Do you bus your own tables at fastfood restaurants?

I never thought of it in terms of "is it my job?" or should I make some burger-flipper do it.

I always clean up after myself in public because, IMO, it is just the right thing to do.

There are a few "sort of fast food" places that bus the tables for you (like Noodles N Co...mmmm...). But unless I am at those establishments, I bus the table. It's the polite thing to do. Just because the place is staffed by people without college degrees making minimum wage doesn't mean that we should leave our messes for them to clean up - there are trash cans out in the dining areas for a reason...

Almost always, but there are one or two that come by and bus as you sit there or hide the trash cans in which case I don't.  I expect a relatively low level of service in a fast-food restaurant and want it to remain an inexpensive option for those times I'm in a hurry, don't want to spend much, or just hungry for the greaseball food.  If busing my own trash keeps the prices down, I'm fine with that.  I also try to teach my kids to pick up after themselves and this is one way of doing so. 

Yea, I go with this more than anything.  I think we all realize it's part of the unwritten code that goes with eating in an establishment of this nature.  Inexpensive food + disposable wraps/silverware + visible and neat garbages at various locations = DO IT YOURSELF! 

Honorable mention to TriOK for "why not?"  I'd love for the OP to explain exactly why they don't feel the need to do this. The rest of us somewhere in life caught the memo that it's part of the deal in an establishment of this nature.   A reason besides "I'm a customer and why should I?" since, as this thread indicates, most of us can figure out the line between the restaurants that require self-busing vs. busing provided by restaurant.

Well, since you asked, it really has to do with the ex-gf who said it was no big deal and it gave them something to do during slow times. She went on the say that a table that wasn't bussed was easy to see that it needed to be cleaned--you could see that from the counter. If it's bussed, but it's dirty, that's tougher to see from the counter. I'm just taking it from someone who has actually done the job.

Thanks.  I'd call that a very abnormal attitude by the Ex.  You were wise enough to marry the smart one, that realizes standing and doing nothing, or looking busy straightening napkins behind a counter is better than scooping up someone's nasty wrappers and such off a used table.

But, it is a reason.  And, I'll back off since you seem sincere vs. just selfish and lazy which is what I think of when I see someone stand up and walk out of a place like that without cleaning up. 

Now, as a guy married a long time, I'd stop horrifying your wife with this behavior anyway, and save those wife-points for something much more meaningful than picking up a couple of wrappers in a fast food joint.

Unless a place has specific busers to do the work of cleaning tables, I guess I would prefer the workers stay behind the counter for the most part if they are going to be handling my food. IMO

I'm not sure how happy I would be if someone was packaging up my food right after they were cleaning up used wrappers from a table.

This is obviously not the case in the better places where they have busers to clean the tables, waiters to take the orders, and many times, people to deliver the food from the kitchen to the table.

Idealy, people cleaning up old food/dishes do not touch the fresh food/dishes.


I have been known to wipe my mouth and blow my nose in napkins at a fast food joints.  I'm wondering how the people who prefer not to bus their own tables would feel if the teenager who JUST handed them their food just handled all my snot napkins...

Thank you. That is exactly what my ex-gf said (the one who had worked fastfood)--see my post in the middle of the thread.

Now for a counter argument:  My uncle doesn't bus his table at a fast food restaurant, doesn't put the shopping cart in the corral, doesn't bag his groceries.  His opinion is this drives demand for low-wage/low-skill jobs.  He does his shopping at grocery stores based on convenience, not price and he realizes that there is a cost-to-the-consumer (i.e. himself) for these services. 

I agree that having someone come out and clear the trash makes it more likely that the table gets wiped, but I'll still pick up after myself. 

In the US, yes, always, 100%.  Two other examples are different, worldwide.

In Schipol airport (Netherlands), it is not expected to bus your table at the restaurant, which included a Sbarro and a McDonalds. If you try to bus your own, you get funny looks and kinda screw up their system.

And in China, you NEVER bus your table. It's pretty ingrained in Chinese culture that everyone's got a job, and it's someone's job to bus the tables(or pick up trash), you don't do your job for them, ever. Perfect for-instance....not in a FF restaurant, but just in public....I'm walking down a sidewalk with my host, and the guy in front of me throws a wrapper of some sorts on the ground...literally 15ft from a garbage can.  Huh?  So I make a move to pick up the wrapper, and my host tells me to stop...and watch. 30 seconds later, a guy comes down, picks up the wrapper, puts it in the trash. That's his job. Don't mess with it.