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

vivienne read the thread and comma's posts in particular

Well you lot can all stand in the queue and we will tut at you for clogging up the queue area, and we will sit down and you can tut at us for sitting at tables.

Fair?

Erm, sometimes all the coffee places are full hairylemon?

We are talking McDonalds here not the Fat Duck!

Hands up then, I am a knob. I am not going to buy food/drink, put it on a tray and stand with a 2yr old and a 4yr old waiting on a free table. I mark my territory with the pram...This behaviour may well piss me off in later life when I'm a grumpy old woman and the kids are grown up...Shit happens...get over it....

Centre of town where I live is always full everywhere

These threads start up every so often and no one ever changes their mind. I am not going to get food without a seat and my pet hate is people clogging up the queue with children that they ought to anchor at a table, out of the way, before they begin.

If it is very crowded I go elsewhere. If I am on my own it isn't a problem-I can join another lone person.

I did read the thread. (For once!) But I still don't think there would be a guarantee of a table. Anyway I blame those people who have two small coffees and then sit for hours and hours and hours. They're the ones to blame.

Surely utter common sense.

Most people have one rule for themselves and another for the families they tut at

Of course it is common sense-if people want to tut and clog up queues (in the most irritating fashion) they can-but don't expect the sensible people to change.

In Macdonald's in Oxford last weekend (heaving) they had positioned a security man at the foot of the stairs preventing people going up unless they had their food, which I thought reasonable enough. Seeing how busy it was and that they were sticking to the 'rules' on this particular day gave you a choice of coming back when it was quieter, not bothering at all, or getting your food then occupying the next free table, a quicker wait than if still-foodless people were wastefully (as it were) taking up tables.

Those places are hell when it's busy and it annoys me as much as the next person having to wait with a tray, but in practice I don't think I've ever had to, or at least not more than moments.

I've never tutted or clogged up a queue in my life. Sensible people my arse. Probably the same people who don't let others off the train before they get on.

Oh yes yellow ! Bet its the same ones! And have you noticed they sometimes try to barge into lifts before people have had a chance to exit

I've come to the conclusion it's either a weird sense of entitlement, that they are More Important than everyone else. Or a deep seated fear of NOT being important enough, and failing to get that table/train etc

A long time ago I did a degree in mathematics/statistics, queuing theory was one of the things I sort of specialised in, though I do not claim to remember any of the theory.

The situation described is extremely complex. There are at least two systems in operation;

a) People queuing for food; obviously some will take longer to do this than others.

b) People are vacating tables; equally obviously they will also be taking different times.

To work out what strategy would minimise the total length of time a random customer( , with a random number of kids) would stay in the establishment is well beyond my capabilities. (Assuming the minimum length of time is what is desired)

But then I imagine somewhere like MacD' has done exactly that

*'Felicity, I also don't worry too much about the restaurant, but I am concerned about society as a whole.

Yes, I'm polishing my halo, but I don't see why I as an individual am more important than someone else.'*

Hahaha, it's not about importance. Just convienance. I don't mind waiting for a table to become free before I sit at it, before I then go and order food. I don't mind other people doing exactly the same as me.

I do think it's a bit self important to suggest that standing with your food getting cold on a tray while you wait for a table is helping society in some way. Why is your way right and my the logical way wrong?

You are attaching value where there is none.

Also, if we accept your argument as true for a moment. Do you also vacate your table the second you finish eating? To accommodate someone else? Or do you finish your conversation/ pause before leaving? (as is social custom)

There is no correlation between reserving a table (sensible) and barging onto trains (clearly rude).

No offence complex but that sounds a bit nerdy to me
Surely not keeping tables occupied by toddlers waiting die their mums can only be a good thing for how long you got to wait?

This has descended into the usual MN ridiculous perfectionists against the rest of the world. You can NEVER joke on MN now without the moral police waving their batons

Only fucking selfish entitled cunts hog tables before they have bought food.

Only fucking selfish entitled cunts hog tables before they have bought food.

Please god let this be tongue in cheek. Surely no one actually feels this strongly about such a mundane issue.

I'm a massively selfish entitled cunt then

Me to hairy, who knew eh?

I always sit my children down first so that I can concentrate on making sure I know what they want, and then one person goes to the counter and orders and brings the food back. Makes sense to me. What's cuntish about that?