Do you clean up or organize the used dishes when you are finished eating at a casual restaurant?

I do. I clean up, and stack the dishes as best I can from biggest on bottom to smallest at top.Obviously trying to make the dishes easier to carry. I still tip the same. I just don’t mind helping someone clean up my mess. Even if I don’t have to help. I tip based on service…

In a bar I frequent, I will even take the dishes to the bar, and throw away my trash. I don’t wipe the table, but I clean up major spills….

You know, ironically, I am a slob at home….But work and places that aren’t mine, I put a onus on cleanliness. I see it as being professional I think…

I will only do it when there are too many used plates on the table. If I only order one plate of food then I’ll just leave it on the table for the waitress to pick up. Of course what you do isn’t rude, it’s helpful after all.

Depends on how good and attentive the server is. If he/she is any good, he/she will notice that I am through with my plate(s) and come and pick them up.

If they’re super busy (or lazy), I’ll stack them to make room for something else,

I only dine at h’ardcore restaurants.
Really though, no.
First of all, they take away the dishes after every course, and second, that would just make it harder for them, as they would have to dismantle your pile, and build a new one on the tray anyway.

No, I don’t. I do not stack plates at home, either. Dishes should be cleared one dish each hand.

My mother would throw a fit if plates were stacked.

Yes I do. I do it to help the wait person or buss person that the dishes can be removed. Also, to get them out of the way while I finish my coffee or conversation with another who may not yet be finished with their meal.

Never.

I never stack plates at home or in a restaurant.
At home, I take one plate at a time and rinse each a bit so the clean bottoms of the plates don’t pickup food from the other plates—regardless if I am washing them by hand or in the dishwasher.
When I am in a restaurant, I just let the waiters do their job. I don’t want to confuse the whole operation and want them away from my table as soon as possible.
What you do is not rude, but it is not necessary either. When I see people doing that in restaurants, I think that they are making it difficult to the waiter or that they are somehow ruining the eating-out experience.

Never and have not seen anyone do it in my lifetime.
On the other hand, I had a best friend who would take her napkin and wipe down the table after eating. lol That is, in the area in which she was eating.
Not that I can compare, of course, but I had to smile picturing Princess Diana stacking her dishes after eating out. lol

I do exactly as I do at home which is two short, crisp claps of the hand to summon the staff.
If they are prompt & clear my table with the minimum of fuss they either receive a small tip or are not fired, depending of course if i’m dining out or indeed at home.
I know of no other way you see.

I’ve been told that restaurant servers don’t want us to stack our plates:

- It’s the server’s job to clear tableware. If someone passing through your workplace started doing your job, and likely doing it badly, you wouldn’t be pleased.

- The server knows how to remove tableware items so that they don’t tilt, tumble, and crash. When people make their own piles of dishes, gravity’s effects are hit-or-miss.

- A server who takes pride in his/her professionalism would never stack plates at the table, something that’s aesthetically unappealing, and could be in trouble if a customer makes him/her appear to have done so.

I do it. I even go as far as scraping all the residue from the plates onto a single plate and put that one on the top of the stack. And I stick all the silverware in a cup.

@johnpowell Wow. That’s hard core. GA.

I lived with a waitress that worked at IHOP. Before that I was pretty solid in tipping around 15%. After living with her and hearing all the shit she went through I now tip 50% if I am at a place like Dennys or IHOP. The job is cruel.

I thought cleaning theaters was bad. I would say only about 20% of people in theaters actually clean up after themselves. I don’t think most people realize in a theater there is a team of people that are tasked with cleaning it between each showing.

Our biggest theater was 580 seats. If it was full we would roll in with 6 55 Gallon garbage cans and two leaf blowers. About four cans were filled with popcorn tubs and soda cups and candy boxes. Then we would use leaf blowers and run down each row blowing the random stuff to the front. That was usually two buckets.

And then we have idiots that left their “chew cup” on the floor and you would accidentally kick it over and you could feel the warm spit saturate your sock. If you wear a cowboy hat consider leaving it in your truck before entering a theater. It is very likely something bad will happen to your drink/popcorn.

But we made more from the stuff that falls out of your pocket while watching a movie then we got in hourly wages. My roommate worked there too. I would hear a coin getting blown around from the leaf blower and I would go to chase it and he would scream “that is just pennies” and he would also scream out “silver”. It was pretty common to find bills and wallets/purses.

This thread is really interesting. I just feel more comfortable cleaning up after myself. It is instinctive for me. Leaving a mess behind does not feel right.
I also look at my area when as I am leaving to make sure I left nothing behind. It’s been years since I had little kids but old habits die hard.

@johnpowell I never leave a mess in a public place. I just don’t. You know that spotless seat in the 10th row 5th from the left? That was mine.

I always do. I’ve never had a wait person not be happy that I’ve done so. Maybe I just eat at cheap joints where the wait staff doesn’t take pride in their work, they just need a fucking paycheck and every little bit helps.

Yes, I stack them according to size, and make sure all the napkins are wadded up and put together. I don’t stack all the dishes together, or else they would be too heavy to carry. I’ve worked in restaurants, so I know how things need to be stacked for easy pickup and cleanup. I also move the stacks closer to the edge of the table where the server will be picking them up so they don’t have to lean way across the table to gather them up. I put all the silverware on a plate together so it takes less time to gather them all together. Then I use a clean napkin to wipe up any spills or crumbs.

That way, all the server needs to do is load the dishes into a bussing pan, and wipe the table down with a clean cloth.

I don’t do that at upper scale restaurants, because there is usually a table cloth, but I still try to conglomerate the dishes to make it a little easier and quicker for the bussing staff. It sickens me to see the horrific messes that some people make, even leaving spills and food all over the floor (when they should have alerted the servers at the time of the accident).

@LuckyGuy :: One of my favorite lines from the band that I grew up to and really shaped how I see the world is:

So leave your mark on our world by leaving no mark at all.

99% will hate the music but here is the song.

@johnpowell One of the mantras of “outdoorsing” is “Take only photos, leave only footprints.”
Thanks for the lyrics. As for the song, I’m definitely in the 99%. ;-)

@Kardamom I do the same. I hope that does not mean we are in the OCD club. I just think it is being helpful and polite.

I do. I started doing after I started waitress. It’s helpful to them. It also signals that the dishes are ready to be picked up.
I have never heard of a restaurant that doesn’t stack the dishes. So if you have a table of twenty the waitress has to make 10 trips (or more) just to clear the table?

I also scrape left over food on to one big plate and put that on top. I always appreciated people who did that for me when I was waitressing. It also allows the staff to get in and out more quickly so we can resume our conversation.

@Dutchess_III I have been at banquets with hundreds of people at tables of ten or 12, and a platoon of staff, and never seen the dirty dishes stacked. They place them on the same large trays they brought out upon.