If you've called dinner... How long will you wait for people before starting to eat?

[tnorfotkcab]

So... DH was moaning that we hadn't waited for him at dinner.
He was working in his car, gave him a 10 minute warning, he said "ok" and was doing something like changing a sensor - not dirty, could be left half way through etc... DD called to him again once DS was putting dishes on table. He shouted "yeah, ok".
We then had a minute or two and put all dishes out, DD had set table, I got drinks, salt and pepper etc.

We all sat down and waited a few minutes... DH nowhere to be seen so we started helping ourselves.

DH turns up maybe 10 minutes after we sat down and moaned we hadn't waited for him...! Cheeky fucker.

So anyway, how long do you usually wait for everyone to get to the table?

Not as long as you did.

If I have given fair warning then I don't wait more than a minute or so.
If they aren't there they are the ones being rude, not me for starting.

couple of minutes

We don’t wait for people? Whoever’s cooking calls. Then there’s a minute or two of plating/setting table then we eat

Two minutes

Oh, we don't wait. I shout, and if people are slow that's their problem. Luckily we're all greedy, and so no one wants to risk being done out of their fair share by coming late to the table.

No more than a minute or two - my DH does this and it drives me mad. I’ll give him a 10 minute warning and then he waits until I let him know that it’s on the table to faff around going to the loo, finishing off what he’s doing etc.

Not that long! Tbf it's usually me that is late to the table on the rare chance of this happening but if you gave a 10 minute warning then no more than 2 minutes from the follow-up "food now on the table". Its disrespectful to everyone to be that delayed coming to the meal, the only excuse would be if no 10-minute warning was given.

DH has a habit of going to the loo after I have told him that dinner is ready. I don't wait for him.

He knows perfectly well when it is imminent yet waits until it is ready before going.

I often remind him we will be eating in 10 minutes yet he still does it.

About 10 seconds

We just wait until everyone gets there but it’s never more than a couple of minutes.
If someone was taking longer I’d go and check that they were okay, we are a food motivated family and usually as soon as dh calls that it’s ready we all race to the table 😂

We don’t ever have to wait. In the scenario you gave, at the second prompting it would’ve been ‘yeah, ok’ then immediately come through, either me or DH or DC.

I don’t wait. It does make me feel a bit uncomfortable, but DH tends to head straight to the kitchen to do the washing up after I’ve called him (). If he wants to eat cold food, that’s up to him, but I’m not going to!

30–60 seconds. I’m not accepting both disrespect to the cook and having to eat my dinner cold.

If dh is on a business call and it's a dinner that can sit - a few min max. Otherwise no waiting. He knows dinner is ready. DC and I will be eating. And vice versa. If I'm eg putting away laundry and just want to get it done I'll finish it off and the others will already be eating.
(We never complain if the rest start without us)

He’s a CF indeed. If DH is WFH, I’ll shout up dinner is in 15. Then I shout when I’m plating up, if he can’t time that it sits on the worktops going cold, but usually he makes it!

I call dinner 5 to 10 mins before it's ready and on places because it takes that long for H to understand its time to eat, the eldest kid to put down whatever he's doing and then around 4 mins to capture the toddler who a minute before was right under my feet and clinging to me.

If you're not at the table when the food is...tough shit, you were given fair warning and the microwave is always available to reheat food. Scheduling dinner, play time, bath and bed is always tight and nothing stands in my way of getting the toddler to bed by 19.20.

He was the rude one.

Being late when someone has gone to the bother of cooking for you is ungrateful.

Anyway, we don't wait.

We don't wait, they come when they're ready. I used to get annoyed by this, think it was setting a bad example to young DCs etc but I'm more chilled now, DCs have grown up and it's rare for us to all eat together anyway so it doesn't make much difference.

You want fed? You pitch up!

Years ago I had a house rule that if you don’t show up to eat when the meal I’ve cooked is ready for you, I wouldn’t cook for you again.

It worked.

Tbf I also used to time meals around activities, pick up, drop offs and work - it wasn’t arbitrary. But the rule was really there to stop the “five more minutes” on video games and the idea that I’m some kind of dinner slave at the family’s service.

If dinner is called in my house, most of them are at the table in seconds! DH can faff around a bit sometimes but we don’t wait for him.

With immediate family I don’t really to be honest; teenage DC can take a while to come down and it annoyed me and that seemed to make them slower whereas just starting seems to have made them come down immediately. DH comes in within a couple of minutes

A minute or two if that!

I give fair warning and I don't wait at all. No one complains if they don't get waited for though.

I loathe cooking, so for me to take time out of every single day to make food, often adapted to suit various dietary requirements, the least my family can do is flipping well turn up!

This drives me mad. I do all the cooking, give a 5 min warning and still husband and teens saunter in a few mins late. Utterly disrespectful imo to the cook. And I tell them time and time again….