To wish that people would not bag a seat first and THEN get their food in a busy cafe...

[paolosgirl]

because those of us who reached the head of the queue before your pal who's way at the back of the queue now have to wander aimlessly about holding a tray with food or drink on it that's now getting cold, because we CAN'T GET A BLARDY TABLE because they're all full of people holding seats for their pals in the queue.

ARGHHHHHH....

Actually, IMNBU at all. I'm being perfectly reasonable (and probably a bit of PMT involved here, granted), but does this wind anyone else up, or shall I just go and have a wee lie down?

My point entirely moondog-it is supposed to be pleasurable! I have already been told that people are only there to grab a coffee and sandwich. I am not into grabbing anything. I want to take my time in peace and quiet!

seriously?
nearly 280 posts on this?
whoa.

British cafes are fucking vile places anyway.
Coffee like goat piss and flaccid baguettes filled with cheap mayo and mechanically removed meat combo.
Smashing.

280 posts show that there is a real problem that won't be solved by some people setting what they believe to be a good example!

people who go around getting their knickers ina twist about trivialities and trying to 'set good examples' for other people, all while getting more and more cats-arse-mouthed...
really need to chill out.
or maybe take up a sport.
good grief.

Waiting with a tray in manner of prisoner.
Being served by incoherent oafs.
Surrounded by dullards.
Filthy tables.

Need I go on????

My point all along has been that people should be free to use the system that suits them. It is a bit sad when they are reflecting with glee that they moved 2 old ladies off a table!

People who get all cats-arse-mouthed about threads they don't see the point off should perhaps just f**k off them HappyPills. Or maybe just take a few more of these happy pills.

Abbey - your point has not been about using the system that suits them. Your point has been about trying to justify queue jumping, which you haven't actually managed to do yet.

Now, when Starbucks, or Cafe Nero or any of these kind of places (which are usually staffed by people who are looking for p/t work to fit in with child care, or students looking to make a bit of extra cash, rather than incoherent oafs - I gather you've been fortunate enough never to have to work for the minimum wage plus tips) offer waitress service then I will happily take my rightful place there.

I don't give a rat's arse about setting a good example and my knickers are untwisted, thanks, HappyPillsGalore. If I do not bag tables, then there is simply one less person doing it, that is all.

The issue of bagging tables, in itself, is, of course, relatively trivial. I just happen to think that if you are ill-mannered enough to jump a cafe queue then you are also more likely to metaphorically tread all over other people when it comes to more serious matters. For me it smacks of a "me first" mentality that I find distasteful and which I think contributes to much that is unpleasant in life.

moondog, you need to start going to better quality places. Or just going out, full stop.

Was in a starbucks today. I hovered around waiting for my coffee along with half a dozen other customers. We had all paid and were waiting for staff to serve us our actual drinks at the end counter.

However the staff served people in no particular order - so people who had been behind me in the original queue got their coffees before me.

Imagine if Starbucks had been full with one table left - those people behind me in the queue would have got to that table first as they got their drinks first. Leaving me dutifully waiting for my drink and tableless when I finally got it.

Now I would never queue in Starbucks if it was that busy, but I put a question to you, if I had bagged a table, given the random nature of actually getting my drink, would I have been in the wrong....

As it was random, I would say that you wouldn't have been in the wrong, but I have no doubt you will be told it was no excuse. It is the system that is wrong-these places need to get their act together.

M&S gave me a pretty standard reply but said that they would pass on my comments and suggestions to their policy team.

I had coffee out today at a local garden centre. It is very popular, some people go just for coffee rather than the garden centre. It is self service and a similar size and has a similar amount of customers to M&S. It was very pleasant. There are lots of plants, flowers on every table, local artists displaying their pictures to buy. The staff are friendly and welcoming. There are no officious notices, people are free to queue in their preferred manner. There were not many tables free. The people in front of me were two women friends and a girl of about 11yrs, the two younger children were most sensibly sitting out of the way at a table. I didn't bag a table, I was on my own. No one was grabbing a coffee. One man was working on his laptop, a woman was also taking her time and deep in her book. A couple of people were reading newspapers, others were chatting, there were quite a few children.
You felt that you were a valued customer, not someone who had to go through a conveyor belt system and out!

I presume, though you did not say so, Abbey, that by the time you wanted a table, there was one free? Obviously it wasn't busy enough for the table bagging group (you only mention one) to cause a problem. How might you have felt if there had been no free table when you needed one?

It's easy to claim to feel got at by the notices in M&S but the truth is that the M&S cafe is no different from your garden centre cafe. It's only that M&S is probably busy enough often enough for the problem to present often enough that they believe they need to put up notices to discourage behaviour that good manners alone ought to be enough to suppress. And the garden centre wasn't actually busy enough that there was a problem. At least not today, anyway. Lucky you.

oh, and tigermoth, I, for one, would have no problem with you taking a table once you have your drink, even if others who arrived before you were still waiting. They might have a complaint with Starbucks for being slow to come up with their drinks but not with you for getting a table.

There has always been one free in M&S when I have wanted one-table bagging has never caused me a problem.

The thing is though, even if people queued, got their food, then sat down you wouldn't be guaranteed a table as all the people that were there first might still be eating so you'd still have to wait!

Bagging yourself a table ensures that you have a table - and only when you have a table is it "safe" to order in my books. And I think I'm very considerate! Also what if you have 2.3 children, shopping bags, and pushchair. Do you pull a spare hand out of your arse?

I feel so long as you intend to eat then it doesn't matter in which order you get a table; of course if you unwrapped a packed lunch that would be unfair or if you held a table for people who would be along "soon" that's also unfair.

It's like the rules of shitgun - if you can see it and claim it, it's yours

holy shit is this thread still going 8 days later!!!!!!!

Well- I have said my last on it.
I find the system works well if people get their table first, those who want to join the queue can work out the possibility of a seat. If everyone insists on queueing it is impossible to even hazard a reasonable guess,18 people in the queue could mean anything between 3 and 18 tables are going to be used. If most of them sit at tables you are able to have some inkling.
I have made my suggestions for a fairer system to M&S and will leave the thread.