In thinking 'that table was MINE!'

[LifeIsButtercream]

I think I might need some chocolate-based PMT remedy...........

I went alone to a cafe in town this morning - not lunchtime but the small cafe was full apart from one remaining table, I was at the till ordering and juggling 400 bags of Christmas shopping when I heard the cafe door go. Two ladies came in, I paid and picked up my tray, but when I turned around one of the ladies had sat at the table while her friend/daughter/something-or-other went up to order, and left me standing there in the middle of the cafe weilding a tray of coffee and cake with nowhere to go.

I ended up standing at the end of the counter-y bit where you get knives/forks/spoons/sugar/ketchup/whatnot necking coffee until someone left their table while occasionally giving glaring looks to the table THEIVES

Rant over - I feel better for that!

I'd have sat down at the table anyway ... But I'm am arsey cow :)

See, I would have gone over and sat down. If you've paid you're first, its not your fault you didn't have someone with you. Were there enough seats that you could share?

I've been in town on my own the last couple of days and haven't been able to find anywhere to have lunch. I obviously don't want to go to a restaurant on my own but in all the cafes and coffee shops I'd one across the problem above.

Ooh a table nicking thread I love these.

My opinion is the table was yours and table saving is rude.

I've raised this before and been told I'm totally unreasonable and standard practise is for someone to baggsy a table

but IMO YANBU

I don't have a problem with people reserving tables while somebody else queues, I do it myself.

Then again I also have no problem plonking myself in a free seat at an already occupied table when I am out alone.

Were all seats taken OP, could you not have shared a table?

I would have sat down, smiled at the seat saver and ignored any suggestions that I move.

I love these threads, I would have put my coat over the back of the chair at the table and then gone to order.

I have sat down in same circumstance, if there's one table left, and people ahead of you at the counter, that table is not "free"

Was every table full? Could you not have asked someone with an empty seat if you could sit there?

you should of put your bags on the table. it wasn't yours until you lay some claim on it. the table was empty to them.

I never realised that people had this bizarre attitude to table saving before.

I don't understand the hatred to table saving! Everybody does it, what's the problem?!

You should have sat down too. Nothing wrong with someone sitting down and someone else going to queue, but if the woman sitting down doesn't have her drink or food yet and you do, why on earth would you stand?

In that situation she ought either to share the table gracefully or accept the cafe is full and there's no room for her and her friend who came in after you.

I would just have gone to a table with a lone person on it- there must have been at least one.

"I don't understand the hatred to table saving! Everybody does it, what's the problem?!"

because when you go into a cafe you look to see if there's free tables before ordering, so say there's 2 tables and 1 group ahead of you, you are "safe" to order as there's somewhere to sit with your tray, unless some wanker who can't add/doesn't care comes in after you and takes the table even though they can easily see that there's someone ahead of them at the counter, and only space for one person to sit left! it's basic maths! and manners!

Why wouldnt you go to a restaurant on your own SauvignonBlanche?

I hate people like that. You can't bloody well save seats when someone who has paid for food stands around with their drinks and food going cold. Arsehole people.

I do reserve a table if I'm with somebody else. But I'd never object to somebody else sitting at it.

This happens frequently in the coffee shop that i work in, if there really wasn't an empty seat anywhere else in this situation at work I would have gone over to the 2 new ladies and explained that you were sitting there and it was only empty because you were ordering. This has the benefit of normally getting some lingerers to vacate their seats and usually keeps everyone happy.

Coat on the chair would have been the best option though.

When I worked at Burger King (a dark veil has been drawn over this time) there were signed displayed telling people not to sit down until they had paid for their food. If people who had paid were left standing with trays, whilst someone "held" a table for the person up ordering, we had to tell them to shift. That caused a fair few arguments.

I think it was just bad luck soz. This thread will go on for 20 pages btw.

Bad luck I'm afraid

I'm on the fence here as I rarely go to coffee shops unless I'm meeting one particular friend.

If I were on my own I think I would bagsy the seat with my shopping then queue whilst keeping an eye on my goods.

Is this coffee shop bad etiquette?

just sit down anywhere! does it really matter?

I think it would be ridiculous if a group of 3 or 6 people stood around simply waiting till their food was paid for before sitting down. They would be in everyones way!