AIBU to expect people to clean up after themselves in cafe?

[Alloftheboys]

Earlier went to Costa. Find a table for four which was covered in cutlery, plates and rubbish.
This one is usually messy as they never seem to have enough staff on.
I start to shift everything over to another table so we can sit and realise what a state the previous customers had left.

I assume it was one or two adults and a child by the mess - child sized pieces of sausage roll, dolly mixture sweets and loads of bits of chocolate all over the floor.
It looked like someone had been trying to feed seagulls!

I don't mind having a quick wipe and tidy over a table before we sit down but this was something else! I would never leave a table in a cafe/restaurant in that state.

So AIBU? (I know I'm ranting and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter that much)

And when flying. As you walk down the aisle to exit the plane, people leave where they have been sitting in a disgusting state.

Some people just don't care.

@TheBlowersDaughter I thought you gone to somewhere more worthy?

I don't know how to quote from a previous reply but I did say if you disagree with me that's fine.
I posted as I wanted to know others viewpoints and see if it was more common to tidy up after yourself or leave a whirlwind of SHIT and POTS for others to clean up.

I recall being in a National Trust cafe, Dunham Massey, some years ago. One large table had been commandeered by a group of Mums and their children who were amusing themselves by tipping over full pots of yoghurt that Mummy had brought with her and 'painting' the table with it, while Mummies carried on with the conversations and phones. They then just got up and walked out,brushing any mess off their children onto the floor, it looked like a battlefield. I wasn't sure who deserved the biggest smack the 'adults' or the children.

Yanbu. Hate Costa but often visit pret and some people don't even put their crap back on their tray so it's easy for you to move, yourself.

My youngest are a bit older now (4) but we’ve always eaten out a lot when they were toddlers as the older two love it.
We were always really welcome repeat customers.

While I might get everything stacked and sorted before we leave, I’ve never grubbed about cleaning the floor in a cafe or restaurant.

That’s just weird and ruins the ambience for other customers.

I don’t bring my own food in and I order ‘neatly edible’ stuff from the menu for tiny DC, so bits on the floor are quickly sweepable.

We talk to everyone who works at the cafes and restaurants we go to properly. not like they’re deaf robots or stupid. We’re not rude, intolerant or judgey.

We’re properly grateful for being fed and tidied up after and leave a good (cash) tip.

You are being charged a premium as you’re not cooking and cleaning.

It’s not ok to cook or clean. It’s also not ok to be an arsehole and trash the place.

@Sparklingbrook I suppose this links into an attitude of "it's not my job" or "someone else will do it"

@tillytrotter1 arrrrrggh oh god the horror!

Definitely Alloftheboys, same as hotel rooms. I always leave them tidy but i can only imagine what a state they are left in.

YANBU. I’m always shocked at how gross a lot of people are in public cafes. People are so disrespectful of the staff and other patrons. You know they wouldn’t leave such a gross mess in their own houses or that of their friends’. It’s similar to the anonymous/anonymizing effect that happens to people when typing online. People behave differently or worse than they would if people knew who they really would. The hiding in the crowd effect. (COUGH. Some people on this thread.)

@Sparklingbrook OH has worked in hotels and he has some horror stories believe me!
He's currently asleep or I'd ask him to share one.

When my DC were at that stage I would ask for a dustpan and brush at the end of a meal so at least the worst of it wouldn't be left to be crushed underfoot and trodden in.

I'm just taking a moment to be grateful that even though my children's behaviour in cafés and restaurants isn't perfect they are at least more interested in eating food than flinging, dropping or wearing it.

YANBU - I’m sure the parents wouldn’t have let their child rip apart and scatter a sausage roll in their own home. They were behaving like jerks.

Some posters have mentioned Pret - in Pret I find the staff are frequently coming round to clear tables etc. and if, say, I've eaten my fruit salad but not yet my sandwich, I'll hand over my empty fruit salad pot to the staff member doing the rounds but part of me wants to shout out I WOULD HAVE THROWN IT IN THE BIN, I PROMISE. Not that I think it's unreasonable for the staff to come round as they also wipe free tables (which customers can't), but I want to distance myself from the table-mess-leavers.

OH has worked in hotels and he has some horror stories believe me!
He's currently asleep or I'd ask him to share one.

So do I
Ive had to charge someone before because they shat the bed. Their excuse was it didn't matter because the sheets get washed anyways and it was the cleaners job to clean up after him.

I've had a groom try to start a food fight at his wedding breakfast. We had 'staff' who could clean it all up so why not? Yes because the hour between the end of your wedding breakfast and the beginning of your evening reception, we really can soak the gravy stains out of the white, satin chair covers, dry them and redress the chair... along with actually doing our jobs.

I've had people change their baby in the hotel foyer and leave dirty nappies lying around because, again, it's the staffs job to tidy up after them.

When I worked on cruise ships, people would regularly walk into the high end jewellery shop wearing swimwear and eating ice cream, dripping water all over the floor, smearing ice cream on the display cabinets, throwing their paper napkin on the floor and think nothing of it!

Basically people think that just because a part of the job description is to keep the cafe/hotel/shop tidy, that does not mean you can treat the place and the staff with such disrespect. And your actions will impact other paying guests and potentially the business in general.

YANBU. I hate it when all the free tables are cluttered with other people’s mess. Even normal, adult mess is offputting (stained teacups, crumby plates, icky sticky tables etc). If I was faced with the kind of toddler/slummy parent mess you describe I would’ve gone somewhere else.