Was it unreasonable to take the table

[user17382]

Out with Dm today and my young DC's. There is a particular cafe that we really like and hadn't visited for a while. Went in and there were not tables so we said we would do some more shopping and then come back to see if any were free. Went back about 30 mins later and we see a table of 4. So we went straight to it and sat down/took coats off etc and went up to order.

At this point we realised a couple at the counter were complaining about us to the waitress. Apparently they had been about to sit at our table and as it was the last one available in there they now had nowhere to sit. Staff were very good and moved things around to get them some chairs but they spent the whole time in there tutting and giving us dirty looks.

My logic is that when going in to somewhere busy we always find a table first and then order. If we waited in line with the kids and then went to find a table and couldn't get one we would be stuck as the kids are too young to take the food or drink as takeout. But then I did feel really uncomfortable and that maybe we did something wrong.

I never said there should be an infinite number of tables. But the tables should be taken by the people who already have food (IF it's a place that works like that). It's honestly simple.

This!

We have a cafe like this where I live, as in you need to order at the till.

Everyone always gets a table first, and then goes to order. Tables are limited so I'm not sure why you would order food without being sure you have a suitable table to sit at 🤔 very odd!

😂

Not always true @helpfulperson - my local cafe has loads of people queuing to get takeaway drinks. so they don't need a table. So unless I start quizzing the queue I would have no idea Everyone at this cafe gets a table first then sits down. Or sits outside if no tables left inside.

YABU!

I’m really intrigued by your position on this.

What do you (you personally) do if you’ve stood in line , got your food and there are no tables? You’ve said yourself that there’s not an infinite number of tables. But you seem also to be assuming that the number of people emerging from the queue with a tray of food will never exceed the number of available tables.

It definitely will!

Yet another thread where I realise that MN world is so different to my own. Like the one where if you invite people to your birthday meal you have to pay for them, where wedding evening dos are the height of rudeness. It's bizarre!

Unless there is a sign saying you must get your food before you get a table, then of course you should find a table before you order. It'd be chaos otherwise.

Weird old MN.

Depends on 1) how long the food queue is 2) what I am buying 3) what the overall menu is like.

If the queue is quite long, I'm getting a drink and cake and the menu is mostly things people will get from a counter and eat fairly quickly (e.g. Costa style), food first. If everyone works like this, the tables will clear as the queue moves through and I will get to sit down at a table that another dinner has finished with, by the time I have my food. If by any chance not, then I get my food as take out.

If it is a order at the counter but then wait for a more complicated meal to be cooked and served, table first, as others may also have meals that take longer to eat, and I wouldn't be able to take my food out if there were no tables when it was ready.

Of course this is presuming that the café doesn't make it clear what they want you to do, if they do you go with it even if it is not your preference.

Me too

Table then food. I have never fallen out with another person over this.

Because I have never lived anywhere where people don't understand that you risk having nowhere to sit if you don't bag a table first!

YANBU, all the cafes and coffee shops around here are ones where you find a table, leave a coat/bags or husband on a chair to mark the table as taken, and then go order food/drinks at the counter.

You ensure you have a table before you order. It’s as simple as putting your coat on the chair. It’s not OPs fault. OP is not a mind reader.

This is why my two local cafes have table numbers.

You have to give a table number when you order.

Table first then food. Especially if you have four people!

But you wouldn't know whether you needed your food to be take-out until you'd paid and realised the person in front had taken the last table using your system? Or would you queue again to ask for your (now cooling) food and drink to be decanted into take-out containers? By which time there may actually be a table free anyway. This is insane 🤣🤣🤣

YANBU. One of the couple should have sat at the table while the other ordered. Surely it makes the most sense to save your own table before ordering.

YANBU, they were a couple so there's no excuse for not saving the table whilst ordering.

You were being unreasonable. If there are ten tables and fifteen sets of people in the queue, if the last five sets of people grab tables as soon as they walk in then the sixth set of people have nowhere to sit to eat because the first five sets of people haven't had long enough to finish eating and five tables are not even being used to consume food. If everyone waits until they have food before taking a table, there's a good chance that the first set of people will finish their food in time for the eleventh set to sit down to eat.

Absolutely. The couple could have avoided the drama by one of them sitting at the table while the other got the food like most normal people with common sense would do.

YANBU Op - they were being stupid

The reason why the tables run out is people blocking tables by claiming them before their food turns up!

There are some entitled folks around. They did not indicate their intentions to sit there. I hope you ignored their nasty tutting. These days most people sit, choose and order; if it is an order and pay at the counter then one of a party takes the order up, so that the q is not cluttered with whole groups of people, with the delay of choosing for each group - service is faster that way.

1. There are car parks that give you a ticket at the barrier as you go in and you have to pay on exit. You get charged the one hour time if you didn't manage to get parked, which can happen even if the barrier is programmed not to let in more cars than there are spaces because sometimes people park over two spaces.
2. I have worked in places where they sold more parking permits than they had spaces and would ticket you if you parked outside of a marked space, even though you'd paid for your permit and couldn't just pop your car in your handbag whilst at work for the day.

YANBU. these threads come up on MN all the time.
Unless it was table service, you can feel free to find a table and "book" it (via a coat or a kid) and go order your food at the till.

I just dump all my stuff on a seat and go back to it

I quite like not having my stuff stolen whilst I'm ordering, which is another reason for not using my coat to claim a table. It only had to happen once for me to learn the lesson for life.