To Say 'Please Move Away From My Table'

[itsnotmeitsu]

We were in a Wetherspoons yesterday lunchtime (not somewhere we've visited before) and that particular Wetherspoons had the previous restrictions in place, with notices explaining why. Since many restrictions were removed I've still worn a mask in the supermarket, and put one as I'm going into public toilets. Wetherspoons had the plastic screens still in place, but the table we used only had a screen on one side. Our table was in front of the bar. We used the app to order, but a lot of people were ordering at the bar (took 20 bloody minutes to sort it out, so I'm with them).

No problem until people decided to form a queue right next to us at the table as we were eating, even resting on chair-arms. Should have I said, 'please piss off, take yourself three feet away from me', or just put up with it (as we did) until we could get a table outside, which we eventually did.

Should have I said, 'please piss off, take yourself three feet away from me',

No. You definitely shouldn't have said this. The "piss off" sort of negates the "please", tbh. If someone said this to me I'd be and I'd definitely hang around longer in protest at being told to "piss off" by a random stranger.

I think it's very rude to invade the space of people who are having a sit down meal. So YANBU to be pissed off about that. But queuing up near you is surely to be expected if you sit near the bar?

As for expecting social distancing - the world is starting to open up again. If you are still very concerned about covid then I do sympathise, but surely you shouldn't be going out to bars and restaurants? It's hardly essential and you know it's going to be full of people. It seems silly.

It was Wetherspoons, what did you expect?

I can't stand people hovering by my table, pandemic or no pandemic. It's awkward if they are queuing rather than just hanging around - I don't think I'd have said anything but I'd have felt annoyed.

I like a wetherspoons. A bit of food then as much free coffee as I can drink after paying for the first one, while my DH has a few reasonable priced pints.

You need to download the Neverspoons app. Tells you what pubs are in the vicinity ...but not Spoons

I seriously don't understand why you didn't ask for a different table whilst you were being seated.

YABU to go to a Wetherspoons and put money in the pocket of that hideous gammon Tim Martin. YABU to go somewhere likely to be crowded if you’re concerned about Covid. YABU to sit in a table by the bar and complain about people standing at the bar. People who stand at a bar during a pandemic aren’t likely to give a shit about whether they have the virus and who they pass it to to be honest. What do you expect?

Go somewhere else or stay at home.

@itsnotmeitsu

All those castigating me for frequenting Wetherspoons: Believe me I absolutely cannot stand Tim Martin and hate the idea of putting money in his pocket. I'd managed to reach my 50th decade without knowlngly adding to his profits.

However, we'd got a week off for a holiday and ended up spending it at home. We spent days around Yorkshire. With a chain like Wetherspoons you can put the area into your phone and find somewhere to eat and drink, without trawling around a strange place hoping to find a pub. We ended up visiting four Wetherspoons across North/West/East Yorkshire during the week, when we'd never visited one before. One was absolutely crap, two were pretty good, and one was lovely. This was all down to the staff who were working in these particular pubs.

As for those saying, 'You shouldn't sit near the bar if you don't want people standing next to you' > We'd travelled 15 miles, didn't know of other pub names in the area to Google, and that's where the tables were. The people who weren't using the pub app were waiting at the bar when we got a table, not standing right next to people as they were drinking/eating. Of course, as soon as one person does that everyone behind them follows, so you end up with idiots thinking it's okay to breathe over your food.

As it happens we ended up having a lovely afternoon because we were spending time together and ended up staying much longer than we'd planned, once we'd moved outside.

You hate Tim Martin but you went to 4 of his pubs? So you put 4 lots of money in his pocket. Do you not have Google? It would have taken you a few minutes to have found a nice independent pub. It’s thanks to people like you that we have Brexit and independent businesses are going bust.

YABVU.

You know you can just go to the map and type in pub and it will show you all local pubs, right?

@RyanAirVeteran

A million years ago (feels like it) we were in a tiny very popular Mexican restaurant in Harrogate.

It was so small it was beyond friendly, one evening some perma blonde, perched her (granted, tiny arse) on our table, I asked her to move, she did, then she did it again.............

I genuinely chose the wrong moment to bellow at her, take your blonde hair and your brown pubes off my table FUCKING NOW. The music had stopped...

Salsa Posada if anyone remembers it.

Classy!

I'm only going to pubs that are keeping table service, for this reason, luckily my local pubs, which are independent, are doing this. Also I never go to Wetherspoons for ethical reasons, I'm not lining Tim Martin's pockets

OP, I also hate Tim Martin and was delighted to discover an app called Neverspoons that has all sorts of non wetherspoons pubs on it. You can nominate ones close to you to be added, it's great!

@RyanAirVeteran

A million years ago (feels like it) we were in a tiny very popular Mexican restaurant in Harrogate.

It was so small it was beyond friendly, one evening some perma blonde, perched her (granted, tiny arse) on our table, I asked her to move, she did, then she did it again.............

I genuinely chose the wrong moment to bellow at her, take your blonde hair and your brown pubes off my table FUCKING NOW. The music had stopped...

Salsa Posada if anyone remembers it.

I hope you were thrown out. I'd rather have a stranger leaning against my table than someone screeching about pubes being on it while I'm trying to eat.

YABVU for being in a Wetherspoon pub in the first place.

Anything else is immaterial.

I thought the 'He sacked all his staff' thing was wrong and had been quashed? misses point of thread
I have to say I like spoons. Great for vegans and GF, cheap and cheerful, food tends to be great value and I like the reassurance to know what to expect even in a strange town.

Congratulations on reaching your 50th decade OP! You're clearly invincible and have no need to ever worry about anything again!

@SleepingStandingUp

Forget covid, its bloody bad manners to be resting your arms on chairs clearly at someone's table.

I agree.

DH and I were out for a meal in a pub, on one occasion. There was a wedding going on in the function room, but the guests had all been tipped out while they rearranged the room for dancing. Not only did some of the guests sit down at our table, some leaned on the backs of our chairs to talk over our heads to others and some helped themselves to our chips!

We’re both quiet and polite sorts, but I deployed my best ‘Teacher’s Death Stare’ and that moved our uninvited table guests and the chip eaters. The chair back leaners were dislodged by some vigorous chair shifting and a few passive aggressive huffs of, ‘EXCUSE me!’

I feel for you, OP. Especially as you had to go to Wetherspoons.

and some helped themselves to our chips

Oh good lord…I couldn’t be restrained if someone was doing that!

I agree with others who have said that covid or not it’s incredibly rude to lean on other peoples chairs (or sit on their table) and most people dont like others too close to them

You stepped into a Wetherspoons, OP. Own the shit you've stepped in.

@SleepingStandingUp

Forget covid, its bloody bad manners to be resting your arms on chairs clearly at someone's table.

This. It's intrusive and rude.

Boycott Wetherspoons??? Never! Love a Spoons

I get the whole boycott Wetherspoon, but in reality, it's cheap and convenient. Can I just check those who refuse to use the pub chain out of principle also boycott the endless list of companies out there exploiting their workforce, avoiding tax, and just being generally crap at caring for the environment, Amazon for example? I didn't think so...

I’ve already posted about this but To those people saying boycott Spoons because of how they treat their staff, they are actually decent employers. At least that’s the experience of my family member. The pay rates are good, they pay profit shares to their staff, the managers back their staff up 100% and they provide free food.
I saw on twitter recently a chef who quit his job because of back to back 12 hour shifts on minimum wage. If he wanted a drink or something to eat he had to pay for his own, even a piece of bread. They were instructed to throw unused food away. The owner lives in a tax haven. Honestly, for those people who see things in black and white, it’s not so simple. Plus, the ‘spoons staff were terrified they wouldn’t have jobs to go back to during furlough, because people hate their boss

That's brilliant @RyanAirVeteran, you are my new hero!
Seperate issue - Are we really suggesting boycotting a company because, amongst other reasons, their owner voted differently to us? Really?