Why don't people clean up after themselves at a movie theatre? Is it the same as not taking your cart back to the store or to one of those racks?

I was responsible for cleaning movie theaters for a long time. This was in Eugene Oregon.

We had tiny orange bins outside the doors for trash. These filled instantly. We put two big ass industrial 50 gallon cans and these also filled seconds after the movie got out. We are talking sold out movie in a 400 seat theater. Even with all this we had to go bonkers.

My first day on the job and I was like WTF?

We ran 50 gallon cans down the aisles to collect crap left behind. Then we used used leaf blowers to get all the random stuff on the concrete slab by the screen. Wallets included.. Which we stole since we made $4.25 per hour.

It is worse.

I call this institutionalised laziness. Huge bins are right outside the doors, you walk straight past them as you leave & yet, the screening rooms are left piled in your rubbish.

Like @ucme said. This is just straight up laziness. It’s probably a fair comparison to not placing your shopping cart back in the pre-designated collection areas in the parking lot. For the record, I don’t mind walking the extra 30 or 40 feet to stow my shopping cart instead of blocking potential parking spots for other people. The words common courtesy are very relevant in these instances.

Now I feel guilty. I had folded up our empty popcorn bag and stuck it in the cup holder yesterday – when we left, I forgot about it. I generally do make a point to remove my garbage, and raised my son to do the same.

Another place I’ve noticed this is in department stores – clothes on the floor beneath the racks and strewn about the changing rooms – ugh! Just because you decide you don’t want it doesn’t mean that it’s trash, people!

I will admit that since developing Rheumatoid Arthritis that effects my feet, I don’t always put the cart back at the grocery store. Generally, I will try to park near the carriage return, but if I’m unable to or I can’t even see where it is, I might leave it. In those instances, I am careful to park it so it won’t roll away or block a parking space.

Agree with everything @Bluefreedom says. Personally, I walk my cart to the rack because, in addition to considering it the right thing to do, I like to treat myself to the extra bit of exercise. I’ve also like to give my food servers as much help as possible by keeping my table mess to a minimum and throwing away trash.

As for movie theaters, I’ve long-since given up hope of being able to have an enjoyable movie-watching experience in an audience. People nowadays have no compunction whatsoever about talking loudly throughout the movie, using their phones, rattling candy wrappers, and leaving trash around their seats, behaving as they do in front of their TVs and totally unmindful of others, I’ve been a huge movie lover all my life, but sad to say, I rarely go to them anymore, and when I do, I pick off-times to avoid large audiences.

End of soapbox.

If we’re talking shopping trolleys/karts, I ride that baby back, sometimes while spinning.

I actually collect a cart when I enter a store whether I’m going to use one or not. Oddly enough, yesterday I had a woman argue with me about using the cart I had pushed in. She wanted to go fetch her own.

I don’t go to movie theaters, so I can’t speak to that, but, like @hearkat, I’m astounded my all the clothes left in the dressing rooms. Just plain lazy rudeness.

We frequent the same Mexican restaurant so much that they often just wave as us as we collect our own menus and napkins before seating ourselves. I’ve even refilled glassed and fetched salsa, lol.

Not an excuse, an explanation:

Up until the last fifteen years, with the proliferation of cup holders, there was nowhere to put the left over drink cups except on the floor under the seat. And there still is nowhere else to put a popcorn tub. And if it is there for the last two hours of a long movie, for many people it’s “out of sight, out of mind” when they leave. While walking out during the credits and talking about the movie, they just don’t recall they left a mess.

@zenvelo I might buy it if people under 20 weren’t doing it. They have always had cup holders. And stepping over popcorn bags after the seats fold up just to get out of the aisle contradicts it being “out of sight.”
It’s a weird anomaly that it universally applies to an intentional movie theatre mentality.
Good input, though.

The roughly once a year I go to the cinema, I go at 9:30 am on a Tuesday, and thus we are usually the only people in the room. I cannot abide going to the cinema otherwise.

We always remove our trash.

My husband had an early job like @johnpowell,‘s they, too, used leaf blowers.

It’s just rude to expect someone else to pick up your garbage, and it’s not all that difficult to carry it, yourself, to a receptacle.

Tangent – What I really can’t understand is why people can’t survive for 90 minutes without food. Why do so many movie-goers buy all that caloric stuff before the movie begins?

^ I usually bring sunflower seeds and unsweetened iced tea in my purse. Mostly to have something to do with my hands. At home, I’m usually working on some craft project while I’m watching TV. Sitting through a 3 hour movie with nothing to do with my hands would drive me bananas.

@SadieMartinPaul – Don’t get me started!!

People up and down the aisles at concerts, too – you don’t need another beer! And don’t frikkin’ chit-chat during the show – I paid a lot of money to hear these artists perform!

Can’t you get here early and pee before the movie starts? If you have a medical condition and can’t go longer than 2 hours without peeing, maybe you shouldn’t go to the theater – wait until you can watch it at home and pause it when you go pee, without disrupting dozens of other people in the process.

Woah, @ hearkat. I hope I don’t end up in the same theatre as you… I’ve sat til my bladder was actually painful and I couldn’t stand up straight in a theatre but I didn’t want to interrupt anyone else’s enjoyment of Lord of the Rings, which is 3+ hours. My bad for my tiny bladder and ruining your experience, but I literally thought I might rupture. Maybe I should stay home next time, or wear a catheter.

And I never allow myself fatty delicious popcorn, but I enjoy it as a special treat as part of my movie experience. I drink the occasional sugar Fest Icee, too. Sorry to offend everyone. I isn’t that I can’t survive. It’s that I don’t know where else to get ballpark nachos, and they make my matinée memorable. And it’s my fat ass wasting money on a $7 Icee, thanks. At least I have enough decency to take the cup to the trash at the end of my experience. I thought the movie was an awesome afternoon…

sorry, the sugar rush from Divergent wore off and I got a little upset at feeling so judged.

^ Another reason I go on Tuesday mornings.

I choose when I get to go potty, or my kid goes potty, and no one bitches at me for it.

I only go to mid morning or mid afternoon matinees usually. I forgot it was Saturday, opening night for Divergent, and desperate for a date. It was too crowded and anxiety driven for my tastes. But the movie was good and most got lost in it. I did notice people getting up occasionally, but it didn’t impact my enjoyment.

Having bladder issues suck. (I know. I have them.) I never knew I was offending others by walking out of the theater to use the restroom. I guess I’ll just stay home from now on and not enjoy the things that everyone else gets to do just because my bladder doesn’t want to cooperate. :/

Sorry. I didn’t answer the question. Not cleaning up after yourself in a movie theater is the same as not taking your shopping cart back to its proper place. Both tasks take less than 30 seconds to accomplish. Laziness comes to mind when people can’t do these things.

Well, if you know you’re likely to need to pee and don’t mind missing several minutes of the movie you just paid $5–10.00 to see, at least sit in the aisle seat, please.

@hearkat I remember needing to pee desperately during “I Am Legend.” The dog died while I was in the bathroom. That was great timing.

Gotta plan that stuff ahead.

For example: Second Hobbit movie, they invented this elf-chick character. If I needed to leave, I did it whilst they were lingering on her. Literally nothing she was involved in could possibly be important to the story, since she’s not actually part of the story.