that people who grab tables at self service restaurants without getting food dirst

[Windsock]

are nobs
owners of small kids etcetc ussual conditions apply
it REALLY annoys me.
this messes up the flow of traffic and one person sits there hogging a space where 4 people could get in eat AND have left byt he time their person arrives

The only reason that I bite my tongue and judge, Janey is because they hold the unshakable view that they are doing the right thing. If they want to do it fine - but don't expect the rest of us to follow suit. I think the right thing is to find a seat first.

These threads are a hoot!!

Look- 99% of the time it's not a problem. You get your food and get a seat (or vice versa)

The ONLY time it could ever be a problem is if there are literally NO seats left, someone waiting with food and some of the seats occupied by people not yet eating. In which unusual circumstance, COMMON SENSE would suggest that the non eater moves (because it's easier to wait elsewhere than eat your meal without a table!) Btw I loved the post upthread from sirzy, who when this scenario was described, bleated 'but what if the person queuing is only going to be 10 mins?? You might take longer than 10 mins eating!" Erm..... another table would become free?? You know- from someone who's at a different stage of their meal?? Radical idea I know, for the bum-clenching table hogger to sit somewhere else but try it, you might survive....

In the ludicrously illogical situation where someone sitting at a table but not yet eating refused to move to enable someone with food to eat, then any member of staff worth their salt would politely ask them to- usualsuspect who works in a cafe described doing this sometimes.

Another table might come free but I ain't risking not having a table, I'm not having children standing around when they have been happily seated and entertained.

This subject comes round frequently.

I've participated in loads but have honed my response to:

YABU.

I wasn't going to post here again but here goes. The point is the seats first people are going to win every time. Occupation is nine tenths of the law. And unless somebody is a karate black belt. clutches pearls, what is to be done except kick up a fuss. I would always move if there was no seats and somebody who had food asked me to move so they could sit down.

Of course Vivienne- it would be most bizarre to act like your arse is superglued to the seat when you're not actually needing a table yet and someone else does!

This would be a very rare occurrence though... Most of the time there would be spare seats.

If there are not going to be spare seats the sensible option is to have gone elsewhere in the first place!

Certainly if someone is struggling for a seat I am not going to give it up if I can see that my food is coming within a couple of minutes, and if my person is still in the queue and still not near payment I would give up the seat and go to another establishment. The one thing that I am not doing is getting a tray of food without a table (unless I am on my own).

How on earth is it the sensible option to go elsewhere if people come in after you're in the queue?!

Just as an example- Single person comes in, room in cafe, queue up, tables all bagged by the time theyve paid. Unlikely to be all bagged but possible. You would seriously not move if they came to your table?? You'd expect them to eat standing up because you couldnt cope with them using a chair which 'belongs' to someone who hasn't yet got a meal! How bizarre !

I'll put this here rather than starting a new thread, it's at least vaguely related...

Why is it that, upon entering a pub/restaurant/cafe, people automatically gravitate towards dirty tables? It absolutely does my nut in at work, there's often situations where there's 6/7/8 completely clean and freshly laid tables but new customers walking in will choose the one table that's been vacated only seconds before which the waiting staff haven't had time to clear yet. Then they complain about crumbs/lack of cutlery.

I have no idea toboldlygo... Maybe it's that pathological fear about grabbing a table before they combust or something !

Get table, decide what to eat, send one person up to order/purchase food! Never ever seen it done the other way round, and if I'm on my own I ask a member of staff to help me find a table, John Lewis etc will, or if place is jammed I find somewhere else, quite simple really!

You would seriously not move if they came to your table?? You'd expect them to eat standing up because you couldnt cope with them using a chair which 'belongs' to someone who hasn't yet got a meal! How bizarre !

I thought that I had just explained that I would give up my seats and go somewhere less busy.
Unless I could see that my companion was just about to pay-in which case I would say-'I'm sorry-that is my DH/friend with our order'.
I can't see the problem.
The one thing that I am not going to do is all queue and then be left trying to find non existent seats!
If I am on my own there isn't a problem-I just say 'is this seat taken to another lone person?' if not I sit on it. Simple.

Right- glad you can see sense that to remain glued to a chair while not eating is utterly daft in the situation where someone with food actually needs it

Janey-I am not going to explain again- IF my companion has the food on the tray and is paying I am not moving for the sake of 1 minute!!! If they have paid we would go elsewhere and they could have the seats.

Don't you think that it is a little silly that before I have my coat on again and they have unloaded their tray my companion has arrived and we have to then drift around!

What happens if you are just having hot food with the number of your order (not the table number) are you not allowed to sit down-do 6 of you have to stand up, in case someone else should arrive with a sandwich? The whole thing is mad!

Yes- obviously if your companion is next in the queue! But in the event of it being a busy cafe, it would make sense for single person to approach someone who has just come in and bagged a table, as their companion will have had to join the end of the busy queue- in which case it' would be utterly weird for that person to steadfastly refuse to move. Which is what some people have said they would do!!

I doubt if in a busy cafe people have time to accurately work out who came in when and who they are with!! I am certainly not moving for someone who is doing the same as me!

Because another table is likely to be empty before they need to fight me for one!

Not engaging with any of this ridiculous thread except to nod to ComplexNumber and say that I did that study too - except for doctors' surgeries and queuing. Quite fascinating really. As you were everyone else...

Fight? But you table hoggers are always trying to make out you're such a calm chilled out bunch lol

It has all got too silly for words, especially as we will all continue to do as we normally do.

Janey, give it up. Your reasoning is ridiculous, you are just twisting and twisting and twisting to try and make sensible people appear selfish and entitled. When in fact the problem doesn't actually exist.

You get a table. You order food you eat.

If you are on your own and stuck for a table you share with someone else.

Nobody reasonable objects to giving a single person a seat at their table.

Simple as that. No aggression, no rage, no problem.

It's no different to waiter service. You get a table and then get your food. It's only common sense. Imagine all these people standing around and waiters bringing their food and then finding them somewhere to sit. Total madness!!