To share tables in a busy/empty cafe?

[StepAwayFromCake]

Two of us come into a busy cafe. Lots of tables for two, a couple of large tables for 6/8.

The large table in the middle has a family of 4 at it, so we ask "May we share your table?" No problem.

Before our order has been taken, the rest of the cafe empties. The dishes are still on the tables.

By the time our food comes, the rest of the tables have been cleared.

We are where we were.

WWBU not to move to an empty table at any point?

This is definitely a reverse!

FWIW yes the normal thing to do would be to move but, meh it's not the end of the world.

It's awkward though - if you're two adults and they're with children, I would worry it might offend them if I moved away again (i.e. suggesting that sitting next to them was intolerable), especially since they were kind enough to share their table.

It's only for a meal, it's not like you're committing to the whole day there, so I would have stayed put, unless it was a squeeze and there wasn't actually sufficient room for everyone to eat comfortably.

It's not a reverse. So if I wasn't clear - the cafe was rammed when we went in. There were only spaces at the two large tables.

I can be socially inept (yes, we're a family with strong ASD traits) and I genuinely wasn't sure whether it would have been polite to move once the food started arriving. A bit like implying that they were good enough at a pinch, but if had a better offer. I sort of know that's nonsense, but at the same time it sort of niggles.

I was with my teen dd, they were a young family. The table wasn't at all crowded.

Change tables when one becomes free next time StepAway - it is not the same situation as accepting a social invitation from one group and then dumping them for a better offer! The people you sat with were strangers, and you were not accepting an offer of their company but asking for the temporary use of a physical space at their table.

OP, you say "looks like some tables have has opened so we'll give you some space. Thanks so much for letting us share."

Otherwise you do look a bit like weirdos.

yes...what rhiWrites says....a simple thanks and move on!

I'd move if:

• The tables were free AND cleared/wiped down
• I didn't have food due to arrive to my table (or I'd ask the family to point the staff to us on our new table)

I wouldn't move if the only spaces available are tables covered in dirty plates and food debris from someone else's meal.

Move as soon as a more suitable table becomes available. Otherwise you are invading the other family's personal space for no good reason.

That would be the way I would view it if strangers joined my family at the table. I don't think I would actually say it out loud, but I would certainly wish privately that they would move, because I think everyone would be more comfortable that way.

I wouldn't necessarly have moved if there was plenty of space for all of us at the large table, just because I would have worried that the family of 4 might have been offended. Like me saying I don''t like sharing a table with them.
I'm a bit awkward socially I guess

Weird.

I would have moved as soon as a table became free. The other family may feel you're invading their space or eavesdropping on private conversation. I dislike it when people share my table, it feels intrusive.