Maybe it’s because I’ve worked in restaurants before, but it drives me nuts when I see people leave total messes behind when they get up and leave after eating out.
Come to think of it, I probably a little too much work for my servers after I’m done eating because I’m so paranoid about it.
But I haven’t offered to do my own dishes…yet…
AskReddit users talked about whether they clean up their own messes when they go out to eat.
Let’s see what they had to say.
1. Right on.
“Of course, I’m not a barbarian.
When my daughter was little she always made a huge mess at table, so in that case I just left a huge tip.”
2. Not typical.
“My toddler recently threw a bunch of food on the floor during our meal, and I cleaned it up as I always do.
I was surprised when the waitress came by and said that she had never seen anyone do that before.
I thought cleaning up an excessive mess would be the typical behavior.”
3. Gross.
“From my experience, parents cleaning up their kids’ messes is uncommon at best, and I served tables at a fairly nice restaurant.
I think the worst offender I dealt with was Cheerios and milk all over the table… and a sh**ty diaper left in the booth on the wooden part between the seat and back cushions.
I tried to not get pi**ed off about messy tables, but that one made me angry.”
4. Clean it up!
“At 14 months, my son accidentally dropped a bag of cheerios and spilled it.
I saw a broom in the corner, so I just swept it up. The waitress got there right at the end and was terrified, thinking I was going to yell at her for not sweeping it up/making me do it.
That was such a depressing realization. This young woman had been conditioned to be afraid of a customer who had to take care of the tiniest issue for themselves, expecting to be berated afterwards. And apparently most people are perfectly happy with that reality.
If you’re an adult, act like it. Subsidizing part of someone’s horrible $2 per hour does not absolve you of the responsibility to not act like an insufferable p**ck.”
5. That’s nice.
“I used to have a regular family who would put a little plastic mat underneath their kid’s chair and just ball it up and throw it away at the end.
It was such a waste of plastic but I was always so thankful on busy nights.”
6. Do what you can.
“I usually try to clean up after my kids.
When I can’t (breakdowns happen and it may be time to leave like right now), I leave a massive tip. I’ve been told by so many people I eat with to not bother because that’s the waitstaff’s job.
I’ve been a waitress. Sure they will clean up after me but part of their job it not to pick up the toast my kid intentionally threw on the floor. That’s my job as the parent!”
7. Wow.
“When I was in 7th grade I got chewed out by the waitress at an Ihop in Vegas for making a mess at the table and she made me clean the table. That was the last time I did that.
I have since worked in restaurants so I clean my table so the bussers don’t have to deal with any more bulls**t than they already have to.”
8. Get stackin’.
“By the end of the meal, my wife and I would stack plates and wipe down the table for the server.
When my son was a toddler, he would make the biggest messes and we would apologize to the staff and clean it up for them.”
9. Boom!
“I ALWAYS do this.
I h**e dining with messy eaters or people that do not care.
I always make sure to place all the leftover scraps on a single plate, then stack the other dishes to make it easy for the waiters.”
10. Doing your best.
“I couldn’t live with myself if I left a mess for anyone, let alone an underpaid server.
I always straighten up the best I can, and push chairs in when we leave.
I h**e people that leave their chairs out away from the table. It’s the same as putting your shopping cart away properly.”
11. Just do it!
“It literally takes a minute to do so I really don’t understand why people don’t just do it.
I’ve heard some people say “well they’re getting paid to do it” or “that’s not my/our job” and it just makes my blood boil.”
12. A mixed bag.
“Used to work at a cheap Italian chain and holy S**T, is spaghetti cut up into child-size bits one of the hardest f**king things to get out of the carpet without a full-on shop vacuum.
Some people are shameless and don’t give a d**n and let their kids do absolutely whatever. I’ve dealt with parents letting their kids drink creamers and eat sugar packets (and then get mad when they couldn’t get refills on them), I’ve had a parent at a large birthday party reservation urgently tell me that they’ve LOST THEIR CHILD – large restaurant, and located in a mall – as if I’m supposed to be keeping tabs of the whereabouts of the 20 children I’m just trying to get fed and out without crashing the rest of my section.
Some people are actually awesome and will try their 100% best to clean up any mess their kids make. My parents didn’t bring us to sit-down restaurants until we were at least 3 or 4, and we didn’t go often until we were older than that. I’m thankful they saved several servers from having to deal with whatever mess we likely would have made.”
Do you clean up after yourself when you go out to eat?
Talk to us in the comments and let us know.
We look forward to hearing from you!
