# Whose responsibility to clean up? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294 "2011-06-29T18:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bpelta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Bpelta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bpelta)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/1 "2011-06-29T18:36:53Z")
You live in an apartment with roommates; you live on the lower level and they live on the upper level. You ask one of them to come down to tell him he owes you money for the gas bill, as you’re the one responsible for it. As you wait for him in the kitchen, his china bowl falls off the counter-top and breaks. You didn’t touch it; you weren’t even near it. Who should clean it up? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/2 "2011-06-29T18:38:57Z")
I’d just leave it. Let it serve as a warning to the others. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/3 "2011-06-29T18:41:25Z")
Are you seriously asking whose job it is to pick up broken pieces of ceramic off the floor? How about the person closest to it when it happens? That’s what an adult would do. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/4 "2011-06-29T18:42:43Z")
How did it fall - just teetering on the edge and finally slipped over? I’d say you should probably clean it up - you’re just waiting in there anyway. ETA: Yeah, I was wondering what the big deal was, too - just sweep it up and be done with it. ---
**Author:** ![Bpelta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Bpelta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bpelta)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/5 "2011-06-29T18:44:20Z")
Yeah, teetering on the edge. He told me to clean it up and drove off. I swept it up already. I was just wondering, on a theoretical ethical level if he was obliged since he left it on the edge… ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/6 "2011-06-29T18:46:13Z")
If you were the only person in the kitchen when it fell, who else but you should clean it up? (Unless there were some outside agent that caused the fall, e.g., kids playing football outside and sending a ball through the open window. I assume this did not happen.) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/7 "2011-06-29T18:48:11Z")
Time to find separate accommodations. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/8 "2011-06-29T18:54:00Z")
People like you are the reason I live alone…in solitary confinement…for beating my roomate to death. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/9 "2011-06-29T18:57:29Z")
At least it wasn’t [a bong.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=591825) ---
**Author:** ![Bpelta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Bpelta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bpelta)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/10 "2011-06-29T19:02:03Z")
Okay, guess the consensus is that it was my responsibility to clean it up. I wasn’t mainly thinking about me – again, I did clean it up right after we finished talking – but whether or not when he came down and I mentioned that it had just randomly fallen that he ought to have helped out or something. Guess not… ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/11 "2011-06-29T19:03:52Z")
Something breaks when a person observes it, generally it should be that person’s responsibility to basically mitigate damage, prevent further mess and potential injury within reason. This could be done not only by cleaning it up but could be secure the area to prevent others from entering or by delegating to others to clean. Now your friend might have offered to help, though from his perspective you would be the likely candidate since it broke on your watch and he may feel you are obligated from that perspective. So you really can’t assign blame to him as it would be a potential misunderstanding on his part that you may be at fault. And after all he is out the bowl. It is also a job that really does not require more then one person to do, so even if he helped it wouldn’t have made much difference, if it was a bigger mess where 2 or more people could make it easier then the help should have been offered if circumstances allow. If there is a issue where you seem to be the one constantly cleaning up, that is a separate issue and IMHO something you need to explore within yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/12 "2011-06-29T19:05:42Z")
It’s not that it’s anyone’s responsibility in particular. It’s just that it is such a trivial matter that ethical considerations don’t attach. Having said that, if he had ordered me to clean it up, we would probably have had to have a heart to heart talk about who the fuck he thinks he is. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/13 "2011-06-29T19:38:29Z")
> [@Bpelta](#): > > Yeah, teetering on the edge. > He told me to clean it up and drove off. I swept it up already. I was just wondering, on a theoretical ethical level if he was obliged since he left it on the edge… There’s no such thing as a “theoretical ethical level.” There’s also no such thing as a “responsibility” or “obligation” in this scenario. If I were you, I would sweep it up while waiting for him. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/14 "2011-06-29T22:17:30Z")
I don’t care even slightly about the bowl. It takes seconds, he probably thinks you broke it anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’d be stabbing him with the pointy fragments, though, if he “\*\*told \*\*me to clean it up”. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/15 "2011-06-29T22:21:35Z")
Upon hearing more details, I can see where the question is coming from. I think the better question, though, is what the hell is wrong with your roommate? Does he order you around often? ---
**Author:** ![Bpelta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Bpelta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bpelta)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/16 "2011-06-29T23:00:49Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Upon hearing more details, I can see where the question is coming from. I think the better question, though, is what the hell is wrong with your roommate? Does he order you around often? Naw, guess I was just a bit frustrated after he told me what to do like that when it was his bowl. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/17 "2011-06-30T00:06:46Z")
Fuck him in the face with the broken ceramic [pronouned SERamic]. Who cares what that shit thinks about anything? If you’re a glutton for funishment, let him finish on your face, too. Buy him a new bowl, fuck his face with it, and then tell him to not be an assweed with your rent. Punctuate ad lib. with “bitch.” ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/18 "2011-06-30T00:20:27Z")
Yeah, and it’s too bad he didn’t witness the bowl falling all by itself and breaking, because then you could say, “I made that happen, with my mind. And if you don’t pay this gas bill right now, the other dishes are next.” And then point at your eyes, and then at him, then your eyes, then at him. Then just walk away. I bet he wouldn’t be telling you to clean his shit up after\* that\*. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/19 "2011-06-30T01:14:24Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > People like you are the reason I live alone…in solitary confinement…for beating my roomate to death. Aye. To paraphrase Pierre Desproges, the Roommate is a species close to man. Very close. Too close. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294/20 "2011-06-30T04:48:40Z")
Karma will come around and take care of it. Karma the Mexican maid. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-responsibility-to-clean-up/587294.md?page=2)