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?

Oh, and bonus points if the food that has been mashed everywhere isn’t even from our café!

^ What she said

Parents will often leave filth strewn about the place, baby wipes are rank, you never know what bodily fluids and germs are on them. When staff have to clean up the destruction there’ll be someone seething that they can’t get a table and the place is filthy.

The reason staff say ‘no no, don’t worry, I’ll get it’ is because otherwise they’re likely to get a review saying ‘NOT family friendly, made me clean up after my bubs. Awful place, avoid’. It’s simply treating staff like they’re scum, sub human because they don’t work in an office and so deserve to scrabble about on the floor picking up shite encrusted nappies/spat out food etc etc

I don't understand how people have the balls to just walk out and leave that kind of mess behind them.

I worked in restaurants and cafes as a teenager and spent more time than I care to remember on hands and knees under tables clearing up that kind of crap. I never expected parents to clear up every tiny crumb and drop of juice, but it's just common courtesy to try and minimise the work you're making other people do, even if it's just a quick sweep of the area and dumping all the crumbs/used tissues/wet wipes etc onto one used plate on the tray with the other used cutlery/crockery your party has used.

Cafe workers have an expectation that they will have to sweep the floor for crumbs, take away used cutlery/crockery (if it's not a "clear your own" style place)wipe down the tables and replenish napkins/condiments as a standard to maintain cleanliness and hygiene. If your behaviour means they have to go significantly above and beyond those basic tasks in order to get your table back to an acceptable level of clean for the next patrons to use, then you are rude and inconsiderate.

Whenever I used to take DD out as a toddler I used to make sure that there was no more mess left behind than if I had been there with another adult. So if DD dropped something on the floor, I'd pick up any large pieces of the food but wouldn't worry about the tiny crumbs. If DD spilled a drink I'd wipe it up as best I could but wouldn't worry if I didn't get every single drop etc but I would always apologise and/or ask for cleaning cloths etc if there was a particularly bad mess.

9 times out of 10 the staff tell you not to worry about clearing up after your child but I can guarantee that 10 times out of 10 they are pleased that you asked because you are showing more consideration and awareness of the extra work your mess has created than most people do.

As PPs have said it's just about basic courtesy. I don't agree with people saying 'imagine how bad their house must be' - it's irrelevant. My house is a complete sty at the moment but I'm not inflicting that mess on anyone else.

In a supermarket or other self-service style cafe with rapid turnover of customers it's not just the staff you're showing a complete lack of respect for. This supermarket cafe is usually packed and staff often don't have time to clean tables between customers. I try to leave my table fit for the next person to sit down (rubbish in bin, spills wiped with a napkin). To be fair though today I could have photographed a number of other tables where groups without children had managed to leave their table in an unusable state.

I always give it all a once over with baby wipes and if the floor is filled with food I'll apologise and make an effort to clean what I can.

I can't stand going to get a high chair and it's just full of old food!

I always clean up as much as I can. Not babywiping the floor or anything but picking any bits up from the floor etc and wiping the high chair. Of course if baby had a gigantic meltdown and mum just had to leave then that is totally different and very understandable. A few weeks ago I went to a cafe I love with a friend and our babies. Both babies left a huge mess and while I cleared my baby’s side of the table it was clear my friend was going to leave it (loads of mushed bread, about 5 half eaten strawberries etc etc). As she was putting baby in the pram to leave I quickly picked up all the stuff on the floor. I just couldn’t face going back in to the cafe if staff thought id left such a mess.

I'm a bit confused i have worked in many bars, cafes and restaurants and was paid to serve, clean and wipe tables. The customers are not paid to do this. If they leave a mess then oh well never mind! I'm not sure what the issue is!

Personally I do make an effort to tidy a bit after myself and DCs when I leave a cafe, but I wouldn't look negatively on people who don't. When I was a kid my mum would get angry with me when I tried to tidy after self in a cafe as she felt it patronised the staff and was taking over their job!

I have never seen this as a thing! Either u do help a bit to tidy after self or you don't! Who cares! And if it's your job and you r employed to wipe and clean tables, why would you moan about having to do it?

The amount of mess created depends on how the adults behave during the meal.
If you just dump a load of food in front of your toddler DC and leave them to get on with it whilst you tuck into your meal & chat to other adults you're asking for trouble.
There really is no need for masses of soggy food to end up all over the floor if you put their needs before your own & help them with their food.

There are also rules for this kind of thing - see attach.

Can only agree with everyone else really. In our local soft play I usually leave it tidier than I found it but that's another thread. However I can add my own story of disgust hear. I used to work for a well known large retailer. Someone had allowed their dc to use the changing room as a toilet..... we had to get the carpet professionally cleaned. Public toilets were opposite the shop.

I've had dirty nappy left on a plate. Less than 10ft from loo with baby change facilites. Pigs.

Why do people keep handing their toddlers food after the point they have stopped eating and are just squishing it and dropping in on floor though? Stop making excuses that it's baby led weaning and sod off to messy play.

I've seen a child drop a plate of peas one by one on the floor whilst dickhead parent watched and did nothing. Onto carpet and then trodden in by everyone walking past.

There is an increasingly mentality that the customer is always right and spineless customer managers are too spineless to say no or address bad customer behaviour.

No, it’s not acceptable to:
Let your child pop/wee under the table/in a changing room and not clear it up.
Threaten staff.
Leave the restaurant / store / aircraft looking like a hurricane has hit it.
Let your child run around the cafe screaming until it rams into a waitress and has coffee poured over it and then start demanding the waitress is fired and that you are going to sue.

As somebody else said, there is a real attitude that if you are in a job that involves tidying up after others and being on your knees cleaning, that you are lower down the foodchain than somebody who works in an office doing data entry or filing or whatever.

@ijustwannadance dirty nappy on a plate?! 😱😱😱. I’m generally against parent-shaming but that is worthy of shame.

YANBU a large group of our friends regularly goes to the same restaurant.Her and her DP have commented "oh what a mess ha ha" before leaving but make no effort to clean up. I offered to help ie to encourage her to clean up as I thought no way could I leave the place like this and her DP was holding the child, but she just said, oh no they'll (waiters) do it. Made me see them both in a different light.

I used to work in Wetherspoons in a busy UK tourist spot a number of years ago. We got a lot of families with kids and a lot of families who let their kids wreck the place without a second thought. I even overheard one mother say "Oh just leave it, they're paid to clean it up".

It is vile. I was paid to pull pints and to occasionally take out food orders. I wasn't paid to pick up the food your toddler has squished into the carpet or to clean up all the sugar you've allowed you child to open and empty on to the table.

I know thiskittenbarks, they just couldn't understand that those plates had to go back into the kitchen where other people's food was being made.

I had another kid about 7 or 8 go up to the table where all the sauces where kept and proceed to take handfuls and throw them in the air and all over the floor before I could get to him.
Being me, I told the parents to pick it up and keep child seated, or leave. They picked them up

When I was a kid my mum would get angry with me when I tried to tidy after self in a cafe as she felt it patronised the staff and was taking over their job!

Then your mum is an idiot.

There's a difference between not doing someones job for them and creating extra work by your inconsiderate and entitled behaviour and just expecting the staff to take care of it.

My job as a cafe worker was to take orders, serve food and clear tables to leave them presentable for the next patrons. My job is not to have to get on my hands and knees to pick up the mashed banana your child has dropped all over the floor; wipe down chairs that are covered yoghurt marks from your child climbing all over them; clear the 20,000 tiny scraps of paper from on/around the area of your table your child reduced all the napkins to or clean the windows you child has left dirty, sticky handprints all over.

It's not about tidying up after yourself if you've left a reasonable mess though. It's about not leaving a mess similar to in the OPs picture.

This was years ago but this discussion made me remember.

Woman gets on the bus with a pram and a couple of young children. They all have McDonald’s and the children are chucking food about - chicken nuggets and fries flying everywhere. A milkshake gets dropped and goes everywhere. The mother is just smiling away at the children.

The children are also very well versed in swearing, even using the C word. The little girl who can’t have been more than two has a total meltdown and the stuff that came out of her mouth was truly horrendous - words no child should know.

They get off the bus and leave chicken nuggets, fries, bits of burger and milkshakes all over the floor, the seats the windows - and she didn’t even make any effort to clean it up or even look sorry about it!

Absolutely disgusting animals - but that is actually offensive to animals who probably wouldn’t even behave like that

Some people are just pigs. They have all the excuses under the sun and justification for their behaviour. There is none but it doesn't stop them inflicting their rank selves on everybody else. Urgh.

YANBU OP.

Correction; pigs wouldn't behave like that. There needs to be a better descriptor. Gargoyles? Trolls?

As a 16 year old, I used to work in a Littlewoods cafe (shows how long ago it was) and my first job was clearing the tables.

The picture in the first post (not RTFT yet) is pretty clean and tidy compared to some that I had to deal with! Yes, it was my job to clear the tables, but does it do any harm to try and fit all your rubbish back on to the tray you carried it to the table on?!

I always tidy my plates, etc, on to my tray in the way in which I used to collect them myself - all food waste on one top plate, not squashed in between, all liquid leftovers in one cup and stacked if possible, etc. Whatever will make it easier for the staff member to clean up without fear of ending up wearing something or accidentally getting their hands dirty with an unexpected bit of food waste.

Unfortunately, common sense and common courtesy aren't particularly common nowadays!