Clean Up Outside

[Lizzie5115]

So Anime Boston has been amazing so far this year but the only thing that I disliked was the amount of garbage people left outside. Its not that hard to bring your garbage inside and in a garbage can. We were lucky enough to have nice weather and be outside. So if we could please be more respectful about other people there and clean up our messes it would make everything a whole lot easier

[Aurabolt]

Do you mean OUTSIDE, Outside or Outside as in the halls of the Mall, Hotel and/or Convention Center?

If you mean outside the buildings then yeah, common sense should be practiced. While it's true Mall, Hotel and Hynes Staff are responsible for the upkeep of the grounds of their respective buildings, as Con attenees were are as responsible if we want said businesses to allow us back next year!

If you mean inside the buildings, anyone who doesn't clean up after him/her self should be kicked out. I don't care if you're with your family or on the stage receiving an award, your behavior at Con in this regard is usually a good indication of your behavior elsewhere.

While we're on the subject:

There definitely needs to be more trashcans in the halls of the Hynes--even if it's just for the Con. I shouldn't have to change floors just to find a trashcan. I've been to other events in the Hynes this year so this problem isn't exlcusive to AB.

[Lizzie5115]

Yeah I do mean outside right near the food court was awful and i felt really bad for the workers who had to clean up the mess. There were no trashcans out there due to the fact it was april but that still means we should bring our trash inside. I completely agree that there were too few trashcans but i did see enough for me to know where to throw it out. I actually ended up throwing out some peoples trash becuase it was getting everywhere. I just want this to be made a rule or at least make it known at the opening ceremonies that we need to be neat.

[ErinErin]

On a related note, I was so glad to see recycle bins everywhere around the con. I don't think I've ever seen so many in such frequency before. I just hope people were actually using them and not throwing their non recyclable trash in there.

[Ajax]

Nice to see I wasn't the only one who detected the abundance of trash outside the Hynes.

Some people just don't learn.

[tama-chan]

I was really glad when I opened up the forum and I saw that someone has asked about the clean up outside. I went to Anime Boston with the Anime Club from our school (with 24 people). We're told before we leave that we are representing our school, and Anime fans everywhere,so we should act respectfully. When my teacher and I saw the garbage outside we were appalled that people would leave such a beautiful place looking so disgusting. The Hynes center does not need to let us have our convention there. The fact that AB pays so much money to get the Hynes and then people just leave their garbage around? it was disgusting. If a group of 24 high-schoolers can manage to pick up all their own garbage. Why can't other people?

[Cowboy]

I asked one of the custodians how long he had been working for the Hynes he said 3 years. I asked which convention is the worst to work on, because people are rude, disrespectful, or just trash the place. He said "this one."

It is food for thought.

[Lizzie5115]

I'm very happy to see that so many agree with me and I am very sorry to hear the custodians hate the convention so much. I would love to see a better campaign next year from AB to "KEEP THE CON CLEAN" (there's the slogan right there) i know they have a lot to deal with but just a constant reminder keeps people aware and less rude.
Also to hear that your AB club is so responsible and kind makes me very happy. I think i may have been eating next to you guys if you are the ones who ordered many pizzas. Either way lets keep this going and make everyone aware

[kiarrens]

This IS distressing. :\ I didn't make it down to the food court often, but when I did make it there it was pretty messy. Perhaps something on the front of the program book next year might be in order...

[troublemaiker]

one of the reasons this happens is people put their trash down to go take a picture (planning to come back to it), then one photo leads to another and another and then everyone leaves, and the person who put their trash down completely forgets.
I've seen this happens so many times and the person walks by a trash and says "oh no! i forgot my trash!"
sometimes they run out and get it, the other times they just shrug and keep on moving.
I'm not saying that's the entire reason for the mess, but it is definitely a big one.

now there were somewhere around 15,000 people (number I heard on friday) at the convention, and all it takes is 50 people to leave their trash wherever and have it look like hell :/

[kiarrens]

[quote=Raver Gaara]
now there were somewhere around 15,000 people (number I heard on friday) at the convention, and all it takes is 50 people to leave their trash wherever and have it look like hell :/[/quote]
Mustang here's got a point, for once. ( )
I heard 17,000 at the masquerade. It's a shame, but this many people are bound to make a mess no matter what. I worked in movie theaters in college and you wouldn't BELIEVE the mess people leave behind there.... I suspect that if the mall had more trashcans (someone said there were NONE?) outside the mess would probably have been considerably less.

[eidna]

I agree that it's rather appalling how much disrespect was/is shown during AB, both for the grounds, the workers, and just in general. Distracted or not, cleaning up after yourself should be a priority. Let's be honest, anime fans get enough of a bad rap from people without having "messy and rude" added to it.
I would fully support some sort of "keep it clean or GTFO" initiative.

[stardust462]

[quote=eidna]I agree that it's rather appalling how much disrespect was/is shown during AB, both for the grounds, the workers, and just in general. Distracted or not, cleaning up after yourself should be a priority. Let's be honest, anime fans get enough of a bad rap from people without having "messy and rude" added to it.
I would fully support some sort of "keep it clean or GTFO" initiative. [/quote]
I agree fully with this. Just because you're at a con it does not mean you can do or act however the hell you want. Our group can some times get a bad impression because of just a few bad apples, which is disappointing and disheartening. This goes for not only the mall and the food court, but also the hotel and the Hynes. Yes, conventions bring in a lot of money to the facilities in the area, but when they become too big of a problem they may be asked never to come back. And yes, that does really happen.

Unfortunately, I bet most of the people who caused a mess don't frequent the forums.

[Lizzie5115]

I understand the whole picture scenario and forgetfulness but all I want is for AB to find a way to keep reminders up for people to be respectful so we can keep having con. The last thing i want to find out is that con is cancelled due to the lack of respect. I love this con way to much to ever let that happen.

Plus the sooner a clean up rule starts to sooner it will spread and yes there will always be those bad apples who give us a bad name but we cant let that be an excuse. Especially with so many people its like if ten people picked up five pieces of trash on the ground it would look a whole lot better and now in retrospect i wish I had gotten up myself and asked for some con goers help cleaning up outside.

[Cowboy]

[quote]Yes, conventions bring in a lot of money to the facilities in the area, but when they become too big of a problem they may be asked never to come back. And yes, that does really happen.[/quote]

The next quote is a line from the NESFA "The Rise and Fall of the Giant Boskones" history blog.

[quote]it was the hordes of youngsters, frequently without memberships, who flooded into Boskone for the parties and the chance to run wild, and who had little or no interest in any aspect of fandom.[/quote]

I think this is our problem too.

I have a suggestion.

Would anyone be willing to volunteer next year to take one hour of their busy con schedule to go around cleaning up? If so, I will provide the trash bags, the gloves, and any other tools needed to get this job done.

BTW I am not staff. Just an artist that hates seeing trash everywhere.

On a side note, I did ask that custodian who was second worse. He said the con the week before ours was almost as bad. I felt sorry for him for having to endure two weekends in a row of people acting like fools.

[tama-chan]

We are indeed the ones who ordered all those pizzas We've been going to AB for five years now, and every time we order all those pizzas every year

[KingPads]

Yea I didn't exactly 'feel the love' when it came to the hotel staff. Our bell-boy...man was a D-bag towards us when we were leaving. Definately got the feeling at that hotel we werent exactly welcome guests...

[troublemaiker]

[quote=KingPads]Yea I didn't exactly 'feel the love' when it came to the hotel staff. Our bell-boy...man was a D-bag towards us when we were leaving. Definately got the feeling at that hotel we werent exactly welcome guests...
[/quote]

thats how i've felt before (im assuming you're talking about the sheraton hotel) and its because the staff knows that there are tons of people cramming way more than 2-4 people in a room. I ended up switching hotels because of this. I had so many problems with maids not respecting the "do not disturb" sign, that when i checked into the westin I had a whole laundry list of things to take care of, and they just smiled and either told me that it wouldn't be a problem or they'd make a note.

[tama-chan]

:} I'd like to help in cleaning up! I could possible ask the rest of our club as well if they'd like to be apart. I think thats a wonderful idea.

[Lizzie5115]

I was at the marriot and they were actually quite welcoming to us they were nice asked me and my friend about our costumes and what we were excited about. Perhaps the Sheraton hates it becuase they are so darn close to all the action all the time.

and to Cowboy and Tama-Chan - That is a wonderful idea every congoer has at least an hour or two of nothing during the con due to the schedule. It would work so well even if it means standing and asking people outside for help. I bet you anything it would be one of the best moment of some peoples con. It always makes me happy to see others doing good and then it gets me going to do the same thing. Like those commercials where one good deed leads to many more

[darkinfero]

I kinda of felt that way with some staff. But I did have some staff that was nice. Like I was at the bar the bartender was really nasty to me and my friend we weren't in cosplay or anything.

[Cowboy]

Okay, lets try to do the clean up thing. Ill keep extra gloves, and trash bags at my table next year in the artist alley (Provided I get in again)

If I miss registration for the AA next year I could just keep them in the live gaming room at the times I am scheduled to do demos so people can come down and pick up what they need.

It would make the world of difference to get a group of people pitching in even for a short period.

[Master of NERV]

[quote]Would anyone be willing to volunteer next year to take one hour of their busy con schedule to go around cleaning up? If so, I will provide the trash bags, the gloves, and any other tools needed to get this job done.[/quote]

I could easily spend some time for something like this!


[quote]On a side note, I did ask that custodian who was second worse. He said the con the week before ours was almost as bad. I felt sorry for him for having to endure two weekends in a row of people acting like fools.[/quote]

IIRC, the con held in the prior week was for video gamers.


A few more thoughts on this topic:

I was very happy to see the recycle bins in the Hynes, and I made a point to use them. But more are clearly needed, and on all floors (I remember looking for a bin for plastics on the third floor and not finding one.)

Also, more trash bins are needed in the Hynes, and bigger ones at that. AB attendees, by their very nature, generate a lot more trash than, say, a professional trade show.

[Master of NERV]

Just a thought--if we do follow through with this plan, just where do we take the trash when we collect it?

Back in my Scouting days, I did beach cleanups on shoreline nature reserves, and the one thing I learned is that trash piles up fast. We would need to coordinate with con/Hynes staff to get the trash to its final resting place!

[Gollum]

[quote=Master of NERV]
[quote]On a side note, I did ask that custodian who was second worse. He said the con the week before ours was almost as bad. I felt sorry for him for having to endure two weekends in a row of people acting like fools.[/quote]

IIRC, the con held in the prior week was for video gamers.
[/quote]

Yup, it was PAX East. It's saying something that Anime Boston is actually worst than PAX.

[lordshamus]

[quote=Gollum][quote=Master of NERV]
[quote]On a side note, I did ask that custodian who was second worse. He said the con the week before ours was almost as bad. I felt sorry for him for having to endure two weekends in a row of people acting like fools.[/quote]

IIRC, the con held in the prior week was for video gamers.
[/quote]

Yup, it was PAX East. It's saying something that Anime Boston is actually worst than PAX.
[/quote]

I suppose it's to be expected considering that PAX East is a smaller con.

[Cowboy]

[quote]Just a thought--if we do follow through with this plan, just where do we take the trash when we collect it?[/quote]

I can coordinate with the Hynes, Prudential, and Sheraton to find acceptable refuse removal sites to store the trash. And for you non eco people I can get you access to some dumpsters.

Basically we are making the staff's job easier if we help out.

Switching gears for a second.

We could use a little advertising help from the con. A sign here or there would not hurt, or put a short message on the cover of the program guide. Something to let the attendees that we need to start cleaning up after ourselves.
Heck you could even do screenings of these two anime "Arjuna" and "Pom Poko" to increase the cons spirit towards eco initiative. Cant hurt to ask right?

EDIT: My personal tirade
I believe that you can not just send people to pick up trash. That solves only the immediate problem. Once that person leaves an area people will start trashing it again. We need to take initiative and change the average con goers perspective to one that knows littering hurts the con.

[kiarrens]

[quote=Cowboy][quote]Just a thought--if we do follow through with this plan, just where do we take the trash when we collect it?[/quote]

I can coordinate with the Hynes, Prudential, and Sheraton to find acceptable refuse removal sites to store the trash. And for you non eco people I can get you access to some dumpsters.

Basically we are making the staff's job easier if we help out.
[/quote]
Question: Does the mall have some sort of union in place for its janitors? I know some places have such rules - at some conventions, it is against the rules for anyone other than convention center union workers to so much as move a chair, as it is THEIR job and they will get all bent out of shape about it.
Whoever heads up this might want to double check and make sure they don't step on anyone's toes....

[Jezzy]

[quote=lordshamus]
I suppose it's to be expected considering that PAX East is a smaller con. [/quote]
[strike]Not exactly... ^_^;;;[/strike] Not exactly.

I really hope we can organize something to help with this problem. Not only are we making ourselves look bad, but it reflects poorly on the fandom in general. I think some sort of charm school is in order...or at least a few screenings of The Law of Ueki.

[Cowboy]

[quote]as it is THEIR job and they will get all bent out of shape about it.[/quote]

True.
Trash pick up is everyone's responsibility.
Police yourself and when in public or open to public places police others when they do not police themselves.
As long as no one picks up a broom, dustpan, mop, etc to do the the union's job, it is acceptable.
If there is any reservation with what we propose on doing it will be covered when I contact the Hynes, Sheraton, and Prudential mall management.

[quote]I can coordinate with the Hynes, Prudential, and Sheraton to find acceptable refuse removal sites to store the trash. And for you non eco people I can get you access to some dumpsters.[/quote]

Good will goes a long way. It helps to develop some to get some back in return.

As PatrickD says
[quote]...and you wonder why we can't have nice things?[/quote]

So lets have nice things! Nice clean things! Lets start a trend. It is better than being considered the worst convention each and every year by convention employees.

[Eimi]

[quote=Jezzy]
Not exactly... ^_^;;;

[/quote]

Actually, they are. Reed Expo uses turnstile attendance, where anime cons typically use warm body counts. PAX East's warm body count was just over 15k, ours was over 17k.

Further proof is that it is impossible to fit that many people into the Hynes since the fire marshal sets the attendance cap for the entire building at 22-25k. That would mean that everyone at PAX East would have been piled on top of each other from floor to ceilings in every single room.

[MerchMaven]

[quote=Jezzy][quote=lordshamus]
I suppose it's to be expected considering that PAX East is a smaller con. [/quote]
Not exactly... ^_^;;;
[/quote]

Tuuuuuuuuuuurnstile numbers. TURNSTILE numbers. Sing it with us. It's Reed Exhibitions, and they count TUUUUUUUURNSTILE numbers. A weekend badge is counted as THREE PEOPLE.

Sigh.

[Jezzy]

Oh, I wasn't aware of that. Nevermind then.

[AliceTanzer]

[quote=Jezzy][quote=lordshamus]
I suppose it's to be expected considering that PAX East is a smaller con. [/quote]
Not exactly... ^_^;;;

I really hope we can organize something to help with this problem. Not only are we making ourselves look bad, but it reflects poorly on the fandom in general. I think some sort of charm school is in order...or at least a few screenings of The Law of Ueki.
[/quote]
They did have less. That 50K number is a turnstyle number, meaning if you show up on three days, you count three times. Anime Boston does a warm body count, which counts only the badges. If Anime Boston did a turnstyle count it would be a larger number.

[lordshamus]

[quote=Jezzy][quote=lordshamus]
I suppose it's to be expected considering that PAX East is a smaller con. [/quote]
Not exactly... ^_^;;;


[/quote]

Entirely dependant on what you're counting. We prefer to count actual people. As opposed to imaginary repeato-clones. It certainly seemed more crowded at PAX but I suspect that had more to do with AB's legendary orginizational prowess. :thumbup:


PS- can you tell we're sensitive about this issue?

[AliceTanzer]

ROTFL at 4 of us responding all at once!

[Jezzy]

Sorry. My boyfriend had taunted me about PAX having such a high attendance last week, and if I thought AB would be able to top it, never mentioning turnstiles. Seemed like an inane number, but at least I know what's going on now. Sorry for the distraction.

[Eilonnwy]

It's fine. We can understand the mixup when PAX isn't upfront about their numbers.

[Eimi]

Not a problem ^_^ Its just one of those things where we're trying to get the truth out there.

[TheNerdyFeminist]

as a movie theater usher, I really sympathize with the people who had to clean up after some of the rude AB attendees who felt it was okay to leave their mess for someone to clean up. Yes, that is someone's job, but those people are employed to pick up the occasional spill, forgotten trash, and what should be the infrequent, self-entitled jerkoff who feels so special they don't need to act like a responsible adult in public. Those people are NOT employed so everyone can be lazy. people who leave their trash lying around in public just because "it's someone else's job to take care of it" really piss me off.

for those with the "it's just a little trash" mentality, think about this. if everyone left "just a little trash" around, it would add up. and the vast majority of employers can't afford to schedule enough people to clean up after every single person in a busy place like the Prudential Center, at least not in a timely manner.

how hard is it to carry your trash to the nearest trash can? seriously? you're probably gonna pass one on your way back to the con, so it's not like you're going out of your way. you carried your food out there, so obviously you can handle a lighter load going back in.

if you disagree and think that the "help" should just suck it up, try working one week, no, one day in a job like that and tell me it's not that bad.

[Lizzie5115]

I am also a movie theatre usher and it blows. Nothing is worse than seeing someone leave their trash behind especially if its something they didnt even buy at the place. The theatre i work at is one screen and its very old and we also pretty much allow people to bring in their own food. (dinners ice cream coffees etc) but they always seem to leave it behind expecting us to clean it up becuase I bet what their thinking is "Its their job anyway" and its tough being polite all the time to the customers knowing that some of them are just going to take advantage.

Basically all I want is for everyone to respect the Hynes and its workers more by being polite, by cleaning up your trash and not just expect the people to deal with you.

[ShadowWolfZ]

[quote=ErinErin]On a related note, I was so glad to see recycle bins everywhere around the con. I don't think I've ever seen so many in such frequency before. I just hope people were actually using them and not throwing their non recyclable trash in there. [/quote]

the problem is not a lot of people really differentiate the trash and the recycling bin. They see two cans and are either too lazy or too stupid to differentiate.

I'm passioniate about being eco-friendly, so forgive my tone.

[troublemaiker]

[quote=RebelArtemis] "it's someone else's job to take care of it" really piss me off. [/quote]


if thats in reference to what kiarrens was saying, her point was that if they are unionized and we started to pick up everyone's trash with bags and stuff, it could become a union issue (which is bad)

if you're just referring to everyone out there who leaves their trash feeling that its the janitors job to take care of it, then yeah, pisses me off too -_-

[Cowboy]

[quote]if they are unionized and we started to pick up everyone's trash with bags and stuff[/quote]

It is a good point. Unions get mad when you take their jobs away from them. If we facilitate an environment that makes their jobs easier that is a different story. Provided they have a union for their custodial staff.

Which is a bridge we cross when we get to it. To be compliant I will call all three businesses a couple of months before the con to make sure we do not step on any toes and to get assistance if any with this proposed eco-initiative.

If this goes well it could be great publicity for the AB public relations personal to use to help AB's growing reputation.

You have to look at the big picture. You should always aim to make the right decisions even if they are unpopular.

So lets cross this bridge next year. I will start making the calls in Febuary.

[TheNerdyFeminist]

I was referring to the latter. I'm not saying we should do someone's job for them by cleaning up after people, but we should make their job easier by not leaving a mess behind in the first place.

[troublemaiker]

[quote=RebelArtemis]I was referring to the latter. I'm not saying we should do someone's job for them by cleaning up after people, but we should make their job easier by not leaving a mess behind in the first place.[/quote]

alrighty, i just wasn't able to distinguish which you were referring to, I wasn't trying to start anything so dont worry

i have one friend who refuses to pick up his trash at places like BK etc, and doesn't let anyone else throw theirs away easily. it gets really embarrassing and annoying because i'm not gonna leave 5 peoples worth of trash on the table so I end up taking care of it :/

[PatrickD]

[quote=RebelArtemis]I was referring to the latter. I'm not saying we should do someone's job for them by cleaning up after people, but we should make their job easier by not leaving a mess behind in the first place.[/quote]
Right-O! It's the job of the custodians to empty the trash cans, but it's everyone's job to put trash into those trash cans in the first place!

[dokool]

Something like the Guardian Angels might be a good idea; just a couple groups of volunteers who could walk around the food court/mall/areas outside the Hynes and remind people to throw out trash/not cause traffic jams/keep the annoying chants to a dull roar/that sort of thing.

Whether anyone would listen to them is another matter but if you're going to piss against the wind, might as well give it your best shot.

[Synaizen]

It would be nice if some volunteers were relegated to doing that, or if a badge or some form of 'Im not just an annoying con goer" ID would be given to anyone willing to help out, clean up, keep boomboxes low, and restrict the amount of do you like waffles, marco/polo, i Tom Selleck'ed it up, etc. stuff.

[Lizzie5115]

I like the idea of badges that say that. it would help keep people aware of everything and most of all i think a little AD in the con chowder or in the goodie bags people get when they register would also be a huge help.