AIBU to expect parents to tidy up in cafés?

[wrinklycactus]

Since having a baby I've had a different perspective on lots of things.. including the mess left by some parents in cafes/ restaurants with babies and toddlers in high chairs.

I was in M&S cafe yesterday looking for somewhere to sit with my toddler, and the only free table looked like an absolute bomb site - crumbs and spillages everywhere, high chair a total mess - they'd just left it for the poor staff to clean up.

I appreciate I only have one kid to think about, but I always clean up after feeding him in a cafe if we've made a massive mess (and we are BLW so we definitely do make a mess!)

Obviously I don't worry about every crumb but I couldn't live with leaving a table in the state that I saw yesterday.

I know there are circumstances where you have to leave in a rush and kids are having meltdowns etc, I'm not talking about that - just talking about generally leaving your bomb site for the staff to clean up or the next person to inherit!

AIBU to think this is just rude and inconsiderate?

Hardly!
I pointed out it isn’t always easy to tidy up when you’re on your own with DC. I also pointed out that it was a while ago for me so I don’t remember the details of how it went. Eating out was expensive, we didn’t have much money with small DC, so mainly ate at home or took food with us. I actually remember staying out as long as possible because DS1 was hard work at home. But we had a lot of picnics.

You're being really snippy, taking offence at that.

You clearly didn’t see the thread (before it was deleted because the OP was a nasty piece of work).

Perhaps don’t comment on a thread you haven’t seen.

Cleaner here. I clean a family restaurant and weekends and over school holidays the place is disgusting. Even the adults are absolute tramps and leave the place in a terrible state. The toilets are the worst...and thats even in the ladies loos too.

The OP of that thread claimed to have been mortified but the thread took some very bizarre turns with her calling all the other posters various insults until MN took the thread down.

WTF have dogs got to do with the discussion??

I watched a baby in a highchair tear bread chuck it everywhere. Two ladies just sat chatting away happy baby was amusing itself. They literally got up and left it.

Well if it did happen, she probably wouldn’t behave as badly as the OP of that thread. If you didn’t read it then you can’t comment on it because it wasn’t quite as simple as you think

You are taking this very personally and spectacularly missing the point. It’s the parents who leave shit being criticised.

Clearly this has hit a nerve 🤣

I’m afraid it’s becoming more of a problem and I feel sorry for the poor staff who have to clean after them.
I wonder if their own homes are a similar mess?

I always make sure I clean up. Honestly, we don't usually leave a mess and I'm a bit baffled HOW some families do but I'm paranoid about my favourite cafes not liking me coming with my toddler so I just leave the places spotless. I always have antibacterial wipes as well as wet wipes with me so usually the table is cleaner than when I found it 😂

I will always (even without kids) do a quick sweep of crumbs etc off the table and onto a plate. Plates stacked or put together, anything big off the floor. I won't Scrabble around down there scraping up crumbs, as a broom or similar is better for that.

I had read the OP, thanks.

I can comment in what I like thanks! Incidentally, I did read the OP.

I have twins and I always, always cleaned up after them properly. I stack plates up for waiting staff too.

Dogs are usually better behaved than many children I have seen in cafes/restaurants and will quietly sit under table waiting for a titbit or two

What’s that got to do with the price of fish?
So it’s ok for scummy parents to leave their kids mess everywhere because people can take dogs into cafes??

The majority of dogs don’t spill drinks all over the tables and chairs and leave food debris everywhere.
I’d rather sit where there’s been a dog under the table than where there’s been a toddler.

I don’t understand how so much mess is being made. I’ve taken all mine out to eat from being babies and aside from the odd knocked over drink or a few dropped bits of pasta or whatever there’s never been loads of mess to clear up.

Please stop with the nowadays. Is to work in a cafe in the 80s and people were bad then as well.

Well even in a restaurant me and DH leave the table with at least the dishes together and cutlery on the dish/plate not just spread over the table. If there are breadcrumbs on the table I would scoop them up and put them on a plate.

Just good manners

Yes I remember!
Yeah totally mortified - mortified that she got caught before she could get away with it! Totally skanky

I was in a restaurant recently where the table and floor was covered in food after a family of three had eaten. The mother picked the baby up and walked off whilst the father wheeled the pushchair all over the food on the floor. I honestly couldn't believe it.

I clean up after myself and would definitely have picked food up from the floor.

My dog usually does a bit of cleaning. If some of the filthy people described in this thread have chucked food on the floor and swanned off, he hoovers it up.

Agree! If my baby dropped something I picked it up there and then, I didn’t just let it accumulate.

I always clean up, but SO often the staff come over and tell me not to and that's it's their job. Maybe that happened in this case?
I personally think it's the right thing to do, but as someone who has previously been a waitress, I would never have expected it and never thought badly of anyone that didn't. It was my job after all.

I think if you're walking into a messy table that's technically the staffs fault for not clearing.

Yes absolutely - i have 3 kids including a set of twins - I always make an effort to clean up what I can and think it’s incredibly entitled and lazy of parents who don’t

(have to admit though it’s not the parents who are the main culprits …. Plenty of people who I see eating out in cafes seem to have a problem tidying up after themselves!)