Coffee shop - table etiquette

[Hotandbotheredaching]

I feel you are in one camp or the other with coffee shop table etiquette, I wondered how many people are split each way.

YABU - it’s fine to sit at a table and allow one of your party to join the queue / effectively reserving the table.

YANBU - only grab a table once you have ordered.

In M&S cafe with two small children today so can’t “reserve a table” and leave them alone. While I was paying I saw the couple behind me swoop off and grab the only table free then looking a bit smug that I had to wait for one to come free. Some cafes have signs saying find a table first while others discourage it.

There is always an argument that sitting at an empty table actually slows down the over turn of tables and if people sat once they have ordered it could run smoother / faster. But then it’s a worry there isn’t a table and you have to wait.

Same as one near me that I used to go to (it sadly shut down). They had a load of little 'reserved' signs that you could take and put on your table.

Was also wondering this and unless it’s a particularly big cafe and they aren’t in eye line of the queue

Grab a table, someone queues. Don't need a whole group of people in the queue...

Same, that being said I'd leave my kids at the table if I could see them clearly anyway. They are 7 and 3 and I know they'd wait there long enough for me to order and bring food. At most the younger one might come to me but the eldest would understand and stay there. My youngest is under 1 and Id have them with me in the pram but if they were happy I'd leave them in the pram at the table with the older two if I could see them all.

I wouldnt choose to go and eat somewhere alone with the 3 of them if it was heaving with hardly any free tables if the place was so big that I couldnt see them from the queue.

To be honest I don't think I've ever ate out alone with the 3 of them yet anyway as it wouldn't be enjoyable! Lots of picnics instead.

I certainly wouldn't want to have bought a bunch of hot food and drink in crockery and have to stand about hovering, awkwardly holding my stuff as it got cold and my dodgy hip slowly started wobbling. While I (subtley?) stared down other customers willing them to bugger off.

So I would always make sure one of us grabbed a table while the other got the food/drink.

If I was alone I'd be unlikely to buy anything to sit in unless I could see multiple seats/tables open.

Off topic, but when did people start ‘grabbing’ things ( table, lunch, etc) instead of just ‘getting’?
No doubt I’ll be called an out of date sad person!

Definitely always get the table first or you might end up with food and nowhere to sit

We have an odd set up in ours, you can see 4 tables from the queue and the other tables are down out of view with an entrance / exit area so would never leave them not in eye sight.

If I was with another adult we would normally sit at a table and wait. I remember seeing a post on here once that some people thought it was rude. Just wondered what the common conscious is

@IZK it was a man actually and he did stare at me and do an odd smile which is why I clock him otherwise I wouldn’t have noticed

It is only rude on MN. In real life, pretty much everyone reserves a table if they can. I would say that is the more normal behaviour.

How does table first work for people on their own? Tough shit for being a Billy no mates?

Ahhh maybe I’m over thinking it! Poll so far is table first

Put your coat on the chair, or leave a book on the table. It would be the same if you left your table to go to the loo.

Although where I live, it would probably get nicked. In my local Costa, they have a problem with someone keep nicking one of the toilet seats 😬

Yeah pretty much.

Unless they have a jacket or cardigan or something they're willing to leave there.

Would you have minded the couple taking the table had he not looked at you?

I’m on my own about 50% of the time in cafes and will reserve a table with an item. (Jacket/book/shopping bag etc though I try to go to places with table service as I’m disabled and struggle to carry a tray. It doesn’t bother me at all when groups reserve tables, It’s much more annoying when groups stick together in the queue and end up spread out all over the place taking up much more space than is necessary and making it difficult to get past them imo.

No it doesn’t really bother me, there was another person leaving and lots of turn over. He was just being really odd and seemed to get some satisfaction from it.

Same, don’t want to be walking around carrying a tray looking for a seat like some lost soul.

I think it just really depends on the coffee shop. We have lots in town that I go to regularly and each one I do differently, some I order first then find a table other the other way round. I think it just depends on the setup.

I’d of just ignored him. I do always find a table first though it’s so much easier

It doesn't make sense to me to buy your drinks/food if you don't have a table to sit down at.
I like to sit down, take my coat/jacket off, put shopping bags down, and have a look at the menu before I queue up

If I'm with the kids, I'llneither leave them at the table whilst I order if it's safe to do so, or I'd take them with me, and ask for help taking things back to the table.

If I'm on my own, I'll leave something on the table while I order.

What I'm not going to do is stand around for an amount of time with a tray of drinks/food, possibly shopping bags, and some hungry, irritable children waiting for a table to become available.

I've said this before but I find it interesting how many people on here think that table saving is rude, everyone should queue together and yet I've never actually seen a group of adults all standing in the queue together.

Same. Couples maybe, and if they are discussing what to order. But I always know what I want so I go and find a table.
There is a family of 4 adults that are regulars in the same place I am. Two are in wheelchairs, and another uses a rollator. They would clog up the whole counter area if they all queued up together.

Don’t be a fool. She’s a single parent so was the only adult there.