AIBU to wonder if this man had a legitimate AIBU about me?

[CrooksAndNannies]

I run a bistro with 8 outdoor tables 32 chairs.

There's currently no inside service.

We were very busy today when a man came up to me.

All chairs except one were occupied. BUT there was one table free, though the chairs had been moved to an adjacent table by a group.

The potential customer cane up to me and with attitude asked me if there were any more chairs as there was a table free. And he wanted to eat (he implied that he was with other people but can't remember his phrasing). I apologised and said all chairs bar one were occupied, and told him about some benches in the courtyard a few yards away.

"But we want to SIT and EAT at a table."

surprised he didn't stamp his foot

Ahha, I offered to take his number and call him when the situation had changed, if he'd like to have a wander.

"but people have MOVED chairs, and there's an empty table I could eat at of there were CHAIRS"

I reitered I was sorry.

He said he'd eat elsewhere with a glare and wandered off to another eatery.

AIBU to want to know how he represented this conversation about the Front Of House refusing to take seats off current customers?

He seemed to think that because the chairs had been moved from a table he could legitimately ask for them to be put back.

To set the scene, this is a few eateries and shops on a crafty/artisany country village set around a few courtyards.

It's glorious, please visit.

I think he had a point. We had lunch out today and there were signs on all the tables saying please don't move the furniture as it has been set up in line with social distancing. I would have been annoyed at an empty table with no chairs but would have gone elsewhere. I think you need to stop people moving chairs

So you were at the limit of customers you are allowed to have in your space? Sounds like he was unreasonable to me. My daughter is full of tails about unreasonable customers, so nothing would surprise me.

Perhaps he wasn't the politest, but I think he had a point. Surely the chairs and tables have been set out to help allow for social distancing. By moving the chairs the other diners could be blocking walk ways, and encroaching other groups.

He was being silly, if there are no chairs available then there are no chairs available. But some people think mountains should be moved for them even if they don’t conceivably know how that could work.

I worked in a shop once and a woman returned an item which had due to a manufacturing issue had broken. She wanted to exchange for a non broken one. Unfortunately all of that particular stock had sold out so we had none to exchange it for, so I apologised and advised we could only offer a refund. She said that wasn’t good enough and still want the item so I would need to find a way. Not sure what exactly she wanted me to do.

He was U as you'd reached your limit of 32 customers.

You were U as you'd allowed customers to move chairs.

Not in Covid19 times but I once had a customer who wanted a high chair for his baby. I apologised that all the high chairs we had were in use at that moment. He told me he was a friend of the owner. I was like "tell him we need more high chairs then"

Re OP post. You can't turn away 5 customers because the tables are arranged with 4 seats on the off chance that you then get a party of 4 in. HWBU

You were both unreasonable. You had reached capacity and he was rude about wanting more chairs, but equally you were wrong to allow customers to move the set up you’d put out.

Personally I think you've probably got enough on your hands at the moment without having to police other people's chair moving. If they were in a single group they were ok sitting together, and they took available chairs, seems legit. What did he want you to do, turf them out or magic up some new chairs? You did fine OP.
You just encountered one of life's many, many aresholes.

He's just having a mantrum. What did he think you could do? Did he want you to kick paying customers off the chairs, and tell them to move them back to the empty adjacent table in case someone else needed them? They needed them! And if you moved them back they'd still have sat on them, but the group would be spread out to 2 tables! Maybe he thought you had some more chairs, but were hiding them for a bit of a laugh. Or maybe he understood there was nothing you could do, but decided to have a go at you anyway because he's a bit of cunt and wanted to share his misery. Just forget about it.

He WBU and a bit of a big baby but so were you a little bit.
Where I work we have signs on all the tables saying do not move chairs or tables as they have been set up in accordance with social distancing guidelines.

He was unreasonable.

Small businesses at the moment want/need to take any customers they can get. If OP had a group of 5 arrive but only had a table for 4, what is the harm in moving one chair? Better than turning away a whole group and their definite custom, just in case another group of 4 comes along and wants a table.
As long as social distancing could still be maintained I dont think you did anything wrong by allowing them to move chairs.

"Having a mantrum" - brilliant! And I'm keeping that in hand for the next "But no one calls a man a Karen!" wailing thread!

I don't think he wanted you to kick people of the chairs I think he assumed you could move the empty inside chairs outside.

I think you would have been better servers saying that the chairs represented the safe number of people allowed in that space and so you were unable to add anymore.

I also agree everywhere I haven been it's a strict no moving the tables and chairs because of social distancing. It's not just about weather the chair moving group were one household and safe it's about were they have positioned the chairs and is that safe from the other tables.

I don't think you were wrong or rude but maybe some signs up explaining the rules for your bistro would help going forward?

After working in customer service I find (if you’re ballsy enough) the best way to deal with people like this is a stony glare and calling them out clearly.

Him: But there is an empty table!!
You: Yes. May I ask which of our current customers you’d like me to take chairs away from so that you can sit down?

He was being unreasonable. What did he expect you to do? Magic up extra chairs or ask the people sitting on them to leave?

Completely understand what folks are saying re not moving of chairs - but honestly there's loads of space between them, it's really not a worry.

I'm trying to sort a diagram 😬

Mantrum! 😂

You can see four parasols. The messy purply blue circles are the other 4 tables.

The red spurts are lovely benches. Foliage has been cleared somewhat!

You really shouldn’t have allowed people to move the chairs. Surely they were set up with social distancing in mind. I think YWBU to allow it to happen in the first place

Well he was rude really

You can’t magic up chairs just for him

You offered him a solution, he didn’t take it

Of course the chairs could be moved. Social distancing allows families to sit together...

I’m assuming the chairs were moved because the households were bigger numbers than the original layout catered for, which isn’t a problem.

As the manager, you can allow chairs to be moved however you want! It would be ridiculous to not allow a party of 5 to move a chair to a table with four chairs if there is plenty of room. He was being ridiculous and I would not give it another thought.

I don’t think he was unreasonable to ask if you had any more chairs, given that a whole table was free. You might have had some in the back. It sounds as if the way he handled it was rude though.

He seen the empty table and assumed he would be able to sit at it. OK, there was only one free chair so he assumed you could arrange some more chairs for his party. He wasn't looking for you to take chairs away from someone or to sit on a bench, it's all new to everyone and everyone is still learning and tbh if I seen an empty table I'd ask for some chairs, but only because I don't know what your maximum chair allowance is, however, you do know how many chairs and people you're allowed so maybe you should have explained this. Every eatery has different allowances, the local cafe beside me allows 10 people outside, the pub next door allows 30, so really it's down to those serving /hosting to explain when a place reaches capacity as many don't have this on signs, and when someone sees an empty table they'll assume more people can go in.