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AIBU?

To think if you are in a busy pub/cafe, once you've finished your drink, you leave?

99 replies

angelos02 · 13/02/2014 10:36

I was in a pub last night with DH, got our drinks and looked for a table. I spotted a couple of women at a table with empty glasses so assumed they'd either be about to leave or get another drink but they did neither. Half an hour later, we were still stood (along with lots of other people unable to get a seat). Their glasses had been cleared by this point. If there had been plenty of seats I wouldn't have even noticed. I wouldn't have the brass neck to do this myself. AIBU?

OP posts:

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PandaFeet · 13/02/2014 10:39

YABU. They have as much right to that table as you.

Pigletin · 13/02/2014 10:39

I personally don't go to the pub just to get a drink - I go there to catch up with friends over a drink. Being in a pub doesn't mean I have to be drinking the whole time I am there and constantly ordering items. If the pub is busy and there are no tables, just go to a different one.

bodygoingsouth · 13/02/2014 10:40

I agree. last night went for a 'quick' drink with a friend. took us ages to get served as group of women in front all ordered fancy coffees/ hot chocolates.

ffs if you want a coffee go to costa or have one at home!

who goes out in the evening to a pub for a coffee!

probably loads will now say they do.

angelos02 · 13/02/2014 10:46

Pandafeet if everyone made one drink last hours on end, pubs wouldn't make any money.

OP posts:

PandaFeet · 13/02/2014 10:47

But so what if they ordered coffee in the evening? If the pub sells coffee they have every right to buy some and sit at a table to drink it.

This is baffling me.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 13/02/2014 10:49

bodygoingsouth... You know it! First one here... I do.

angelos02 · 13/02/2014 10:49

The couple had finished their drink. I don't see what is baffling. You don't hog a table while there are people having to stand holding their drinks.

OP posts:

Pigletin · 13/02/2014 10:50

Evidently pubs are making money as they still exist. What is the problem with going to a different pub if the current one has no available tables? Why do people criticize other people's choice of drinks...I find that really weird.

SaucyJack · 13/02/2014 10:51

YABU. The whole point of paying four times the cost of a drink at home is that you're paying to have a sit down as well.

TheDoctorsNewKidneys · 13/02/2014 10:53

Well, I don't leave pubs as soon as I've finished my drink. I don't really care if other people are waiting - sorry, that does sound rude, but I'm not going to cut my night out short just because you haven't got somewhere to sit.

Pubs are about more than drinking and leaving straight away. Same with cafés.

Sammie101 · 13/02/2014 10:54

YABU, I don't just go to the pub to drink, I go to have a chat with my friends.

However maybe I am BU, I've been known to make a pint of coke last 3 hours....

(But the pub wasn't busy though)

EduCated · 13/02/2014 10:56

YABU about pubs, I've never known anyone expect people to leave immediately after finishing drinks. Also, isnt it quite normal to stand in a pub if there's no tables, I mean I'd rather sit, but standing in busy pubs is pretty normal.

PandaFeet · 13/02/2014 10:56

So what if they had finished. They were out for the night and didn't feel like leaving yet.

You got there after them, there were no tables, if it was so important that you get a table, go to a quieter place.

jennifleurs · 13/02/2014 10:56

When I worked in a pub we hated people like this who wouldn't order food and would make a like cordial last an hour.

Go home! ;)

EduCated · 13/02/2014 10:57

Cafés I would generally expect people to leave a bit sooner after finishing drinks, or to get another drink.

KatnipEvergreen · 13/02/2014 10:59

I went to the pub for a PTA meeting. It was cold and nasty out. I had a cup of tea .

In the OP's situation I would have asked to share the table, if there was a spare seat. Or just gone to another pub where there were enough seats.

AnswersThroughHaiku · 13/02/2014 11:03

Only want a drink?
Visit a vending machine.
Cafés are for chats.

Stinklebell · 13/02/2014 11:06

In cafés, yes, generally I would think you eat/drink and leave or order something else

I don't know, pubs are more social, if I was meeting a friend for a chat and a catch up I'd expect to be a couple of hours I wouldn't drink for the entire time, I'd be pissed, or in the loo the entire time

SarahAndFuck · 13/02/2014 11:07

I work in a pub. People come for all sorts of reasons.

We have a regular who orders perhaps one drink an hour and spends his time sitting alone at a table you could fit six people around, reading his book.

We have a number of older customers who live alone who come more to show their face and see somebody else, anybody else, for an hour or so in their day before they go back home.

We have people who drink nothing but tea or coffee.

We have people who come in, drink a pint at breakneck speed and leave again in just a couple of minutes.

And people who can nurse half a pint for three hours because they are really there to have a chat or play snooker or read the paper or watch the sport channel etc.

We have people who like to sit at the table they always sit at and people who could choose from 20 different empty tables but never sit down at all. They have a favourite standing spot instead and stand there regardless of how full or empty the place is.

I don't think having to stand up in a pub is a problem if you are just having a drink. Obviously if it's a food pub or a cafe then you want to sit down with your food. And if it's a busy place they prefer customers to eat and leave if they need the table space. But on the whole, having to stand up in a pub isn't an unreasonable thing if you are only having a drink, so sitting at a table chatting after you've finished your drink isn't unreasonable either.

Stinklebell · 13/02/2014 11:08

And yeah, if a pub sells coffee/hot chocolate and I fancied one, I'd order one. I had hot chocolate orange - hot choc and Cointreau in my local the other night. It was lovely!

whitepuddingsupper · 13/02/2014 11:10

What drives me mental is when the bar is busy and people still stand there and chat after they have been served their drinks. Move and let people who are waiting get in ffs.

starfishmummy · 13/02/2014 11:10

I often have coffee in a pub. I drive so I don't drink alcohol and am not a fan of soft drinks.

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angelos02 · 13/02/2014 11:12

So its fine for someone to sit for half an hour without a drink while next to them people with drinks have to stand? OK.

OP posts:

Pigletin · 13/02/2014 11:14

It's not my problem that you don't have a place to sit. Get there early, book a table or don't order if you see that no tables are available.

YouAreMyFavouriteWasteOfTime · 13/02/2014 11:15

of course you should consider other people and that the bar/cafe is a business. so if you have finished your drinks either buy something else or go if other people are standing.

it comes under the general rule of Dont Be A Dick.

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