The World is My Trashcan

Trash.  Seems like it's everywhere these days.  And by everywhere, I really mean on the floors of the cafeteria, in the desks of the classrooms and in the halls of the school. 

I don't know when things changed, but somehow it has become socially acceptable to just dump your trash anywhere.  And when you actually call people out on it, they look at you like you've done something wrong.

Example - I was on cafeteria duty today (on a side note, I think everyone who has ever said teachers have it easy should have to do a week of cafe duty) and I was once again floored by the amount of garbage I saw.  Garbage left behind on the tables by kids.  Garbage dumped on the floor under the tables by kids.  And my personal favourite, garbage on the floor next to the trashcan.  Who does that?  Seriously?

But it's not just the garbage that bothers me.  It's the reaction I get when I ask people to pick their garbage up.  Somehow they manage to turn a simple, reasonable request into a fight.  Rather than taking responsibility and admitting they were wrong, these kids will fight tooth and nail not to have to pick up their own trash.

"It's not mine!" - no, you just happened to be eating your lunch right in front of a big pile of garbage; oh and conveniently managed to not create any garbage of your own.

"It was there when I got here!" - So what, you saw a table full of garbage and you thought, "Hey, perfect spot to each lunch!"?

"My friend left it behind!" - Next time don't let your friend leave without throwing his garbage away.  Otherwise get some better friends.

"It's the custodian's job to clean that up." - This one I don't even have a smartass answer for because it pisses me off so much.  The custodians are busy enough trying to maintain the school, they are not there to pick up after you.  It's the police's job to arrest you, so does that mean it's okay to break the law?

I just don't understand where this attitude comes from, or how they really don't see what they are doing as wrong.  I just know that if I ever have children, they will learn really quickly that it is no one's job but their own to clean up after themselves.

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