why are airports in the US and many parts of the US so gross?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have noticed airports in the US are getting worse. I think it had to do with the overall culture in the US. No work ethic and people no longer care.

The same goes for others services as well.

I agree with this. I flew to Dulles recently after stopping at a couple of Scandinavian airports and the level of service, cleanliness and functionality at Dulles was shockingly bad. I have lived in the US for 15 years and the country has declined significantly in that time. The infrastructure is deteriorating and people don't care. Americans have no longer any pride left in their country.

Most of the people doing those service jobs are not Americans who were here 15 years ago...

[Anonymous]

I’m going to guess it’s a combination of a couple of things:

1. The companies cleaning services are contracted out to are generally terrible employers that pay the lowest possible wage. In the current labor market, it’s harder to get and keep staff unless you pay more and improve work conditions.

2. All of the anti-immigration rhetoric has driven anti-immigration policy, which means…fewer immigrants! This reduces the labor force, which means labor is in demand, which means (see #1).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just flew out of Logan. It was one of the nastiest places I've been in an a loooong time. Bathrooms were basically not cleaned at all with water and trash everywhere. There was trash, food debris, and nasty grime all over the floors and seats everywhere in the terminal. Seats and walls absolutely gross with black sludge between them and on walls. Planes absolutely filthy. Just a really nasty nasty experience. Europe often has airports dirty like many American airports, but why don't you ever see major airports this bad in Asia? The cleanliness in airports in Japan, Korea, and heck, even Thailand are way better.

My skin still crawls thinking about how nasty Logan was. God knows what I stepped on while trying to use the restroom there.

Boston is the 29th largest city in the US. Do you want to compare Logan to airports in the 29th largest city in Thailand?

[Anonymous]

Poor work ethic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m going to guess it’s a combination of a couple of things:

1. The companies cleaning services are contracted out to are generally terrible employers that pay the lowest possible wage. In the current labor market, it’s harder to get and keep staff unless you pay more and improve work conditions.

2. All of the anti-immigration rhetoric has driven anti-immigration policy, which means…fewer immigrants! This reduces the labor force, which means labor is in demand, which means (see #1).

1. The rhetoric is anti-illegal immigration

2. Fewer immigrants? Millions have been streaming over the border….illegally over the past few years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just flew out of Logan. It was one of the nastiest places I've been in an a loooong time. Bathrooms were basically not cleaned at all with water and trash everywhere. There was trash, food debris, and nasty grime all over the floors and seats everywhere in the terminal. Seats and walls absolutely gross with black sludge between them and on walls. Planes absolutely filthy. Just a really nasty nasty experience. Europe often has airports dirty like many American airports, but why don't you ever see major airports this bad in Asia? The cleanliness in airports in Japan, Korea, and heck, even Thailand are way better.

My skin still crawls thinking about how nasty Logan was. God knows what I stepped on while trying to use the restroom there.

Boston is the 29th largest city in the US. Do you want to compare Logan to airports in the 29th largest city in Thailand?

I'm also guessing the OP is only flying into the nicest part of the international terminal in Bangkok ( there are different parts even within the international terminal) which is the part where only the biggest airlines are flying in their huge 747s from other major cities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just flew out of Logan. It was one of the nastiest places I've been in an a loooong time. Bathrooms were basically not cleaned at all with water and trash everywhere. There was trash, food debris, and nasty grime all over the floors and seats everywhere in the terminal. Seats and walls absolutely gross with black sludge between them and on walls. Planes absolutely filthy. Just a really nasty nasty experience. Europe often has airports dirty like many American airports, but why don't you ever see major airports this bad in Asia? The cleanliness in airports in Japan, Korea, and heck, even Thailand are way better.

My skin still crawls thinking about how nasty Logan was. God knows what I stepped on while trying to use the restroom there.

Boston is the 29th largest city in the US. Do you want to compare Logan to airports in the 29th largest city in Thailand?

Boston is #11. We go by MSAs since airports draw from the entire area:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m going to guess it’s a combination of a couple of things:

1. The companies cleaning services are contracted out to are generally terrible employers that pay the lowest possible wage. In the current labor market, it’s harder to get and keep staff unless you pay more and improve work conditions.

2. All of the anti-immigration rhetoric has driven anti-immigration policy, which means…fewer immigrants! This reduces the labor force, which means labor is in demand, which means (see #1).

There are no fewer immigrants these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m going to guess it’s a combination of a couple of things:

1. The companies cleaning services are contracted out to are generally terrible employers that pay the lowest possible wage. In the current labor market, it’s harder to get and keep staff unless you pay more and improve work conditions.

2. All of the anti-immigration rhetoric has driven anti-immigration policy, which means…fewer immigrants! This reduces the labor force, which means labor is in demand, which means (see #1).

There are no fewer immigrants these days.

Incorrect.

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/12/net-international-migration-returns-to-pre-pandemic-levels.html

Numbers have been dropping significantly since 2016. 2022 saw a bump back up, but still below previous levels. This is legal immigration- the drop in total immigration is more significant. This has been a very big driver in the labor crunch in low skill jobs, especially construction and why construction prices continue to rise even without major supply chain issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m going to guess it’s a combination of a couple of things:

1. The companies cleaning services are contracted out to are generally terrible employers that pay the lowest possible wage. In the current labor market, it’s harder to get and keep staff unless you pay more and improve work conditions.

2. All of the anti-immigration rhetoric has driven anti-immigration policy, which means…fewer immigrants! This reduces the labor force, which means labor is in demand, which means (see #1).

There are no fewer immigrants these days.

Incorrect.

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/12/net-international-migration-returns-to-pre-pandemic-levels.html

Numbers have been dropping significantly since 2016. 2022 saw a bump back up, but still below previous levels. This is legal immigration- the drop in total immigration is more significant. This has been a very big driver in the labor crunch in low skill jobs, especially construction and why construction prices continue to rise even without major supply chain issues.

Yup! But facts are inconvenient when all you want to do is complain about dirty airports, how no one cares about service and hard work anymore, yadda yadda yadda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just flew out of Logan. It was one of the nastiest places I've been in an a loooong time. Bathrooms were basically not cleaned at all with water and trash everywhere. There was trash, food debris, and nasty grime all over the floors and seats everywhere in the terminal. Seats and walls absolutely gross with black sludge between them and on walls. Planes absolutely filthy. Just a really nasty nasty experience. Europe often has airports dirty like many American airports, but why don't you ever see major airports this bad in Asia? The cleanliness in airports in Japan, Korea, and heck, even Thailand are way better.

My skin still crawls thinking about how nasty Logan was. God knows what I stepped on while trying to use the restroom there.

Boston is the 29th largest city in the US. Do you want to compare Logan to airports in the 29th largest city in Thailand?

Boston is #11. We go by MSAs since airports draw from the entire area:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area

That would make sense if other cities in the Boston MSA didn't have their own airports

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m going to guess it’s a combination of a couple of things:

1. The companies cleaning services are contracted out to are generally terrible employers that pay the lowest possible wage. In the current labor market, it’s harder to get and keep staff unless you pay more and improve work conditions.

2. All of the anti-immigration rhetoric has driven anti-immigration policy, which means…fewer immigrants! This reduces the labor force, which means labor is in demand, which means (see #1).

There are no fewer immigrants these days.

Incorrect.

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/12/net-international-migration-returns-to-pre-pandemic-levels.html

Numbers have been dropping significantly since 2016. 2022 saw a bump back up, but still below previous levels. This is legal immigration- the drop in total immigration is more significant. This has been a very big driver in the labor crunch in low skill jobs, especially construction and why construction prices continue to rise even without major supply chain issues.

Yup! But facts are inconvenient when all you want to do is complain about dirty airports, how no one cares about service and hard work anymore, yadda yadda yadda.

"The social fabric appears to be unravelling: civility seems like an old-fashioned habit, honesty like an optional exercise and trust like the relic of another time. Some observers claim that “the process of our moral decline” began with the “sinking of the foundations of morality” and proceeded to “the final collapse of the whole edifice”, which brought us “finally to the dark dawning of our modern day, in which we can neither bear our immoralities nor face the remedies needed to cure them”.


But as apt as this description of our times may seem, it was written more than 2,000 years ago by the historian Livy, who was bemoaning the declining morality of his fellow Roman citizens.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06137-x

Everyone thinks that times were better when they were kids because they didn't understand how the world actually worked, and didn't understand how difficult things were for others. Same as how they think that the best music was produced magically during the period when they were aged 14-25, and dropped off quickly afterward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m going to guess it’s a combination of a couple of things:

1. The companies cleaning services are contracted out to are generally terrible employers that pay the lowest possible wage. In the current labor market, it’s harder to get and keep staff unless you pay more and improve work conditions.

2. All of the anti-immigration rhetoric has driven anti-immigration policy, which means…fewer immigrants! This reduces the labor force, which means labor is in demand, which means (see #1).

Not to mention that many airports (like Dulles) are in expensive urban areas and don't pay enough or have enough benefits to allow workers to have only one job.

People are overlooking that in all first world countries (except the US) lower level workers tend to have a higher minimum wage and government provides health benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just flew out of Logan. It was one of the nastiest places I've been in an a loooong time. Bathrooms were basically not cleaned at all with water and trash everywhere. There was trash, food debris, and nasty grime all over the floors and seats everywhere in the terminal. Seats and walls absolutely gross with black sludge between them and on walls. Planes absolutely filthy. Just a really nasty nasty experience. Europe often has airports dirty like many American airports, but why don't you ever see major airports this bad in Asia? The cleanliness in airports in Japan, Korea, and heck, even Thailand are way better.

My skin still crawls thinking about how nasty Logan was. God knows what I stepped on while trying to use the restroom there.

Boston is the 29th largest city in the US. Do you want to compare Logan to airports in the 29th largest city in Thailand?

Pathetic excuse. Boston is also one of the wealthiest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have noticed airports in the US are getting worse. I think it had to do with the overall culture in the US. No work ethic and people no longer care.

The same goes for others services as well.

I was going to say - well umm... because we are gross!

Everything is grosser here! That's not totally gross in that by and far away, Europe smokes more cigarettes and Rome is filled with litter (but that's actually not unlike most US cities), etc. BUT their bathrooms with non self flushing toilets - let me tell you - NOT gross at all. Cleaner than our self flushing toilets by FAR. I think it really comes down to culture.

We are gross, fat, lazy and not the most aware of people in the US. That is definitely not applicable for 100% of Americans but it is to a fair extent true. That doesn't mean they are cleaner or "better" in these ways in other country than us but culturally, come on, of course or bathrooms in major public places tend to be grosser. I kid you not I was shocked at how clean every public bathroom I went to in Rome was. Now it was different in the stalls where it was literally just a hole and not a toilet - that was smelly and nasty but that's the equiv of a portapotty so I can understand that.

+100

Americans have given up on service and now take zero pride in their work. Then they feel entitled to everything and high compensation.