Disturbing

I must be doing my job: I’ve finally disturbed someone.

Comments

jodi's picture
jodi on July 29, 2003 - 22:53 Permalink

FYI: ‘Jodi’ who posted on that site was not your favorite sister-in-law. It’s amazing that some people get so fired up about your garbage post, it’s quite amusing actually. Thank you, Peter, for making your site so entertaining! I am always coming back for more (when I should be making journal entries and formatting financial statements..!).

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on July 29, 2003 - 23:13 Permalink

If I can assist anyone in escaping from making journal entries and formatting financial statements, while at the same time disturbing others, I have truly reached some sort of pinacle of life achievement. I wonder how you knew that you are my favourite sister in law?!

jodi's picture
jodi on July 29, 2003 - 23:43 Permalink

Well, Pete, I will tell you it was pretty easy, it only took a little astonomical and astrophysical measuring, calculating interstellar mediums, making use of combinatorics (a little cryptography and coding theory helped). I also whipped up some harmonic analysis just for fun, and then, well, I just sort of guessed after that.

Wayne's picture
Wayne on July 30, 2003 - 01:02 Permalink

Remember the Seinfield episode where Kramer has the idea to open a restaurant where people cook their own food? Maybe we could try it here, and advertise that “It is good for the enviroment” or something. Watch the suckers line up at the door.Patrons could clean up after themselves and leave a good tip just to “feel good”. I mean, think of those poor people who for years, have had to wash dishes and place cutlery at the tables. How horrible a society we have created.

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on July 30, 2003 - 01:04 Permalink

I should add, for completeness sake, that I am one of those people who doesn’t, on principle, take their tray to the trash at Mcdonalds. That said, I haven’t been to a Mcdonalds, save for a brief visit in Spain, in six months, so the chain is free of my trashy scourge.

Ken's picture
Ken on July 30, 2003 - 01:55 Permalink

Empire Theatre’s monopoly explains their onerous policy — a customer service failure guised as moral duty. After all, the stuff on the floor was purchased in the lobby.
As my mother left her movie trash on the floor it was never littering, it is what people have done since the dawn of film.

Those ads before the movie — that’s garbage.

Wayne, that restaurant is called your kitchen, and those poor people are called our mothers.

Suckers line up because it is good for the environment?

Here’s a feel good tip for you — relax.

nathan's picture
nathan on July 30, 2003 - 04:03 Permalink

The disturbing part to me is not the act of leaving garbage on the floor of the theater or on the table in the fast-food place. No, distribing part is that these acts seem to be done as some form of corporate disobedience.

If this is just a way of “sticking to the man”, then fine, have fun smirking everytime you “get ‘em”. But if we all act like the great unwashed masses then how can we ever expect any corporation to treat us differently.

Oliver B's picture
Oliver B on July 30, 2003 - 05:05 Permalink

The disturbing thing to me is the difficulty that people seem to be having seeing that this issue is complicated. Easy moral clarity is disturbing.

Oliver B's picture
Oliver B on July 30, 2003 - 05:23 Permalink

Vis-a-vis littering at McDonald’s, I’d be tempted to make my principle that McDonald’s workers jobs are so crappy and underpaid that cleaning up my mess is something I’d like to do for them—and it’s something I think I could do without fear of reducing the number of McDonalds positions available, because I think there are no designated bussing and employees just have to squeeze it in. I think of bussing as a little like tipping, but cheaper. I’d be interested to hear your philosophy of tipping, Peter. Tipping is just paying again for what you already paid for, and letting the corporation snooker you into paying the workers’ salaries, and yet I imagine you are a regular or even generous tipper. Actually, I don’t see any inconsistency between tipping generously and littering profusely at the movies, because both practices are matters of convention.

Alan's picture
Alan on July 30, 2003 - 12:37 Permalink

It isn’t complicated. You either do or do not and you do or do not in a quiet anonymous manner. With all respect, this is not an imprisoned French farmer’s blog. Similarly, I worked at McPigs in highschool and, again, you either were a drone or you nicked flats of danishes on your way out the door. Not complicated.

Ken's picture
Ken on July 30, 2003 - 16:40 Permalink

What’s on the floor was bought from the lobby.
In Europe they are making manufacturers responsible for the package as well as the product, so they manufacturer must take back both the wrapper, and at the end of the product’s life they must take back what remains.

Transferring responsibility for waste to the producer is one of the best ways to force changes ‘upstream.’ When companies have to worry about what’s going to happen to their product when it becomes waste, that affects all their decisions about product design and material use.”

J's picture
J on July 30, 2003 - 16:45 Permalink

Does that include camouflaging your package, like Tim Horton’s cups, so they blend in with the ditch?

marcus's picture
marcus on July 31, 2003 - 15:15 Permalink

maybe they just shouldn’t sell or allow food at the theatres — why bother eating that crap anyway? there, the littering and sticky floor problems are solved…

http://www.dietbites.com/quiz1…