r/comics • u/tinyviewcomics tinyviewcomics • Aug 11 '26

OC "Americentricity" by Itchy Feet

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236

u/Kamikazeguy7 Aug 11 '26

Ok, am I the weird American for not assuming every sink has a garbage disposal?

I have never had one in any house I've lived in, yet every person I've ever had over for a meal has just defaulted to throwing their scraps in my sink. And when I ask them not to they look at me like I have 3 heads and say "oh, do you not have a disposal?"

80

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[deleted]

28

u/koriwi Aug 11 '26

But what would cheap american horror movies be without garbage disposals?

5

u/gLItcHy_Teri Aug 11 '26

Cheaper

2

u/ThatEcologist Aug 12 '26

Same here. Maybe it’s a regional thing, because I don’t think I have ever seen one here in New Jersey. I’ve seen one like, once in my life.

2

u/flaccomcorangy Aug 12 '26

Yeah, I think I've seen one in my life. But it's fact that every single sink in a movie or show has one. lol

1

u/vishbar Aug 12 '26

Funnily enough, I live in the UK and I have one.

1

u/jcdenton10 Aug 12 '26

"I didn't see the disposal until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but grinding!"

77

u/Furdinand Aug 11 '26

I'm used to being able to tell if a sink has a disposal: if it has the rubber teeth in the drain, then it has a disposal. If it has a strainer covering the drain, then it doesn't.

12

u/dankristy Aug 11 '26

There are lots of times I have been in houses which had removable strainers covering the disposal teeth - sometimes you have to lift that up to look.

Also for those who aren't sure please ask before dumping food into the sink (not directed at you - just in general). We actually have to put a sign above our sink when we have parties or guests because we have a farm on septic and so a disposal is not something we have, yet multiple times guests have assumed we did (or that is the default behavior where they came from)

1

u/Lordfelcherredux Aug 12 '26

A surefire way to tell is to reach down through the drain and feel for the little metal teeth.

1

u/dankristy Aug 13 '26

Yeah I have watched enough B-grade horror movies to know you don't just reach in there to check... Imma just ask.

31

u/Ill_Morning_4282 Aug 11 '26

It is one of those things that people who say Americans are so clueless about other cultures get wrong with stereotyping. I haven't had one in a while.

3

u/Wuz314159 Aug 12 '26

Having watched a bunch of 50s/60s films & tv shows, I think of it as a Boomer thing. Brand new housing developments with all of the bells and whistles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_nIVD77vYo

^\There's a better scene, but I can't find it online. This is a bit long.])

44

u/lakija Aug 11 '26

I don’t know anyone with one. Midwest

24

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 16 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Willowed-Wisp Aug 12 '26

Same lol

Born and raised in the Minnesota suburbs and, yah, I was surprised as a kid when I found out they weren't standard in sinks. Every kitchen sink I'd ever seen had one.

1

u/babble0n Aug 12 '26

Yeah same. Even the smallest apartments I've been in had one.

5

u/Al_Kydah Aug 11 '26

Agreed. Mideast.

2

u/Fakjbf Aug 11 '26

I don’t know anyone without one, but I live a half hour from the headquarters and manufacturing plant for the largest garbage disposal brand.

2

u/ghastlygorge Aug 12 '26

me neither, im also in the midwest

2

u/dankristy Aug 11 '26

I grew up in places that had them (apartments) - but when I married into my wife's family I learned very quickly that when you live in a place with Septic - having a garbage disposal is a BAD thing.

Long story short, but it overloads the septic with organics that can (and should) be thrown away. You CAN have one - if you want to increase your septic pumping schedule by more than double if you put a lot down there.

On the other hand, now that we have a farm with acreage, we just save all the organic stuff and everything safe for them goes to the pigs or chickens or goats. Almost nothing aside from Avocado skins and bones actually get thrown away at our house now.

4

u/mitchellk96gmail Aug 11 '26

I grew up with one but the last 3 places ive lived in NY dont have one and none of my friends do either.

3

u/LongyJohn27 Aug 11 '26

AS a European i only ever knew they existed as mean traps in Gore Movies

4

u/QueenMackeral Aug 11 '26

We have one but I don't know anyone who just chucks food in there. We use it strictly as a "uh oh the waters not draining, press the Food Murder button". I kinda wish my shower drain had one too...

10

u/QuinceDaPence Aug 11 '26

Same, Euros seem to assume we all have them, and people that have had them also assume everyone has them it seems. They're reasonably common but far from ubiquious. If I had to guess for my area maybe 30% of houses have them.

But yeah I've also had people just scrape piles of food into the sink, like what the fuck do you think you're doing? If I catch them doing that I'm not above making a guest clean that back out.

I would like one though and have considered installing one.

4

u/giraffenkaraffe Aug 12 '26

I can assure you most europeans do not spend a lot of time thinking about what is going on in american sinks. I learned about garbage disposals on reddit, it was a completely foreign concept to me.

3

u/Oiviii Aug 11 '26

Yeah in nj I didn’t really know anyone who had one, but since I moved to Boston every place I’ve been in has one

2

u/Ladyshambles Aug 11 '26

I'm in the UK and weirdly my house came with a garbage disposal but I don't understand why. We have a food waste caddy (small lidded bin) where all the food scraps go, which is collected once a week by the council. So no use for it. When we refurb our kitchen I'm hoping to rip it out.

2

u/holderofthebees Aug 11 '26

I’ve had them before but my current apartment doesn’t have one and in the roughly four years I’ve lived here I haven’t needed one. Never a clogged kitchen sink. I kind of forgot they existed.

2

u/Dapper-Suspect-6981 Aug 11 '26

I've only ever seen 1 in person in my thirty years living in the Pacific North West. I assumed they were some fancy rich people thing

2

u/dpidcoe Aug 12 '26

yet every person I've ever had over for a meal has just defaulted to throwing their scraps in my sink.

Even if you had one they'd still be wrong. The garbage disposal isn't for shredding industrial quantities of uneaten food scraps, it's to save you the hassle of emptying out the gross and slimey strainer after doing the dishes (or even worse, while you're doing the dishes and it gets full and stops the sink from draining and now you've got to dig through dirty dishes and filthy dishwater to get at it). Food scraps should still be being scraped off into the trash (or a compost bin) regardless of if you've got a disposal or not.

2

u/Wuz314159 Aug 12 '26

Ok, am I the weird American for not assuming every sink has a garbage disposal?

As an American, I have never seen a garbage disposal in my 50 years, except on tv.

2

u/mechanical_stars Aug 12 '26

It's not a good idea to use them like that anyway. I can't live without mine but our scraps do not go in the sink, they go in the trash, the disposal is for the stuff that gets rinsed off plates and whatnot, so you don't have to deal with strainer goo.

2

u/ScreamingMoths Aug 12 '26

They are rare in our area of America. Ive only met one person with one, who always said, "dont use it. Not worth it." 😂

2

u/anthrohands Aug 12 '26

Many American households have none, it’s a very “internet” take to act like all Americans have them

2

u/Pikassassin Aug 16 '26

I always thought it was a frivolous thing to have a disposal. I have a fucking garbage can right next to me in the same room, why would I shove that shit down the sink??

6

u/vi_sucks Aug 11 '26

Where do you live in America that you don't have a disposal?

17

u/Kamikazeguy7 Aug 11 '26

Western PA. Lots of old houses

12

u/ValkyrieBlackthorn Aug 11 '26

I’m in WV but close to PA and same. I’ve never been in a house with a garbage disposal and honestly I don’t even want one. Seems like it would just be more maintenance when scraping scraps into the trash is easy enough.

11

u/Different-Eagle-612 Aug 11 '26

it’s usually not any maintenance at all — i think in the past like 4 years we had trouble with it once? growing up with it as a kid as well it would be like one problem in a several year-long span. honestly had more problems in the older place i lived with no garbage disposal but bad pipes (to be clear i was not treating the sink like it should be a garbage disposal, it was just a really old house with a lot of people living in it)

5

u/vi_sucks Aug 11 '26

You still have to scrape the scraps into the trash with a disposal. You just don't have to be super diligent about it.

2

u/Lucky_otter_she_her Aug 12 '26

i think it's a newer home thing, lived in a place built in the 90s as a kid, and it didn't have one of those

4

u/AbrahamKMonroe Aug 11 '26

Central MD here. No disposal in my house, can’t remember the last time I’ve seen one.

3

u/JaysonTatecum Aug 11 '26

New Hampshire and Massachusetts, only one house I’ve ever lived at had one and I’ve probably been in about 10-15 different ones

2

u/Tjam3s Aug 11 '26

Anywhere with a septic system is recommended not to

2

u/QuinceDaPence Aug 11 '26

SE Texas, they're reasonably common but still less than half of the houses seem to have them.

2

u/cpMetis Aug 11 '26

Ohio. I've only ever seen two, and one of them was while on vacation.

1

u/TheTyrianKnight Aug 12 '26

NE Wisconsin

-2

u/bocephus607 Aug 11 '26

Ew don't talk to the poors.

1

u/LittleHammie4953 Aug 11 '26

im from the southeast and most people here do have them but we just never use them lol. Like i forget we even have them

1

u/drphibes5 Aug 11 '26

I don't think I've ever been in a house without one. At least not that I remember.

1

u/ncopp Aug 11 '26

Seems like a suburbs vs rural and city thing. When I was house hunting, a garbage disposal was a must for me. But most of the older innercity homes didn't have one. But all of the homes I looked at in the suburbs just outside of the city had them.

1

u/Chemical_Strain6488 Aug 11 '26

I don’t have one in my house and and i lived in an apartment with one and I swear I read on the instructions that you’re not supposed to throw food or scraps in them which I feel then makes having one kinda useless or am I crazy

1

u/MartyrOfDespair Aug 11 '26

I’ve never seen one outside of television

1

u/realS4V4GElike Aug 11 '26

I know like 1 person with a garbage disposal. And Ive never had in any of the homes Ive lived in.

1

u/cpMetis Aug 11 '26

I've only ever been in two houses with garbage disposals.

My grandma had one, and one nice cabin we stayed in at one point had one.

So I guess it's a boomer and rich people default.

1

u/round-earth-theory Aug 11 '26

It really depends on the ages of the homes and whether you're suburban or urban. Regions with lots of older homes are missing all kinds of modern upgrades. And extremely urban apartment life will frequently have barebones kitchens.

1

u/awetsasquatch Aug 11 '26

I never had one until the house I bought came with it. Definitely happy to have it, but it's not gonna be a deal breaker if the next place I live doesn't have one.

1

u/Disastrous_Self_6053 Aug 11 '26

(Canadian Prairies)

Every farm I've been to has had a disposal, but most city houses (older than 15-20 years) don't have them, but a lot of the new builds do.

(From what I've seen as someone who worked in all sorts of construction)

1

u/Joe--Uncle Aug 11 '26

I’m Canadian, the concept of a garbage disposal is so insane to me. Why the hell would you have a blender in your sink?

1

u/KitchenFullOfCake Aug 12 '26

I'm 34 and have never seen a garbage disposal outside of TV, and probably not on any show since the 90s. Who are these people with garbage disposal? Is this a thing somewhere else in the country?

1

u/No-Mulberry-8866 Aug 12 '26

I don’t think I’ve ever known someone who does have one.

1

u/Competitive-Goat2075 Aug 12 '26

As an Australian who has never seen one outside of a movie, where does the waste actually go?

1

u/TheTyrianKnight Aug 12 '26

The only place I’ve ever been in with a disposal that I’ve seen was the kitchen of a golf course’s bar and grill that I worked at. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a home with one.

1

u/buckleyschance Aug 12 '26

In Australia, I know one person who has a garbage disposal in their sink. She's from Colorado.

1

u/Dragon_DLV Aug 12 '26

I had one in my last apartment, but neither where I live now nor the house I grew up in had one.

It's not ideal in some areas, such as if you have a septic field vs city-sewer. It was nice tho, but I would still scrape the big bits into the garbage (or compost if you have it) before just dumping it down the Disposal

1

u/Oddisredit Aug 12 '26

I live in Japan now. Instead of a garbage disposal, we have a net. That you have to change. It’s super gross.

1

u/LoneWolf_McQuade Aug 12 '26

What happens with the garbage then?

At least in Sweden you usually separate food waste to a separate garbage bag so it becomes recyclable to biogas or used by farmers as a form of manure

1

u/ThatEcologist Aug 12 '26

Thank you!! I said something similar. I’m American and never had a garbage disposal in my house. I don’t know a single person that has one. Maybe it’s a regional thing.

1

u/Technical-Activity95 Aug 12 '26

nah I think all of these are just really lazy stereotypes that are untrue. I'm from europe and if I want refill on my coffee in many places it is free.. so..

1

u/Zhirrzh Aug 12 '26

Australian here. My family had one in the 80s or 90s but I think it must have been something my parents got especially as come to think of it I've seen very few of the things since here - I've never had one anywhere I lived as an adult and nobody even talks about getting one, albeit most other adults I talk to also have young children which is not a great time to install a potential hand mangler in your house.

1

u/spinningdice Aug 12 '26

We had one once in Britain and we ended up never using it, the damned thing got clogged and stopped working at the slightest provocation and the list of stuff you weren't supposed to put down it was bonkers.

1

u/Chingji Aug 12 '26

I've never had one in my childhood home until relatively recently. So idk. It's common but not overly common, like 50/50 it seems

1

u/MySpirtAnimalIsADuck Aug 12 '26

I took mine out after I bought my house, my plumber buddy I grew up with told me how bad they are so I eliminated the problem

1

u/mikewheelerfan Aug 12 '26

I think it depends on the age of the house. My house was built in the 70s(? I think), and it doesn’t have one. But almost all newer ones have them

1

u/VietKongCountry Aug 12 '26

I’ve never seen a garbage disposal in my life, yet other English people still hurl chunks of food in my sink for some reason. I can definitely see the benefits of having one.

1

u/AkiraDeathStar Aug 12 '26

I'm literally staying at a house right now with my partners family and they were All throwing food in the sink with the disposal. I had no idea how nice and convenient those things were. It's seems like a shame not to compost food but man this thing is easy as hell. Never had one anywhere I lived either.

1

u/Druid_Momma Aug 13 '26

No because most sinks in America don’t have disposal units. Only the better economic areas do.

1

u/jecowa Aug 11 '26

I expect every home kitchen sink to have one, but I rarely use them except when cleaning the sink.

0

u/SanityAsymptote Aug 11 '26

Yeah, you're the weird one.

I also grew up without a disposal and it turned out it was because my dad was too cheap to install one.

I have always had them since I moved out and they are legitimately great with functionally no downside.

4

u/atree496 Aug 11 '26

Except they are bad for the system and don't do anything. Just throw out scraps like a normal human.

1

u/SanityAsymptote Aug 11 '26

How are finely ground bits of food any different or "bad for the system" than human waste from a toilet?

3

u/atree496 Aug 11 '26

One is designed for it, the other is not...

1

u/SanityAsymptote Aug 11 '26

Can you elaborate? Because it mostly sounds like you have no idea what you're talking about.

OC "Americentricity" by Itchy Feet

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