Fast Food Culture

I had an interesting water-cooler chat with a colleague this afternoon. Comfortably enthroned in our seats and in air-conditioned comfort, we started off chatting about courtesy, good manners and etiquette. I shared my earlier encounter with a discourteous person - not rude, though - and we agreed that this traditional and conservative (read: old and outdated) value is now so scarcely practised in our society.
Our lively chat took us to the fast-food culture in MacDonald's and KFC - not that it doesn't occur at Long John Silver or other fast-food outlets. I shared that many diners in Singapore do not deposit their leftovers in the bins provided nor return the trays to their assigned locations. I noted that there were letters in the Straits Times forum highlighting this anomaly, and that in western countries, the fast-food culture expects that the diners do their part; they do, of course.

My colleague shared that she used to return the tray and deposit the leftovers in the bin but stopped this practice when a family member told her that this was a bad practice because, if everyone of us did what the westerns did in their fast-food outlets, MacDonald's and KFC would employ fewer workers, and as a result, less people would find employment. Good-naturedly, we laughed. She asked whether patrons at hawker centres or food courts should therefore return their plates, utensils and leftovers to the proper receptacles?

To this, I explained that Singapore's food courts have a very different culture: there are no quick-deposit bins or tray centres but an army of lowly-paid cleaners diligently scour the endless rows of tables and systematically clear the crockery and utensils, and wiping the table 'clean' with a piece of dirty rag.

So, really, is there a need for us to clear our leftovers and table then?

However, my point is, when dining in a fast-food outlet, it is expected that we should return our trays and leftovers where they belong.