There is a lesson that we all learned when we were young that some people have been forgetting: cleaning up after yourself. After every bell, the commons is left looking like a pig’s sty. There is a simple solution to this. Throw away your trash.
There are garbage and recycle bins placed strategically everywhere throughout the commons and in the halls. There is no reason to leave your food and wrappers on the tables.
When you do this, the only thing it causes is problems for other people who should not have to deal with the consequences of your actions.
Messy tables displace other people. The lunchroom moves fluidly. If one group of people has to move because their table was left a mess by the people who sat there the period before, many other people have to move as well. This would not happen if people just cleaned up their area.
Similarly, it also makes custodians’ jobs more difficult than they have to be. They spend their whole day making sure that we have a clean and enjoyable place to eat our food, the least we could do is make things a little bit easier for them.
It is even worse when the messes they have to clean were intentional. Leaving clutter on purpose is rude and disrespectful. It is not funny. It is just annoying.
It is also gross for the people who have lunch after you. When I sit down at my lunch table, I do not want to have to wonder what substance just got on my shirt sleeve. The food gets warm and starts to smell like garbage, and it could have been prevented if people used their manners.
Long story short, throw away the mess that you made. It is no one else’s responsibility but yours. What are you going to do when there is no one else to follow behind you and clean up what you left?
Do not be the person that throws off everyone else’s day. Be a good person with common decency.
