# AngryIrishLass, clean up the shit yourself, please. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 17, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829 "2007-11-17T14:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/21 "2007-11-17T15:52:02Z")
Also, I bet this kind of shit (no pun intended) happens all the time. Kids are grimy, and I’ve always wondered what nastiness lurks in those tubes. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/22 "2007-11-17T16:07:59Z")
Let’s see–a woman goes into the hamster maze at a fast food restaurant, her kid loses his diaper in one of the covered slides and she up and leaves? No word, no apology, no nothing? That’s bullshit. At the VERY minimum, she should have alerted the staff to it. Minimum. And all those parents who came after her and their kids used that slide–nice vector of infection there. If I were one of those parents I would be angry indeed --and it would McDonald’s that would (unfairly) face that anger. She not only left shit for someone else to clean up, she doesn’t even stick around to take responsibility for it–she leaves laughing with her kids. Real class act. Feces in a public place is a public health hazard. I’m appalled, as a mom, as a nurse and as a person that she didn’t alert the staff to the diaper OR attempt to clean it up herself. One of my kids had an accident in the library during potty training. Peed all over the carpet. I couldn’t clean that up, but I faced the Youth Librarian with apologies and showed her the spot. They got the disinfectant etc right away–and thanked me for telling them before the pee began to smell. you just don’t leave your shit for others to clean up–not if you’re of sound mind and able bodied. She should have told the manager or a worker at the very least. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/23 "2007-11-17T16:08:02Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] Actually, the kids at McDonald’s are paid to clean toilets. Not in a pub, but in an … ahem… “family restaurant”. The broken glass and needles might not be there, but the dozens of shitting kids per day are, and as a parent, you’d understand that little ones have some rather creative ways of defecating. Actually, I’d probably prefer the pub. 😃 [/QUOTE] Having worked at both McDonalds and at a bar, I’d also rather have to clean up the puke and whatnot of a thousand 21st birthday parties than clean the bathroom at McD’s ever again. There’s just a special something that happens to those who eat fried stuff and lousy meat three or four times a day that causes extinction level events to occur in the bathroom on the measure of about one per hour per gender. Every person you see in the building with a uniform on has had to do it as part of “Lobby duty” which includes cleaning tables, emptying garbage, sweeping, and scouring liquid feces and plucking tampons and draining pools of Hi-C orange lavaburst generated urine. Ours didn’t have a playland (thank god) but when McD’s corporate opened Discovery Zone back in the early 90’s some of us were shuttled over to work and I’m not even going to get into what hundreds of dirty damned children can do do a “ball jump” in a single afternoon. Shudder. So anyway, the people at McD’s aren’t exactly going to freak out over some baby poop on the playground. Trust me. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/24 "2007-11-17T16:15:21Z")
[QUOTE=Renee] Also, I bet this kind of shit (no pun intended) happens all the time. Kids are grimy, and I’ve always wondered what nastiness lurks in those tubes. [/QUOTE] That’s right. I like kids, but I must admit they are most decidedly unclean little creatures, and even if you’re not a parent, if you get a job in a place like that, you accept the risks. Wiping down the slide with the “clean side” of an already soiled diaper is not CLEANING the thing. You need a professional janitor to get in there and: 1. Cordon off the area. 2. Remove, bag, and safely dispose of solids. 3. Remove any visible stains, and safely dispose of equipment you used to do this. 4. Apply industrial strength disinfecting procedures. 5. Diarise the event with the relevant paperwork. 6. Reopen the area to public use. Even with the best of intentions, a mum with two small kids, one of whom has just shat itself, isn’t going to be able to do that. She might be able to do a dodgy, swift clean up of the obvious evidence, but from an e coli point of view, would you want your kids next on the slide? ---
**Author:** ![Marienee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Marienee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marienee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/25 "2007-11-17T16:16:44Z")
My experience has been that the people who work at McDonald’s will not let you clean up the inside of a play structure. Even if you fit, and even if you have snagged cleaning supplies from the cleaning cart. I have not made a scientific survey, you understand. But I have gone in to remove the other kids and to clean up when my niece barfed inside one, while my sister cleaned up the child and took care of her. I am about the size of your average 11 year old kid so I fit nicely. I was summarily ordered out by the nice employees who cleaned it up with minimum of fuss and let all the kids back in. My guess is that this is what happened right after her kids informed the entire restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![Resistance\_is\_Character-Formin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/90db22/32.png) [@Resistance\_is\_Character-Formin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Resistance_is_Character-Formin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/26 "2007-11-17T16:19:16Z")
I’m 6’6" and 300 lbs. and I’ve had to climb up into the McDonald’s play area to retrieve stubborn toddlers, it’s a tight fit but not impossible. Our local McDonald’s has a separate area for children under the age of 3, 2 year olds are not supposed to be in the big structure for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/27 "2007-11-17T16:24:30Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Just because you like to mock the phrase doesn’t mean it’s always inappropriate. [/QUOTE] I do like to mock. I like to mock idiots. And mocking you is definitely not inappropriate here. All I am asking for is a little bit of perspective. It’s a dirty diaper on a slide. Let’s go to the tape… > [@AngryIrishLass](#): > > took off his poopy diaper way up in the nether region of the thing. AngryKid #1 and Cousin #1, between fits of laughter, were nice enough to announce it to everyone in the restaurant. I can’t honestly be the only one to read that, can I? By the way, that’s mocking you, it’s not clever, I admit, but it’s so damn simple. You’re a judgmental idiot. The kids announced it! The restaurant knew! Everybody saw! That’s why she was embarrassed. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/28 "2007-11-17T16:30:45Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Let’s see–a woman goes into the hamster maze at a fast food restaurant, her kid loses his diaper in one of the covered slides and she up and leaves? No word, no apology, no nothing? [/QUOTE] No, you don’t see. Everybody _else_ in the restaurant saw… They saw the diaper and they saw what I can oly imagine was an “oh, shit!” expression on her face. That’s the point!!! Please people, don’t rush to judgement. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/29 "2007-11-17T16:32:13Z")
[QUOTE=Marienee] My experience has been that the people who work at McDonald’s will not let you clean up the inside of a play structure. Even if you fit, and even if you have snagged cleaning supplies from the cleaning cart. I have not made a scientific survey, you understand. But I have gone in to remove the other kids and to clean up when my niece barfed inside one, while my sister cleaned up the child and took care of her. I am about the size of your average 11 year old kid so I fit nicely. I was summarily ordered out by the nice employees who cleaned it up with minimum of fuss and let all the kids back in. My guess is that this is what happened right after her kids informed the entire restaurant. [/QUOTE] And I have nothing but kudos for you. Because, see, you \*tried \*to clean up your own (or your niece’s own) mess. The fact that they’d rather do it is great, and, y’know, phew for you! But to not even bother to try - to not ask, to not even _tell anyone_ (anyone who could do anything about it) that there’s a mess to be cleaned up? That’s the part I’m having issues with. [QUOTE=A Monkey With a Gun] I do like to mock. I like to mock idiots. And mocking you is definitely not inappropriate here. All I am asking for is a little bit of perspective. [/QUOTE] Right, because deadly diseases are so funny. I’m sure McDonald’s brass would find it just hilarious if an e.coli outbreak happened in one of their restaurants because of the slide. They’d just be tickled to recall several thousand tons of perfectly good meat under suspicion. They’d delight in the legal fees. I don’t care who the children told. In her story, \*she \*didn’t ensure that someone who could do anything about it knew about it. She didn’t offer to clean up her own mess. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/30 "2007-11-17T16:37:34Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I’m sure McDonald’s brass would find it just hilarious if an e.coli outbreak happened in one of their restaurants because of the slide. [/QUOTE] They cleaned it up!!! ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/31 "2007-11-17T16:45:32Z")
I really don’t think there was enough information in the post to be able to judge. I don’t see any point in yelling about it when for all we know, she did do all she could, and just didn’t see all that information as relevant to the actual point of the thread. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/32 "2007-11-17T16:48:47Z")
**WhyNot** , You know what? I give up. If you can’t honestly get it through your head that a two year old child just might leave feces on a playground, and that other kids might laugh at the scatological misstep, and they might announced it to the entire place, _and_ that the mother of said two year old tyke just _might_ be embarrassed when some poor kid working there has to clean it up ,… well, you’re hopeless. Enjoy your rage against a mother who sure as hell doesn’t deserve it. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/33 "2007-11-17T16:56:15Z")
Furthermore, we can’t judge some other things. We don’t know how large the mess was, we don’t know how soon the staff rushed out there with janatorial gear (I’m guessing immediately, if the whole restaurant was hearing about it), and in either case, going up and cleaning up poo with some diaper wipes does not actually properly clean the mess. From the restaurant’s POV, it might be well-intentioned, but it’s totally ineffective and just delays the actual real cleaning. So, again, I don’t think it’s worth getting het up over. We know almost nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/34 "2007-11-17T16:59:52Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I don’t care who the children told. In her story, \*she \*didn’t ensure that someone who could do anything about it knew about it. She didn’t offer to clean up her own mess. [/QUOTE] You don’t know any of that. You’ve made an assumption, and based solely on that, you’re acting like a judgmental twat. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/35 "2007-11-17T17:08:58Z")
Wow. In a lot of places, you can be fined for not cleaning up after your dog, outside. She couldn’t be arsed to clean up after her child, in a restaurant? That’s just nasty. ---
**Author:** ![Resistance\_is\_Character-Formin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/90db22/32.png) [@Resistance\_is\_Character-Formin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Resistance_is_Character-Formin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/36 "2007-11-17T17:12:21Z")
I was wrong about the PlayPlace being for 3 and up, it’s for 4 and up. I guess I’ve been breaking the rules by letting my 3 year old play in there, but at least he’s potty trained. ---
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/37 "2007-11-17T17:21:01Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] You don’t know any of that. You’ve made an assumption, and based solely on that, you’re acting like a judgmental twat. [/QUOTE] Fuck you, QED. WTF is wrong with you? The diaper ditcher certainly made it clear that she fled the restaurant and left the shit there. Who are you trying to gain favor with this month? ---
**Author:** ![Resistance\_is\_Character-Formin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/90db22/32.png) [@Resistance\_is\_Character-Formin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Resistance_is_Character-Formin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/38 "2007-11-17T17:27:11Z")
I think she screwed up two ways. 1. Letting a two-year old in diapers play in an area intended for older children. Not only is it breaking the rules and dangerous, it flies in the face of common sense to let a child that young play in a place that is barely accessible to adults. 2. Not informing the staff of the restaurant as soon as she became aware. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/39 "2007-11-17T17:27:59Z")
[QUOTE=zuma] The diaper ditcher certainly made it clear that she fled the restaurant and left the shit there. [/QUOTE] Wanna point out where explicitly she admits she didn’t inform any of the restaurant staff of the incident and failed to offer to clean it up? She may, in fact, _have_ done both of those things, and simply left it out of her post for the sake of brevity. Or she may, as you ASSume, simply ran out and left it to the staff to handle. You don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829/40 "2007-11-17T17:28:18Z")
[QUOTE=zuma] If we’re going to play the game where a specialized hazmat team is needed to clean up the waste, at least alert the McDonalds homeland security team that a biological attack has happened, instead of fleeing. [/QUOTE] and > [@zuma](#): > > Sounds to me like she rushed everyone out of there and let the minimum wage kid clean it up while other parents let their kids slide down this thing. and > [@eleanorrigby](#): > > Let’s see–a woman goes into the hamster maze at a fast food restaurant, her kid loses his diaper in one of the covered slides and she up and leaves? No word, no apology, no nothing? Can i just ask a question here? After reading **AngryIrishLass** ’s description of these events, how do you come to the conclusion that she just fled? What makes you think that “she rushed everyone out of there”? How do you know she “ups and leaves”? Here is the complete description of the event, as provided by the only Doper who was there to witness it: > [@AngryIrishLass](#): > > There was that time that AngryKid #2, at the age of 2, was playing in the McDonald’s indoor slide thingie and took off his poopy diaper way up in the nether region of the thing. AngryKid #1 and Cousin #1, between fits of laughter, were nice enough to announce it to everyone in the restaurant. #2 is now 8, and I still refuse to go to that particular McDonald’s. I hope the poor employee who had to crawl up there and retrieve it, let alone clean the entire thing (#2 was bringing it down to throw away, so it traveled a bit of distance) got hazardous duty pay. All this tells us is: 1. Her kids took off his shitty daiper in the play equipment. 2. The kid’s sibling and cousin announced the fact to the entire restaurant. 3. It was cleaned up by an employee. 4. **AngryIrishLass** still won’t go back to that particular McDonald’s. Nowhere are we told that **AngryIrishLass** simply fled without telling anyone. Nowhere are we told that she blithely allowed other people’s children to continue sliding down the slide. For all we know, she might have tried to get kids to stop using it, and might also have gone up to the manager, told him what happened, and apologized profusely. Hell, for all we know she might have actually _tried_ to clean it up herself. There’s not a single thing in that story to contradict such an interpretation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angryirishlass-clean-up-the-shit-yourself-please/426829.md?page=3)