice. There's just no need for it.

I don’t see the big deal personally, I do try to clean up after my kids when we’re out but it’s not always possible for a number of reasons. I’ve worked in cafes, pubs and other parts of hospitality and just accept that clearing up is part of the job and to be fair most people who work in these places are the same. It’s just a bit of mess.

Absolutely vile. Whoever thinks that this an OK state to leave a cafe in should be ashamed of themselves.

its a cafe. Pretty much the whole point is that you pay someone over the odds so they MAKE your food and drinks for you and then clear your crap away for you afterwards.
I really cannot get het up about it.

I also don't see how one baby can possibly make this much mess when being supervised by a parent. Mine never did, either at home or when eating out. You teach them not to!

Bran, you scuffer!

It's gross and I am shocked there are posters on here who admit to leaving a similar mess behind them in cafes. Have you no shame?