Four young lads had made a real mess just outside the supermarket entrance – some kind of fight involving biscuits, a mass of crumbs & some larger broken pieces left covering a wide area.
Just then the cleaner emerged from the store. When she spotted the state of things she remonstrated volubly with the boys – I just cleaned this not two minutes ago …- look everywhere else is spotless.
Then you could see the idea come to her: I’m going to get my brush & you are going to clean it up.
She did. And they did, looking suitably abashed & contrite.
OK, they were not the kind of boys you would cross the street to avoid, but what took some courage was that the cleaner was black, the boys white. Even in this day & age that risks a nasty reaction.
And your employer may not think it the best way to treat customers either – though in this case I am sure that there is not much doubt about whose side any other customer who witnessed the incident was on.
Coincidentally, the participants on In Our Time, about game theory, offered an explanation about why everybody indulges in the habit of dropping litter, even though it is in our collective interest not to mess things up this way.
So how come, at least in some times & places, the inhabitants do manage to act collectively to ensure a litter free environment?
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