Do you throw away your own fast food trash @ restuarants?

[reverbbb]

I'll explain the reason for my question later. I would like to get some opinions on why you do or do not throw away your own trash at fast food restuarants (assuming that there is a trash recepticle in the dining area).

edeted for speling - as usuel :oops:

[kewlpack]

Hmmm... I do it! I confess... I throw my own trash out! :roll:

Most people don't mind till I start throwing theirs out too! :lol:

~A~

[stephen]

In the same boat with kewl: I throw it away, and I'll throw others in my group away too. I figure they aint gettin no tips, and I shouldnt be a slob.

[PVTele]

Me too! I always clear up after myself - I wouldn't walk away after a meal at home and leave Jan to clear the dishes - why would I leave them for some underpaid/overworked student just cos I ate in a fast food place?

[ptrallan01]

I try to remember the names of the people who wait on me and call them by name whenever possible. Great way to make someone smile, get better service from everyone in the place and perhaps start someone down the path to salvation.

Peter

[Wally]

I throw away my own trash at fast food places, and I take my cart to the cart receptacle at Wal-Mart (and other stores) as well, instead of shoving it into the car in the spot next to mine :shock: :cry:

[32203miracle]

Always carry my trash to the trash can. Just seems like the right thing to do.

[tom grossheider]

And I always try to leave a good Gospel tract on a clean table......

[reverbbb]

Waiting for a few more votes 8)

[kewlpack]

Uhm... Just an observation - is this a "trick" question?

How does one throw away FAST FOOD trash at a RESTAURANT? Could it be that we are talking about TWO DIFFERENT venues??? A McDonald's does not a Steakhouse make... you don't throw your garbage where it doesn't belong(???)...

Not enough caffeine yet - sorry ;)

Anyway, just reflecting before diving into code.
~A~

[reverbbb]

Not a trick question :lol: . I mean like at McDonalds, Burger King, Long John Silvers, etc.

Speaking of LJS, are there fast food fish 'n chip places in the UK? We used to have a place called H Salts Fish 'N Chips (I think it was called). Now we have Long John Silvers and Captain D's. I love fish, just wish it was not so greasy. But I understand that the New England Codfish that they use is becoming scarce because of the over consumption. (oops, I got off topic - 'excuse me while I kiss the sky' :wink: (what does that mean anyway?))

[LesStrat]

Purple (reverbb) Haze, all in my brain!



Yes, I clean up after myself. And I will stack and/or hand items that need to be removed from my table to waiters in restaurants as well.

IMO, server does not equal servant/slave.

[reverbbb]

OK. I guess 10 votes is enough. I got some interesting, yet expected comments on the topic. It is obvious that most people throw away their own trash, even with the small voting sample that we got here. I voted NO and here are my reasons why.

1) McDonald's was the first introduced trash cans into the dining area in the early 1970's as a means to make it easier for their staff to keep the tables clean. It didn't take them long to realize, that the customers would help and pitch in by throwing away their own trash. So, they put the "Thank You" slogan on the swinging doors to help encourage this windfall to their clever idea. I object to having a trash dumpster in the dining area. It should not be there. But health departments have determined that if they are "properly" maintained, there is no major health concern. Do we know that all of the dining room trash receptacles are "properly" maintained with disinfectants daily?

2) Most municipal and some state laws require that every table must be cleaned with disinfectant after EVERY customer usage. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time imagining that my table was wiped down with disinfectant before or after I ate. Simply for the fact that if there is no trash on the table, the restaurant personnel will not bother. How do you know that the table is clean from the previous sniffly noses kids, the Chinese lady who just arrived to America (or where ever you live), or the unclean bum that sat at that table for 5 hours with nothing else to do that day? What about the guy with AIDS or the little girl undergoing chemo-theropy that needs protection from various virus'? If the personnel at the restaurant does not wipe down the table after YOU eat, will the next customer be safe from your seemingly harmless germs?

3) The employees that take the job at a restaurant are not slaves. Their boss makes a profit from their efforts, and in turn, provides them with a paycheck (large or small - it is not my place to determine if it is enough for their needs). The city health codes require that the restaurant personnel wash their hands and keep the tables disinfected. That is the expectation and their JOB. McDonald's has NEVER given me any money to keep their tables clean. McDonald's franchises have the dining room maintenance defined in their overhead budget. By depriving them the privilege of cleaning their own tables, you are allowing the manager to cut out one employee per shift. This takes food out of the mouth of the employee, and increases the profit for the restaurant.

4) When I worked at Pizza Inn (a tip driven restaurant), they pointed out several of these facts when I went to manager training classes. They made me realize how foolish I was to be suckered into the big business cost savings techniques that nobody asked for. Yet, we all follow along like robots to some clever idealism that it is rude to not pick-up your own trash.

You may feel convicted to do you what do and may not agree with my reasoning. I will never be able to convince enough people that cleaning your own tables is not the best thing to do. And I won't even try.

I suppose that the reason I started this thread is out of frustration. The frustration that I feel when I get "if looks could kill" gazes by other customers when I get up and leave my trash behind. 60% of the time I leave my table with trash on it, I notice that someone is looking at my trash, then looking at me, and I imagine them thinking that my mamma didn't raise me right. My mamma and daddy grew up in an era where eating out was ALWAYS considered a luxury to pay some other people to prepare your food and clean up after you. Somehow, everyone has been brain washed to thinking that the restaurant has no responsibility in using our money in cleaning up after us.

American Marketing at it's best (or worst?). :wink: