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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

415 replies

Windsock · 02/08/2012 16:02

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

OP posts:
yellowraincoat · 02/08/2012 20:03

Actually Felicity, I do think things like this are important. It's just simple consideration for other people, I don't know what's so laughable about that. You could make the same argument for not talking in a library or saying please and thank you. Not THAT important, but we do them because it's polite.

If it was busy, of course I wouldn't sit and finish my conversation, I would leave so someone else could get my table. Why on earth wouldn't I do that?

emmieging · 02/08/2012 20:03

It's only going to be a problem when somewhere is full anyway. So as long as you know that if people who have already paid for their food and can't find space, anyone hogging a table without food will have to shove off ... No problemo

Moominsarescary · 02/08/2012 20:05

Making sure you have somewhere to eat before you buy food seems sensible to me. It's pretty stupid to buy food then wait around while it goes cold.

Unless there is a sign to say you must buy your food first.

yellowraincoat · 02/08/2012 20:06

OK Moomins, and what happens when someone has bought food and then there is no table because everyone else has a table?

It would make NO sense if everyone sat down before they queued because loads of people would be taking up tables that weren't even being used, so it would slow the flow right down.

emmieging · 02/08/2012 20:08

Yes moonin - it would be pretty stupid to wait for it to get cold. Which is why if all tables were occupied (which lets face it is the only time it's a problem ) anyone not eating would need to move.

A cafe / restaurant which has sold someone a meal to eat in is obliged to provide that service to them. They aren't under any obligation to someone who hasn't bought anything yet!

FelicitywasSarca · 02/08/2012 20:10

Yellow I just don't see the link between this issue and the other things you describe. The others are good manners - talking in a library is rude and has a direct effect on others.

Getting your table first only has an effect on those too silly to do the same. Other restaurants work on a sit first and get food next, and restaurants that hurry customers out rightly get a bad reputation. Now while I understand that fast food places are cheaper because they offer less of a service, I dont know why you think that should extend to not sitting down before you order your food.

It smacks of cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Moominsarescary · 02/08/2012 20:11

Don't buy food until you have a table, if a place is that packed it's hardly sensible to have people standing around with hot food. Go somewhere else

You say your having to wait anyway, why not wait without the food

emmieging · 02/08/2012 20:12

Felicity- its not silly for adults to want to choose their own meal in a self service restaurant! If each adult has a trayful it's ridiculous to park most of them at a table and get someone else to bring their dinner !

GWenlockMaryLacey · 02/08/2012 20:19

This thread is hysterical. If I go into a cafe, look around and there is nowhere to sit then I'll go elsewhere. If I queue up and there are spaces and by the time I get my food it's rammed, I'll be extremely pissed off. So the common sense argument is to secure a table before handing over cash.

I love that the other side are taking the moral high ground whilst flinging names at those of us with more sense.

noddyholder · 02/08/2012 20:22

The solution is don't eat in cheap restaurants and you will be sure to be seated otherwise you will have to deal with the entitled Grin There is a civil war going on in syria you know, a table in macdonalds is not worth fighting over

emmieging · 02/08/2012 20:24

And I'm loving the way the table baggers are trying to have a monopoly on common sense!

You do realise that this is ONLY a problem if somewhere is full. If there are plenty of tables, those of us capable of standing in a queue and choosing our own food will find a table fine. And if we've paid for our food and no tables are free, anyone hogging a table who hasn't even bought a meal will be obliged to shove off! If you think any cafe is going to prioritise someone who hasn't yet paid over someone with a meal in their hand then you're nuts!!

FelicitywasSarca · 02/08/2012 20:26

Emmie, you are quite right it is not silly for an adult to want to choose their own meal. It is faintly ridiculous for one person to struggle with 3 trays of food.

That's why you leave ONE at the table (after he/she has decided what they want) and the others can go and get the food.

Gwenlock you are totally right. The name calling and telling us we are entitled cunts while trying to take the moral high ground is hilarious.

FelicitywasSarca · 02/08/2012 20:27

Emmie it is more 'nuts' to assume that your average mcdonalds Saturday worker is going to come off a busy table to demand a group of adults move for you.

It might be the official rule but it's just not going to happen.

They don't have the staff for it.

olimpia · 02/08/2012 20:27

So annoying when people on MN do this. Of course this is nothing on comparison to civil war and people dying of hunger. That's not the point! Everything on SINU is frivolous in comparison. So we're not allowed to get annoyed about anything?

FelicitywasSarca · 02/08/2012 20:28

...and more to the point IS it the official rule? Where is this law written down?

FelicitywasSarca · 02/08/2012 20:28

*busy till

gatheringlilac · 02/08/2012 20:31

The V and A café is a nightmare for this.

And I notice that the seat-hogging behaviour is like Japanese knotweed: starts off small; gets bigger; gets out of control; is impossible to eradicate.

I was so in the V and A as I looked around at all the grabby people.

Somehow I kind of think it's OK in a MacDonalds, or suchlike, because you sort of expect it, and you know that no-one's going to hang around a long while, so you aren't going to be left standing with your tray for that long.

The poster who suggested just taking your tray back and demanding a refund -- that is a brilliant idea, and I will definitely do it next time.

emmieging · 02/08/2012 20:32

I wouldn't know- I can't imagine anything worse than eating in Mcdonalds!

But yes- ive certainly seen that happen in various places , most recently in M and S cafe where a couple of groups walked in and parked themselves at tables while one person went to the end of what was a very long queue. When the people who had just paid at the till clearly had no free table, the staff asked one of the groups to move. Quite right too. It enabled the people with food to eat, the queue kept flowing and when aforementioned group got their food, the earlier people were finished anyway!

Moominsarescary · 02/08/2012 20:32

By the time you have gone to a member of staff to complain about table hoggers, chances are the other person will be back with the food.

I doubt very much if there is no sign saying please buy food first that anyone will be chucked out of their seat.

I've never seen it happen, if it does why are you moaning about having to stand around with your food?

yellowraincoat · 02/08/2012 20:33

It does have an effect when people don't just wait in line. Plenty of places have signs saying don't sit down til you've paid. It should be enforced.

I love how the other side are saying we're calling names when I've just been called silly.

Viviennemary · 02/08/2012 20:35

Grin at noddyholder. Afternoon tea at the Ritz it is. From now on.

noddyholder · 02/08/2012 20:36

Yes get annoyed but calling people cunts. Just no!

YouOldSlag · 02/08/2012 20:42

I love how the other side are saying we're calling names when I've just been called silly.

Well clutch my pearls at someone calling you silly!

The common sense people who prefer to sit at the table whilst awaiting their food, have been called "cuntish", "thick", "ignorant" and "selfish".

This name calling has simply undermined any of the arguments made by the perpetrators.

(Damn, I SWORE to myself I wouldn't get involved!)

emmieging · 02/08/2012 20:43

I haven't moaned about having to stand around waiting with food! God, if I've paid for food I'll ensure I get a table- that's what I've paid for! And I don't know why you're saying 'oh that wouldn't happen' - I've seen it, most recently in M and S. The staff were very polite about it (as they should be) and as one of the group was rather on the - ahem- large side they even went as far as offering her a chair to wait on, but they were very firm about asking them to move from the table as there were people already with food needing to eat.

ShatnersBassoon · 02/08/2012 20:52

God, even worse. A fat, thick, ignorant cunt. In M&S of all places.

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