to think that some parents are just lazy and inconsiderate?

[LentilsRMe]

We went for tea yesterday at Wagamamas.

There was a family behind us, including 2 children - about 2 and 4 maybe.

I looked round after they had left and under the table they had left food, crayons, paper and two empty juice cartons.

I was a bit that they just left without even picking this all up off the floor.

Surely I am NBU?

[onestep]

Well I'm with op and in fact I'm thinking back to a recent time when I was in a Wagamama branch and in fron t of me there was a group of 4 mums with 6 children and they laeft the most horrific mess under and on their table. BTW those of you who haven't been ,it's a light airy environment with simple wooden treatle tables and benches so it's not a question of being anal and looking around under other people's tables to look for mess - it's very visible !

Anyway not a single one of the mums made any effort to pick up any of the mess - food, napkins, crayons, straws, cutlery. Disgusting and disrespectful to the staff and to all the other diners. Nobody is suggesting a parent should get down on hands and knees and scrub a floor to hospital standard, but after a messy meal with kids it's simple to scoop up the worst of the mess (maybe in one of the Wagamama paper place settings or a napkin) and leave it on one of the discarded plates. Surely that's simple good manners, no ? And I don't think much of the "Well I've paid so I don't give a toss" sort of attitude. It's quite insolent imo and sends out the wrong message to one's children.

[MumOfAPickle]

Was just thinking about this on sat actually as we went to zizzis for lunch and DS (19 mths) had spaghetti bolognaise. I did clear up the crayons and also had a vague attempt at the spaghetti with a wipe but we sat out on the terrace and the wipe was black with dirt from the tiled floor so I didn't go back for a second go!

Sometimes meet with other mums (6 of us in total) at a local museum and its fairly chaotic by the time we leave the cafe but we all do try to have a quick tidy but sometimes the LO's are off and we have no choice but to follow...

[spiderlight]

I'd definitely pick it all up, if only to set an example for my son that it's not acceptable to leave your mess lying around for other people to clean. Mind, I always have plates stacked ready for the waitress to take away as well, and have been known on occasion to present myself at the kitchen door with all our used plates if the waitign staff are looking particularly busy and harrassed. I was brought up to be inordinately helpful and I get twitchy watching someone else doing it for me even if I've paid them to! Which is a bit pathetic, really, I suppose.

[BroccoliSpears]

Wagamamas is a great place to take kids. My 2 love it.

I always pick up the big lumps in a napkin, and appologise if there's sticky mess or stuff I can't pick up.

[izzybiz]

I pick up the worst of the mess my Ds leaves (he is a year old) I don't collect every crumb though!
I will always say sorry about the mess too!
Just basic politeness I suppose!

[monkeypinkmonkey]

I am def 100% with the piack it up camp!
I really worry for the children of the parents who think that 'I've paid so it's not my problem' You have paid to have your meal cooked, delivered to your table and cleared from your table not for the privilage of being bad mannered.
Lets just hope the next time you eat out that the waitress bringing you your food hasn't had to scramble around on the floor cleaning up the previous diners mess and not forgoton to wash her hands!!!!

[giantkatestacks]

I try and pick up the worst of it as well - I always clean the highchair as well. Why wouldnt you? Leaving loads of mess is just taking the piss isnt it...

[nickytwotimes]

Yanbu.
Of course you can't clear up entirely, but it is bloody rude to leave napkins, carton, pencils, etc lying around on the floor. Drives me nuts, especially as one of my friends does this. I find it embarassing tbh.

[2to3]

YANBU. I got to a posh gym where the mums seem to think they own the place and let their children leave trails of disgusting mess all over the place. They let their children climb on the tables and stand on the chairs without ever telling the off, and don't make any attempt to clear up before leaving. It drives me nuts. Just goes to show, money can't buy manners.

[IWroteOffLightningMcQueen]

I would always pick up mess from the floor, and if there are any empty plates hanging around when we're leaving, I will pile it all up with any bits of rubbish left on the top, but, I NEVER clean the highchairs.

If I've wiped over the tray with a wipe, it'd look clean but it wouldn't be clean really would it? I can't see the staff cleaning it again. If it is obviously dirty then they would clean it properly (or I'd expect them to at least!)

Am I lazy?

[giantkatestacks]

I dont think its laziness IWroteOff - the only reason I clean them (highchairs) is that sometimes the staff just wheel them back without cleaning them and then its a PITA for the next person.

[MillyMollyMoo]

I worked as a waitress in franky and bennies as a student and loudily called accross the restuarant to the family that left a nappy bag full of poo under the table had they forgotten something, some people are utter pigs and disgusting, their children will grow up to be exactly the same unless somebody points out the error of their ways.
I bet they drop litter in the street too, scumbags.

[fircone]

YANBU.

It drives me mad. And such behaviour cuts across all classes, too. I was in a restaurant and suddenly spied a quite Bodeny family with the baby ON the table having its nappy changed. Their other children were wandering around/rolling on the floor.

Do people behave like this in their own homes?

[Docbunches]

YANBU. I can't bear to leave a mess and have been known to pick up food as well (only chips, etc, not squashed peas or anything like that!).

The same applies to hotel rooms - I have always left the room clean and tidy before the maid comes in (even to the point of making the bed), but sometimes, I glance into other rooms when the door has been left open and some look worse than a Pigsty . I don't know how people can be so inconsiderate.

[iateallthecreameggsyummy]

yanbu definately not.

I work as a waitress and am pregnant and when families come in i know what will happen.

Their DC will throw chips, peas, beans etc under the table, napkins pencils etc, the food gets stomped in when the family go to leave and then i have to get on my hands and knees under the table to clean up.

Yes I agree we are paid to keep the restaurant tidy and clean but i think this is unreasonable and agree with someone above who said generally the bigger and messier the mess, the less the tip!

So please families when you go into restaurants be aware of your mess, we dont expect you to pick everything up but wet wipes etc yes, look at the table before you sit to see if it has been made.

Nothing worse than big families coming in making themselves comfy on a table that has yet to be laid then complaining due to no knives and forks!

For those who have never worked in restaurants and think this behavious is ok, come do our shift for 8 hours with no sit down break, being barked at for wanting drinks now etc and not getting the chance to even eat on an 8 hour shift would you do it?

sorry i ranted badly then.

[ermintrude13]

Who's the eejit who won't got to Wagamamas because it's got a silly name? . Dearie me, this foreign food, there's no need to give it a name which signals Japanese is there now?

Anyway OP, YANBU at all. I've been at several meals out where ladies who lunch have turned into yummy mummies and think the world is there to clear up after their children. You pay in restaurants to get someone else to cook for you, serve you and clear your table. If you make the latter element of the deal into a major task you're being both lazy and arrogant. Why should waiters pick up more detritus than usual if it's a family who's eating? Clear up with your DC and they'll learn where to draw the line and how to treat other people respectfully, even the 'servants'

[Toffeepopple]

I am in the "pick it up" camp. I think it is rude otherwise.

Worst I ever saw was this woman who came into a local cafe. It has huge signs on every table saying "We provide a full children and baby's menu service, please do not bring your own food in".

She sat there and started to feed her child rice with egg and peas which she had brought from home. Child tipped over the huge container of the stuff and the woman left. I thought it was soooooooooooooo rude.

[woozlet]

I used to work as a waitress in a child friendly restaurant. I wouldn't have expected parents to pick up after their children and didn't mind picking up chips, cake, crayons etc.

[MrsChemist]

YANBU, not at all.
I understand that it's their jobs to clean up, but there is clearing up the little bits that are expected after a meal, and making someone's job a lot more time consuming and difficult by leaving the place a pigsty.
Also, it's not as if waiting staff get paid a bloody fortune for crawling about on the floor clearing up other peoples' mess.

[MovingOutOfBlighty]

Totally rude to leave anything other that reasonable amounts of food dropped on the floor. Its lazy, grim and crappy parenting not to at least tidy non-restaurant mess up. One mum I know leaves snotty tissues on the table!

Wagamama a silly name - eh?!!!

[Hulababy]

riven - Wagamams is great for children IME. 7y DD loves it. They have a great children's menu (and not a chip or nugget in sight ) and the prices are not bad IIRR.

[Hulababy]

TBH it is because people leave restauarants in such a mess, and don't check their children's behaviour - such as stopping them from dropping cartons and stuff everywhere (not talking little bits of food here) that restaurants can often be un-child friendly in the UK.

[MummyDoIt]

Be careful with this post, OP! I once started a similar thread after seeing two mums with toddlers leave an awful mess around their table in Pizza Express and it turned out that one of them was on MN and saw the thread! I was really .

[gladders]

YANBU - when mine were teeny i cleared away.

juice cartons they brought with them - so IO these shd be taken away with you at the end of the meal.

crayons etc - wagamamas are nice enough to give these to small children - if cleaing them up gets to be too much of a chore they will stop doing this?