People Who Don't Clean Up After Themselves

[boringscreenname]

People who don't clean up after themselves drive me crazy. And I have to deal with it at work and home (but the kids get a pass... for now!) Anyway my husband is guilty of not picking up after himself. He leaves his dirty clothes and towels everywhere but in the damn hamper. He also has an annoying habit of not putting trash in the trash can, but instead on the table beside the trash can.

Then we have my co-workers. I swear not a single one of them understands how to take out the trash. We have one small trashcan in our office, and it never gets taken out. People love to use it to throw all their stuff away, but heaven forbid they actually remove the bag, throw it in the dumpster and put in a clean bag.

Oh and then tonight I cleaned out the microwave in our office. I heated up some food and it spilled so I took the glass plate out, and brought it to the bathroom and scrubbed it down. It had not been cleaned in months (probably not since the last time I did it). There was nasty brown stuff literally caked on it. Then I took some wet paper towels back to the office and wiped down the rest of it. There were still chunks of food in the freaking thing. It really annoyed me because we recently moved offices, so obviously someone had to unplug the microwave and move it to our new office, then set it up on a cart and plugged it back in, but couldn't be bothered to clean it. At most it took me 10 minutes to clean it. I'm seriously tempted to post a note on the thing like Pam did on The Office. http://macolabels.com/wordpress/?p=262

Then there's the issue of our refrigerator. We have one of those little fridges with a tiny freezer. The freezer has so much ice built up on it, you almost can't shut the refrigerator door. It is ridiculous there is literally several inches of ice/frost built up on the thing, yet no one will defrost it. I would do it myself but I don't think I can lift the thing, then haul it outside to defrost, haul it back upstairs and plug it back in. Besides I just cleaned the microwave so I'll be damned if I'm going to defrost the freezer now too.

[Greenday]

When I woke up the day of graduation for college, it was maybe 30 minutes before my family (mom, stepdad, dad, sister, grandmother, two aunts, and an uncle) was getting there. I open my door to go to the bathroom for a quick shower and the living room was trashed. All my roommates major stuff was gone, but there was craploads of trash all over and none of it was mine. Not one damn bit. I reported it to the residential director of the apartments along with the giant blue paint stain from when they were trying to paint wooden paddles for their frat. When I got back from graduation to grab the last of my stuff, two guys from their frat were cleaning up. Really? So fucking lazy that they had to make two underclassmen do all their cleaning?

Freshman year, I went home for a long weekend (Thurs-Sun) and told my roommate that when I came back, a couple relatives were stopping by to see the college. He said he'd make sure the room was clean for when I got back. My grandmother and I were the first into my room. It was trashed. Garbage everywhere. Open pizza boxes sitting around. My bed was made different than I make it so it was obvious someone slept in it. I saw one of his friends in the hall and stopped him and asked him wth happened. He said that my roommate had a few people over Thursday night. Thursday night!? You have to be shitting me? Wtf was he doing all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning that he couldn't spend five minutes cleaning? Plus, he could have just made his friends pick up after themselves Friday morning and it would have been done in a minute or less.

[Boozy]

Then we have my co-workers. I swear not a single one of them understands how to take out the trash. We have one small trashcan in our office, and it never gets taken out. People love to use it to throw all their stuff away, but heaven forbid they actually remove the bag, throw it in the dumpster and put in a clean bag.

You should be thankful the trash gets into the can at all. I have picked up god-knows-how-many used tissues and napkins from the till area after a shift change.

Used. Tissues.

Oh, and have I mentioned that the trash can is located directly beneath the cash register? About a foot away from where I'm finding all this garbage.

At least it puts things in perspective for me at home. When Mr. Boozy's soda can doesn't make it to the recycling bin right away, it's not a big deal. He's not sprinkling diseased tissues around.

[DrFaroohk]

I've known people who were too extreme on the clean-up routine. Go to make a cup of coffee - pour the coffee, go grab the milk, put a little milk in, set the milk on the counter while I reach for the sugar and -

"Hey, are you gonna leave that milk out all day!? I shouldn't have to clean up after you!"

Those are the people I deliberately leave messes for.

[Ree]

I've known people who were too extreme on the clean-up routine. <snip>
Those are the people I deliberately leave messes for.

That type of behaviour just comes across as contrary, passive aggressive and dickish. (Before you claim I am attacking you personally, let me clarify that I am referring to the behaviour and I am not making any parallels between that and you as a person.)

If you had planned all along to clean up after yourself, then what purpose does it serve to leave a mess just because someone reminded you to be sure and clean up?

To me, it's self-defeating, because the next time, they will remember the mess and most certainly nag you. If you just do what you have planned, and clean your mess, then maybe the reminders will stop.

[blas87]

I deal with messy people both at work and in my personal life.

Second shifters.....I am not trying to generalize, but the ones that work where I do are just fucking pigs when it comes to balls of paper and tissues everywhere! I spend the first ten minutes of my shift reorganizing the work area because it's just a mess, and my boss hates messes. She knows we don't do it, but if we don't clean up, we'll get in trouble. It sucks that way.

I mean, they don't even aim for the garbage with the papers. There are slips or balls of wadded up paper all over by each machine. The tools are never where they belong. The paperwork for the order on the machine is strewn about, out of its packet. It doesn't have to be that way. You only need the packet for what you are doing, NOT THE ENTIRE DAMN THING. The paperwork for us keeping track of what tools we use is also always strewn about and half the time they don't even keep track of what they do (MAJOR problem, we get audited on stuff like that! That's an instant fail!).

Then of course, there's my boyfriend the pig. His bedroom is a disaster, and I personally don't even want him over here because he makes no effort to clean up after himself. We finish eating, he just leaves the plates sit. NO. He uses my bathroom, he wads up the towel after washing his hands, and throws it next to the sink, which of course, there's a huge puddle of water now on the counter because he shook his hands like a dog shakes when they are wet. He gets toothpaste all over the sink. His brother got toothpaste on the CEILING at their house!

In his bathroom, he doesn't wash away the little hairs from shaving. He, his brother, and his dad leave their dirty boxers IN THE BATHROOM on the FLOOR! Dirty clothes go in the fucking hamper!!!!!!!!

My parents are pretty bad with their clean clothes....they just leave them folded up (at least they are folded, but still) piling up and up and up in several laundry baskets on the floor until they run out of clean clothes upstairs to wear. I think it makes their clothes stink to stay in the basement like that, since they have a traditional dungeon type unfinished basement with concrete floors.

My brother is a slob. His old bedroom was a biohazard.

Edit to add: I'm not perfect by any means. I don't dust and I hardly ever vacuum. I've left clean air-dry clothes on my bed and sofa for days. Sometimes I use the same towels for a week. But nothing is ever out of place or extremely disgusting or piggish here.

[MadMike]

One of my ex's many faults was that she never picked up after herself. It was not uncommon for me to get on the computer and find one of her dirty dishes on the desk from when she had some food earlier in the day. And of course, if I'd ask her to put her dishes in the sink when she was done, she'd snap at me, "I'm not your slave!" Not sure what the connection is between slavery and picking up after yourself.

She'd also leave a mess of clothes on the floor of the bedroom when she got dressed. She'd start yanking stuff out of the dresser and toss it in the floor until she found what she wanted to wear, and just leave everything else on the floor. Then she'd have the nerve to yell at me if I accidentally walked on it. When I pointed out that she left her clothes where people normally walk, I'm sure I got called an asshole or something like that. You know, the cry of the person who's lost the argument, or doesn't have an argument to begin with.

I am so glad I'm not with her anymore.

[Andara Bledin]

And of course, if I'd ask her to put her dishes in the sink when she was done, she'd snap at me, "I'm not your slave!"

That's when you come back with, "I'm not your slave, either, so pick up after yourself."

She sounds like a real prize, actually. Glad she's out the door, no matter how that happened.

^-.-^

[DrFaroohk]

That type of behaviour just comes across as contrary, passive aggressive and dickish.

It probably is all of those things, but so was that person's behavior. The fact is there was no mess and they were reminding me of a non-existant mess because they wanted to feel good about themselves. Not because they cared about the mess. They just wanted a personal boost. Best way to get a cheap, easy personal boost? Find something about someone else to criticize. even before they've done it. I refuse to tolerate such behavior.

So when it was my original intent to put away the milk, I shall now do no such thing because they were being a dick, so I'll be a dick too, and I'm better at it than most people. Maybe when the bullshit ego-boosts at my expense stop, we'll talk reasonably.

[guywithashovel]

Apparently, here at work we have a hard time keeping the microwave clean. I've heard the admin assistant rant about that. However, it's not just the staff and faculty that use it. The students also use it. It's in the student lounge, and everyone is supposed to share it (small campus). I don't use it that often, though, so I wouldn't know if the problem has been solved. When lunch time rolls around, the Chipotle up the street and the Subway around the corner often start calling my name, so I usually do that instead of eating in. I've been known to pack myself something only to eat out during lunch because one of the restaurants sounds too good to pass up.

[telecom_goddess]

Oh don't get me started.....

The kids are horrible. They never clean up after themselves in the kitchen except once in a while...they leave dishes in the sink when the dishwasher is inches away. They leave food crumbs and sticky shit on the counter instead of wiping it down (I had to leave a note on the cupboard to NOT DO THAT cause it makes the already bad ant problem even worse). The bits of plastic that come off the lids of gallons of milk or loaves of bread? They NEVER FUCKING MAKE IT TO THE GARBAGE! They get left on the counters every single time.

And laundry...omfg. I believe in using towels for one week then I wash and dry them. One daughter uses a new set of towels every single day, and she was leaving them on the bathroom floor every day until her sister told her to stop it, now they pile up dirty in her room. My bf can't seem to carry his laundry five feet to the clothes basket I have sitting there for that kind of thing, and they end up on the floor. He also leaves every dirty dish and glass on the coffee table in the living room instead of getting them in the goddamn sink let alone dishwasher.

Oh and he leaves his leather jackets hung up on my kitchen chairs..which I hate cause there is a coat closet with hangers to put it in. Plus he leaves his big biker boots in the dining room when they should be in the closet. I picked up his boots to put the damn things away the other day and he started to say..."hey I'm going to need those in the morning" I told him yup and they were going in the closet. I get my shoes out of the closet every single day and it doesn't kill ME!

It's like they are unwilling to make any effort to maintain shit. Today I found the hallway bathroom wastebasket overflowing onto the floor....would it kill them to take out the bag and put in a new one? Really?

If I didn't correct all this crap every day I shudder to think what my house would look like. But because I maintain everything the weekly deep clean doesn't really take that long.

[Ree]

Maybe when the bullshit ego-boosts at my expense stop, we'll talk reasonably.

I'm still thinking you take it too personally.

If I am always cleaning up after other people, regardless of who the person is, then I am really going to be more inclined to remind everyone and anyone to clean up.

It has nothing to do with me trying to prove I'm better, nor is it a comment that I think they are a slob and too stupid to clean it up on their own.
It is simply not giving anyone the benefit of the doubt and assuming they will clean up on their own, based on prior experience of having to clean someone else's mess.

By taking it personally and leaving the mess out of spite, you are cutting off your nose to spite your face, and only confirming to them that they are justified in reminding you.

[blas87]

I have to agree with Ree.

I don't know you personally, and I'm not judging you, but I usually drop reminders to my bf every time he comes over to not slam the toilet lid down, leave the lid open, do not leave a mess in the sink, and he just does it anyway to annoy me, or because he doesn't care. It may be hurting me in the sense that I always end up having to put the lid back up or clean off the counter, but he's just being a fucker for doing it despite being told not to.

[DrFaroohk]

I should have been more clear. My fault....I only take it personally when it IS personal. I'm very very perceptive with people and I can almost always tell what they're up to. If someone says "Hey man be careful of that and don't forget to...." then I don't normally have a problem with it. but when I can detect that tone and intent to not be generally helpful, but to be a dick, that's when the claws come out.

[blas87]

I get what you meant originally the first page, considering my parents STILL tell me to "be careful" when pouring milk into cereal. Like I'm still a kid or something. But they aren't doing it to have one up on me or feel better about themselves, they keep forgetting that they don't have kids anymore, they have grown adult children. My parents even remind me to keep gas in my car and not lose my phone and other ridiculous nonsense, but I don't analyze it like that, it's just that they are hopelessly devoted parents.