Do you clean up after yourself?

[Geckothan]

I don't eat fast food.

 

[Joshua Howard]

Perhaps Trekkies are by nature more conscientious about food trays than the rest of the U.S. population in terms of percentage. ^_^

Actually, yes... I always put away the tray/clean up after myself. Granted, there are some folks who don't; usually the grungy or otherwise worn-out-looking folks who have several children and seem to be entirely overwhelmed with their life at the moment. Most, however, do.

I usually avoid fast food and mall eating; it just isn't very appetizing stuff. I don't usually eat much meat, but with fast food/mall food, that's all you get. Heck, it seems like the vegetables even taste like meat, if there are vegetables, that is. Even if they don't, there's the matter of oiliness, which has a wierd way of making the food from every vendor at the food court miraculously taste almost exactly the same.

 

[Jan]

If I bring my food to the table and it's wrapped in paper or cardboard, I remove my trash from the table when I'm done. If the food is brought to me on real dishes with silverware, I leave it on the table along with a tip when I'm done.

As for the establishment having people to do it, yes, I'm sure they do and I'm also sure that there are rules about sanitizing and the like. That's rather immaterial to the discussion. They also have people to clean the bathrooms but that doesn't mean that people shouldn't try to leave those clean after use. Sadly, there are people everywhere who don't try to leave things clean and pleasant for the next person.

Jan

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I steal the tray and take it home.

Usually if I have leftovers, I'll throw them at the people behind the counter. If there's guys working there, I'll exit quickly. It's it's all women, I'll mock them "whatcha gonna do about it, cry?" If they confront me, I'll smack 'em around a little bit. Then I'll tell them they can make more money working for me. Everything goes right, I pimp that bitch out. That gets back to why I take the tray. She gets outta line, I remind her of her old job by smacking her with that tray.

[I need to stop watching those "Hookers of the Point" specials on HBO]

 

[FPAlpha]

Let's remember we're talking about counter service places here! The staff's primary purpose is to get that food to the counter. Often any cleanup in the dining area is the responsibility of the same crew member that takes your order. If that person is occupied by a steady stream of new customers the only thing to prevent the dining area from becoming a big mess is customers cleaning up their own trays and waste. Anybody that doesn't is just ruining it for the rest of us, because hiring someone to clean up behind you will drive the prices up. If you want that kind of service go to a full service restaurant and leave a tip!

Actually i haven't seen that. It's the job of the manager on duty to keep his place running and that includes a clean dining area. In all chains i've been to i have noticed staff cleaning the dining area even during rush hour of at times of full capacity.

Someone also has to empty the tray containers and put out empty ones and at these times they tend to take a look around to see if there are any unused trays on the tables and clean the table.

As has been said it is just part of the job.. they are multitask persons responsible for filling the tray with your order, keep everything in order and occasionally take care of the dining area.. that's just their job description. They aren't hiring a special cleaning service.

Why are you arguing about this? Are you angry that there are some of us who are just trained to be tidy and you're feeling inadequate so you're trying your best to justify why you aren't like that?

Cause it's just coming off like you're trying to defend yourself.

Oh sorry.. i thought this was a discussion forum and i took advantage of that to discuss something.. excuse me

Why should i feel inadequate? I clean up after myself in about 70-80% of the cases so i don't think i'm a slob if that's what you were insinuating... the rest of the percentages i have my reasons which i laid out earlier.

I only wondered why fast food restaurants have this special status where it is apparently expected to clean up after having a meal.. nowhere else do i have to do this.
There was the argument of low prices but i just don't buy it because i've seen them manage a clean dining area even during rush hour.. they always could spare an employee to take care of that so to me there's no additional staff needed to clean the dining area.

 

[Michael Chris]

Always. I'd be interested about how people handle cart returns..

 

[ByrdMan]

It just seems courteous. By the way, I am a dyed-in-the-wool, lazy-ass, unapologetic slob... But I still bus my own table. I don't wipe the table down, but the trash bin is usually right next to the door. No reason to not take care of your tray at least. I bet if you took a shit in the middle of the floor and left, they'd clean it up too. Doesn't mean you should.

 

[RobertVA]

Always. I'd be interested about how people handle cart returns..

If the store has cart corals reasonably distributed I'll put the cart in the coral. I'll sometimes even sort a few carts out when the store has two cart sizes (I like the easier to maneuver half size carts) and inconsiderate customers have filled the full width of the coral with full size carts.

If the store is inconsiderate enough to concentrate all the corals on one or two rows of the lot directly in front of the doors and I've parked a couple of rows over they're going to have to hike out to where I've placed the cart's front wheels over a curb (so the wind won't blow it into other customer's cars).