Binghamton University students sometimes just seem to have a knack for biting the hand that feeds them.

Really.

Newing Dining Hall was just recently renovated, but as an article in this issue shows, patrons have wasted no time in fouling up the place: garbage everywhere, trays scattered about and garbage in places that are decidedly not the garbage can.

Newing may be home to many greeks, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to treat the place like the site of a bacchanal. The workers of Sodexho dining services — half are BU students — are stuck dealing with the muck. And we can imagine it’s not very pleasant.

Much of the mess, we’re sure, can be attributed to mere forgetfulness. Most of us don’t mean to be inconsiderate, but sometimes those 30 seconds spent busing the tray could be better utilized brushing up on that last formula or, more realistically, sprinting to class.

But then there are those slackers who ruin it for the rest of us. Somehow they have the gall to ask, “Why should we have to clean up after ourselves when we pay people to do it?”

For those people, we answer a question with a question: have you ever worked a day in your lives?

It’s not meant to be an insult, really, but a reminder. Most of us here have had to work a service job, be it waiting or busing tables, washing dishes, janitorial work, low-end retail… the list goes on and on. And anyone who’s done it can attest to the fact that a long day becomes even longer when customers treat employees like serfs, like sub-humans.

Remember: we’re all human! Given a different set of circumstances, it could have been you with the spatula. Think of what it feels like to be on the receiving end of whatever treatment you’re doling out. Whenever you leave a messy tray on the table, or spill a drink and “forget” to tell anyone, or callously toss a grimy tray into the washing area, stop and think: how would you feel if you had to deal with that? Or if your friends, significant other or the guy who you cheat off of in physics, had to deal with that?

And the fact that you can’t see the faces of the people washing your dishes doesn’t mean they don’t exist. When you cut them, do they not bleed? When you splash them with your dirty water, do they not get wet… and dirty?

Folks, throw away your leftovers and paper goods. Bus your own tray. Clean the crumbs off the table. And if you spill something, tell an employee so it gets cleaned up. Do the things you’d want customers to do if you worked at Newing Dining Hall.

It’s just human.