Appalled by fast food customer laziness

[Beautifulweeds]

Just that really. Taking DC out for a treat and sitting in, every time I've been shocked at how 'diners' leaves their tables. Just this evening, 3 teenagers left everything a mess on their table when there was a bin clearly labelled just 3 feet away from them. Another table, a big family with young kids, left their waste strewn on the table, chairs and all over the floor, others as well, they were just who we sat next to. It was the way they didn't even acknowledge it, just sauntered off looking at their phones, absolutely no thoughts to it.

Meanwhile the place was clearly short staffed and the workers were run off their feet, people shouting when is my order, getting huffy, rude and complaining. Yes I know it's fast food and they were doing their best and pretty well.

I was sat with our DC, patiently waiting, not a big deal, then cleared up every bit of waste and mopped up any spillage.

Surely this is just common decency, takes seconds to tidy, teach kids to put it in the bin, have some respect.

Rant over, just felt the need to get it off my chest. So many lazy, entitled and rude people everywhere.

It is common decency OP, and I wouldn't dream of expecting someone else to clear up my mess. But so many people don't appear to share our values, unfortunately.

I work in hospitality. It doesn't just happen in fast food places. Parents in our restaurant let their kids drop food all over the floor, then they just leave it when they go. Its rude, and you know the kids will end up just like their parents.

Oh and the same people who leave a mess for someone else to clear up are almost certainly the most vociferous #bekind proponents.

You can #bekind to waiting and retail staff too. It's just a nice thing to do.

@Dartmoorcheffy The mess under those tables make me barf. If parents are letting their children be that messy I’ll ask for a different table. Puts me right off my food.

When I worked in restaurants when I was younger families would leave their tables in shocking states. They must live like animals in their own homes.

Cinema, theatres, concert halls are all the same. I'm sure there's more. It's disgusting. I always clean up. Always

I don't let my DC leave a mess and I set an example to them by making sure we leave our table clear. At a fast food place we put everything in the bin or sometimes a member of staff will be on clean up duty and will offer to take our tray for us, either way it's all put neatly onto the tray ready to be binned. In a restaurant then plates and cups get put neatly at the end of the table for easy collection by the waiting-on staff, any food on the floor gets picked up - it's not hard and you can cover your hand with a napkin to pick it up if you don't like touching it (and I say that as an autistic person who hates to touch food with their bare hands). I have never knowingly left a mess anywhere.

It's terrible the way parents walk out and leave the mess. I have also seen them let children play with salt or sugar and leave that all over the table. They are like animals.
The way parents leave aeroplane seating is also disgusting

People have always been shitbags, this is not new.

I used to work in a pub and people would leave tables in a disgusting state, drinks spilled, cigarette butts in glasses, on plates, in the condiments on the table.

Our local one doesn't have iPads but it does have a free soft play.

The mess left in the auditorium between shows is insane. A bottle or sweet package or ice cream tub, I could understand

The popcorn which has been thrown everywhere, sweets trodden into the carpet and ice cream smeared on the seats however....

I saw a woman get in her car the other day & leave her shopping cart there. I was parked opposite her, so she pushed it between the 2 cars. The cart return bay was literally 2 car spaces away! The laziness is astonishing

I worked for McDonald's on the dining area as a customer care assistant and then a customer experience leader for ten years. By the end, I absolutely fucking hated it. Would regularly be told "I pay your wages" and "it's your job to clean up after me" by customers. Was groped by customers more than once too.

One older teenager saw me cleaning a table and deliberately poured a mix of ketchup and milkshake all over it while smirking at me. Closest I've ever come to punching someone at work. Joke was on him though - I used to throw chips on his shit box car so the birds would crap all over it. Also reported him for driving while off his head on drugs.

Not to mention the young scrotes coming in and trashing the place while the managers hid and left the customer care staff to deal with it (often alone- and my McDonald's didn't have security.)

It's a fucking miserable, relentless job and I'd never go back to it. I'd genuinely rather struggle for money than go back into that sort of job because it wrecked my confidence and mental health (and physical health too, developed a varicose vein from standing in one spot for 8+ hours a shift during Covid.)

I honestly think if we could just send all the people who don’t put their shopping trolleys back to live on a different island somewhere - the country would immediately have 50% of its problems solved…

Some people do

I crashed into a car once (long story) and the home owner let me in while they got some paper and a pen for insurance details
The door opened and it was like someone had just ripped a recycling bin on the floor. There wasn't a spot that wasn't covered in papers, empty bottles
They said "oh excuse the mess we are just back from holiday"

One of the rented houses on my street was having to have a brand new bathroom after the tenants moved out, the landlord had tried and failed to chip the limescale off. I've lived here the same amount of time and mine looks perfect

Absolutely. 👍

Depressing.
My husband and I sometimes go to McDonald's and can relate to some comments, especially the
PP describing the job.
I get anxious if I leave some serviettes on the table 😁 but seriously, always sort the mess out and the employees notice.
Embarrassing not to (clean up after myself).
🤢😳😡

The etiquette on this isn't entirely clear though, you wouldn't expect to clear your own table in a "normal" restaurant, or indeed in many cafes.

My local McDonald's seems to generally have staff just hanging around not obviously doing very much, so a rather different situation from the one you describe though.

Agree op.its horrible. They are probably the same people who don't pick up.their litter when they are out.

Preach. I'm on a few panto shifts and it's diabolical

My ds 16(not clean and tidy in the house ) works in McDonald’s and is shocked the mess that some people leave

This litmus test (see image) reveals everything about a person...also what do they do when no one is watching/social pressure...do they self govern and do the right thing

Where appropriate I will put my rubbish in the bin. However if I’m out with my 3 year old and 16month old im not going to clean up the floor after them if it requires a dustpan and brush. Napkins etc i’ll throw away ofcourse but anything smaller I’ll leave for the staff. I used to waitress and I would have found it strange if someone asked me for a dustpan and brush. My job was to clear up after them

Yep! Agree