To think you should sit at an appropriately sized table

[PerryClees]

AIBU to think that if you're a group of 2 you should sit at a table for 2 and leave the tables for 4 for larger groups?

We're at a cafe and 3 adults plus 2 kids crammed on to a table for 2 whilst there's a couple of guys taking up a table for 4. I wouldn't say anything to then obviously but it's a bit annoying. To answer the obvious questions: no, the table for 2 would not have been occupied when they got here, it only just opened and the seats were still on the table when we arrived. Also the seats are not better for the table of 4. The only advantage is more table space.

I guess it could be tiny. Lots of city centre ones are. But yes I too am wondering this.

The way the cafe was laid out this wouldn't have been an option, the tables are all on a long, narrow raised up bit (both tables for 2 and for 4).

I didn't ask as it wasn't that much of an issue. Just a minor thought of oh that's a bit selfish that they sat there and then we moved on and made do with what was available. Seems pretty split between those who agree with me that it's selfish and those who don't!

If the place is busy I'll generally take the smaller table, unless there's a specific reason I want the large one. Then I might take that.

It depends on the table size and management surely

If I arrive at a CAFE and it's fairly empty then I will sit at the most comfortable table that they have. At 6 foot plus tall, I often feel cramp in the small places that two seater tables are often put and much more comfortable on a four seater table

There has been the occasional time where the CAFE has become busy once I'm seated and eating with two people on a four people table. It's a little embarrassing, but it is what it is. Tend to eat and leave quickly

We're at a cafe and 3 adults plus 2 kids crammed on to a table for 2 whilst there's a couple of guys taking up a table for 4. I wouldn't say anything to then obviously but it's a bit annoying. To answer the obvious questions: no, the table for 2 would not have been occupied when they got here, it only just opened and the seats were still on the table when we arrived.

I probably would have left if I arrived at a cafe serving food and drink before fully setting up the seated area. Chairs on tables? No thank you, I'm not in school anymore.

There might not have been a table for 2 available when they arrived.

I’d put a couple of tables together, rather than all crowd round one.

By that reasoning single people shouldn't sit in a paired seating arrangement either, as they're stopping a couple sitting together.

I think it's rude to take a large table when you were a single person or just a group of two. Obviously I wouldn't ask somebody to move if they were already seated. I remember once six (including 3 small kids) of us trying to fit around a very small table while a woman sat at a HUGE round table for 6-8, very slowly drinking a coffee and reading a book.... she was there before us and still there when we finished our lunch much later. Completely aware that we were there and struggling with highchairs and stuff around a tiny little table… obviously I wasn't going to ask her to move but it would've been nice if she offered! I will probably get flamed on here as one of these entitled parents", but I did think it was extremely ignorant. Had I been on my own or with one other, i would have instantly offered to move !

It's not the same for train seats at all, public transport and cafes are not remotely similar in set up. On trains (and buses and planes) you pay for a seat and there is an expectation that the other seats will be brought and paid for by others. I'm a cafe toy pay for your food with an expectation that you will sit at a table for you and whoever you are with. These things are non comparable.

@ImplementingTheDennisSystem
Why?Its fine to politely say "Sorry to bother you, but as you're 2 people and we're struggling to fit around this table, I wondered if you'd mind swapping please?"
so you’d ask people already settled eating/drinking at a table to move? Talk about entitled. If you asked me, you wouldn’t even get an answer for your cheek.

As a paying customer, I’ll sit at whatever table/whichever seat I’m most comfortable at. I’ve as much right to sit there as any other customer. If that means the table with a sofa and chairs for 4 and I’m in my own, that’s where I’ll sit.

@LadyPenelope68 of course you have the "right" to sit where you want... It doesn't stop it being a bit rude to hog a huge table when a family/larger group struggle around a small one, that have entered the restaurant after you and have no other place to sit. I would think it extremely rude if you didn't offer to swap… Obviously you're not obligated to move and people don't! It doesn't stop it being selfish and rude....But manners aren't usually obligatory.

Getting a good table at a retaurant or on public transportation is mostly based on luck, unless there are reservations. Whenever I go out to eat I pick the best table available unless staff ask me to sit somewhere else.

Same thing with the train. You could say "well, I'll be a stand up person and leave the good seats to a group". But guess what will happen? Some other single person will be sitting there and you'll be kicking yourself for not taking first pick and spending hours with painful knees propped up against the seat in front of you.

Furthermore, you have no idea who will walk in after you. It might just be only single travelers. I take life as it comes and be happy when I get lucky with seating, because more often than not I will be uncomfortable.

It's never entitled to ask. It's entitled to expect.

@Chouetted
of course it’s entitled to ask, because if you are cheeky enough to ask, you’re already of the opinion that your rights are greater than someone else’s, hence entitled.

That's an unusual opinion. What led you to that?

Tables for two are often tiny, to the point of being uncomfortable even for smaller than average sized people. It would have been daft for two blokes, especially if they were big blokes, to sit uncomfortably at a tiny two person table when there was a suitable sized table available when they needed it.

It would be incredibly rude to go and ask people to move tables. If anyone is going to ask people to move tables in a cafe it should be the management, not entitled customers.

Who arrived in the cafe first? If it was these blokes, how do you know they didn't arrive as a group of 4 or more and have stayed as their friends have left?

Were they waiting for others to join them?

Well, for the record, if the situation arises, you're all welcome to ask me - same if you need an extra chair or there's no ketchup on your table. I would be much more offended if you asked the staff to ask me to move. We're all adults (I assume) and we should be capable of resolving minor issues ourselves.

I went into a coffee shop the other day and sat at the only free table, a table for 4. Another group came in parents and children and glared at me for having the4 temerity to be sitting where they would prefer, naturally I stayed put and they found another table eventually.

I'm autistic so if I was approached and asked to move I may happily move and say no problem but equally I may get fully stressed out at the idea and leave the cafe.

They sat at the table first which is fine in a cafe. If it's enough of an issue for you to start a thread on mn it should have bothered you enough to politely ask to swap instead of moan about it 🙄