AIBU that when you are alone in a busy cafe...

[warmandwooly]

And paying for your coffee etc that people who are just coming in shouldn't hot the only available tables while their DH etc go and collect their order.
FFS they can see it's busy. They can see people at the que making their order AIBU to suggest they maybe have some thought for others?

yellow raincoat it's not like driving past a queue of traffic and then cutting in - I used to get annoyed with people who did that but then I learned (in a thread in another site long ago) that if people kept in 2 lanes then merged at the point the lane shuts this would actually increase traffic flow. So many people get cross about this and sit for ages in single file sometimes for miles before the lane actually closes!! Think about it. And don't get me started on the idiots who take it upon themselves to straddle 2 lanes to prevent people getting through because they think everyone should wait in one lane. Not helpful!

OP, fence sitting on this one - especially if there are no chairs free :o. I think if there are couples/groups needing a table and a singleton is taking up a table to his/her self it's annoying, but at the same time can see your point. I'd be tempted just to take an empty chair at one of the tables that's been bagged and suggest that by the time the queuer has got the coffees you'll likely have finished and gone.

This is bizarre - I had never thought of people getting annoyed about this. What if everyone brought their sisters and husbands and aunts to stand in the queue? The queue would be miles longer and half the people queueing would be out the door in the lightning/frost/whirlwind. Bet you wouldn't like that either.

If the common sense solution of ONE person queueing while everyone else sits really annoys you that much, go somewhere with waiter service. Ta-da.

Although I really suspect that you're just angry because you're pregnant and tired and having to queue anyway, none of which combine to put people in a great mood. If this is the case, I hope the rest of the day is more soothing :)

Mind you, the real fuckers are the ones who try to hog the seats for our people on the train. Dd, ds2 and I irritated the fuck out of one of those last week.

Oh Pag - I do that.

Although on R4 today there was a woman who had lost an eye after an altercation over an arm rest on a train so be careful who you upset.

Irrelevanting.

I have never once seen a sign saying you need to pay before you sit down. I think that just gets dragged out for these threads

YellowRaincoat - so you want all and sundry to clutter up the queue? Weird notion that is.

Ooh Pag, I do that on trains too. What's amazing is that most people are too scared to ask!

I meant I stare people out who have put bags on spare seats.

I was in McDonalds recently and my friend went to the toilet. A woman came in, put all her stuff down and said, "can you move your stuff, I need these seats for my friends." I said my friend was sitting there and she actually went to move my friend's stuff. When I said my friend was sitting there, she actually started to shout at me.

Crazy. Even if I had been saving a seat for my friend, which I would never do, why on earth does she think she has more of a right to be there?

Definitely we should all just cosy up a bit more. I like sharing tables, you can listen to secrets.

This is the scenario-
I am in the que being served there are currently empty tables. People come in and reserve themselves a table while someone goes and gets the order. So basically that means me with no table and food and a drink. Had the cafe not have had emty tables etc I wouldn't have bothered.

yellow- I wouldn't go to a pay then sit cafe. I would not take my two young children and husband up to the counter. I would rather go somewhere else.

I just thought it was normal that you go to a cafe, get a table, one of you orders, job done.

If all four of us had to go to the counter and then chance it with a table I wouldn't bother. Why should it be stressful? Equally, if I was on my own, I would not expect to exclusively use a table for four for myself.

Exitpursuedbyabear, snap! I trained DS to guard the table from toddlerhood, obviously one always visible from the queue. The thought of not getting your cake or hot chocolate/cold drink is a big motivator at any age :).

ChippingIn, honestly, I think it depends. I have no kids and don't tend to frequent cafes where large family groups go. I think if you had a buggy and surplus children, I'd probably unclench. If you are just sending your friend/partner/lover/colleague to bag a table, yes, it is a bit rude but I probably don't lose any sleep and you shouldn't get in a mard if I ask you to budge up a bit.

Not a single spare seat wooly or just not an entire table to yourself??

I knew it wasn't just me

They do huff when they realise that you are not going to give up don't they?

With marshmallows CremeEgg

It is annoying but say lavee.

Oh people on trains who try to hog seats with bags are the worst. Twice this month I've been on the tube at rush hour and people have had their suitcase on a seat. Who the hell puts a suitcase on a seat?

The worst thing was it was so rammed that people didn't seem to want to ask them to move because it was cause bother. So everyone just politely and Britishly pretended it wasn't happening.

One of us always sits while the other order (friends, family, whatever) I like to be 'sorted' :) But I never mind if anyone shares the table as long as they ask and don't just plonk themselves down. I actually met one of my now friends like that and have had some really interesting conversations over the years and many quietly shared tables.

The people in quon weren't pregnant etc btw!

Did you turn up armed with pregnancy tests and a piss bucket?

Me too with the train thing.
The best thing is when they've sat in the aisle seat with their things on the windowseat, deliberately to put people off, rather than considerately sat in the windowseat as an acknowledgement that someone else may have the aisle, and then they have to get up to let you in, which serves them right.

The lesson we have learnt here is a. live in a place with many eating and drinking options so that you can go elsewhere if your choice of cafe is full and b. places without lots of cafes are rubbish.

Yellow those of us trying, in vain, not to clutter up the aisle or 3 seats (in a block of 4, if it's on the floor it blocks more seats, if it's on a seat, just the one), obviously if there's a luggage rack it goes there and if there's a standing bit I'll stand there with it etc, but it's not always easy!

Yabu. It only makes sense for a larger party to sit down and one orders. Either stake out your seat with a coat or paper, or prepare to share with others. People shouldn't have to assess the queue on the possibility a single person needs a table before them.

YANBU

Completely agree, you are paying extra to sit in the cafe..not walk around with a hot drink balanced on a croissant whilst struggling with bags or a baby.

If the cafe lets people do this then they should find you somewhere to sit. You have paid for this service (eat in/take out?). I normally go up to the staff and make it their problem. Find me somewhere to sit.. please?

If not then I usually go and sit on a table with the people who have baggsied it.. "do you mind if I join you?" and plonk down. Only once has a turd of a man said "yes we do, piss off"

I was rescued then by Daniel Craig, thank god, who asked me to sit with him and his mum whist they waited for Sean Bean to come back from Debenhams.

This happened to us in McDonalds recently and it did really annoy me as I had my daughter with my who has severe autism and cannot wait, everything has to be in order etc and yet people were just sitting there with no food on their tables gawping at her because she was getting distressed because we had food and couldn't sit down.