To get annoyed at people who grab a table in cafes while their friends/partners queue up and order?

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Went to a busy coffee shop this afternoon. Long queue etc. By the time I got mine, I was left waiting along with a few other people who had been served before me standing around with our coffees in our hands waiting for someone to leave and/or ask if they minded someone sitting at their table. What really got my goat was that there were 3 tables that were taken by people who had friends/partners in the queue and therefore did not have their drinks/food yet. I see this a lot. Sometimes the amount of time it takes for someone to queue up, order and get their food/beverages is around the same time someone else could have sat down and finished what they ordered.

Luckily after a short time, a table became free which I was able to take. It just annoys me that people do this. I think if we have a queuing system for food etc surely people with the food should get first dibs on the tables. Would it ever be appropriate to confront someone and turf them off their seat?

If it's busy and there are no tables I walk out and go somewhere else. Or go somewhere with table service.

A disadvantage with being on your own is that you can't have someone sit down while you buy your food. An advantage is that you can easily share a table with someone else, or indeed go elsewhere easily. That's life.

I think in a proper restaurant, people get tables, and waitresses always tend to assign tables based on group size, to maximise seat occupation.

I had people re-seat themselves -pre/orders and post ordering which messed around with the orders but that was in a restaurant with a host greeter but not posh restaurant.

Plus on some shifts the hosts were crap/not where they should be or so short staffed it was ridiculous and people would wonder in and seat themselves.

But yes we staff would try to ensure this.

I thought most people do just find a table before ordering, partly to stop clogging up the queue with too many people and partly because there would be no point in staying if there wasn't a free table. I've seen plenty of cafes with signs staing 'at busy times please find a table before ordering'.

think or Syria OP

then post banality like this!!!

shessh!

You Q up. Get your food and then get your table.

Says who? Unless there are signs up of course in which case they should be taken down unless the staff can manage the system because it doesn't work otherwise. I've only ever seen these signs in McDonalds and one independent café.

Get a table, get your food. That is the natural order of things. Taking your DC, buggies, shopping, etc. in the queue with you is just ridiculous and then you're supposed to manage all of that and carry the food and drinks. I can't do that safely.

We do different things depending on place, and number of free tables, if loads of free tables, tend to queue first, although its always usually safer to get one sat down with the DC, otherwise, one get table and sit, other gets food.

summer agree.

fromparis MN is full of banality like this. it's what makes it great.

there is banality

then there is BANALITY

this falls into the latter

and it has 235 messages too! I blame the onset of winter

Good lord fromparis there has been worse banality than this.

Have you never seen a shoes on/off in the house thread. Or a Gammon in Coke thread?

Tis raining though.

OOOH, I love gammon in coke.

Just stopped raining here.

Apparently there was a Gammon in Lilt thread. Bleurgh.

Lilt's pineapple isn't it?

So that would be a Hawaiian Gammon, non?

Banality is what allows us to keep living in the face of Syria, North Korea, the US shut down, the rise of the Chinese domination of world economy, European recession, the X-Factor.

ok

HumpdaySelfie, NO. oh no

I just sit here, at my desk, having sad sad thought and contributing most of my paycheck to medecins san frontieres

then calling threads banal

I once did the soaking the christmas turkey in briny water ala Nigella.

Made not a jot of difference and just mean I ended up with another plastic tub for the stables. It was pale blue if anyone is interested.

Good for you Paris.

We always have beef at Christmas Exit, can you do that in Lilt do you think?

Lilt gives me heartburn.

Is it Lilt that is meant to be good for a hangover? Or is that Sprite?

YAdNBU

It's not fair.

Lucozade for a hangover, and three paracetamol.