General Etiquette > Life...in general

camping uot in a crowded restaurant

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fklwmn:
I had been planning on posting this today anyway, so the other thread about people sitting at a table long after they were finished made me chuckle.

Friday night I had tickets to a concert (GEORGE STRAIGHT for anyone who cares, lol) in a town that is about 1 1/2 - 2 hours away at a venue I have never been to, in a city I've never visited... essentially I knew that parking was going to be a fair walk away from the venue, but I had no idea HOW far, and I had no idea how long it would take me to get to the place I needed to be once I got into town or how bad traffic would be.

The concert was supposed to start at 7:30, and the doors to the venue  didn't open until 6:30. We decided to leave my town @ 3, figuring we could scope out the parking situation and then find somewhere to have dinner before the show. When we got into town at 4:30 we found a little diner right next to the garage we needed to park in, so we decided to go ahead and park, have dinner at the diner, and then walk over to the concert arena (maybe a 10 minute walk).

It was FREEZING outside. One of the first REALLY cold days we have had all winter, too. We walked over to the diner and were seated  immediately. Not long after we sat down the place started to fill up fast. Before we were served our food there was a line of people waiting out the door. It looked like a lot of other concert goers had the same idea we'd had about grabbing a bite to eat on their way to the show.

I could tell the waitress would have preferred that we eat quickly and leave b/c she slipped the check on the table almost immediately after we were served our food (without even offernig dessert!), and once it looked like we were winding down from eating she came by frequently to see if we needed anything else. And... I felt bad watching all the people waiting for a table, I really did. But we'd gone to dinner planning to stay until about 6:15, b/c once we left we'd just be standing in the freezing cold in line until 6:30. So... we stayed. We nibbled on remaining french fries, and chatted, and appreciate that we were enjoying a warm diner instead of a freezing line. Finally, at 6:00 I ordered a hot chocolate to go.

Thank goodness for hot chocolate to go!! I think it's the only reason I didn't turn into a popsicle out there!!!

My question iks... was it rude for us to camp out at our table when there were so many people waiting that they were lined up out the front door? Especially since we lingered abotu twice as long as it took us to order and eat our food, and we really just didn't want to be out waiting in the cold? I did tip the waitress 33% to make up for her not being able to turn the table more quickly, but we were getting an evil eye from some of those standing around for a table. They were probably trying to eat before the concert too.

 

ShadesOfGrey:
fklwmn, my personal feeling on this one is the same as in the other thread - if you were a patronizing customer (i.e. continued to order/eat food) then no, it's not rude.  But if you were just sitting there without paying and without utilizing the services, then I think it's rude. 

It would be ridiculous to draw a specific line (3 french fries left for 1 hour is bad, but 10 french fries left for 20 minutes is ok...) but I think you understand the intention. 

fklwmn:

--- Quote from: rdge on January 22, 2007, 09:46:16 AM ---fklwmn, my personal feeling on this one is the same as in the other thread - if you were a patronizing customer (i.e. continued to order/eat food) then no, it's not rude.  But if you were just sitting there without paying and without utilizing the services, then I think it's rude. 

It would be ridiculous to draw a specific line (3 french fries left for 1 hour is bad, but 10 french fries left for 20 minutes is ok...) but I think you understand the intention. 

--- End quote ---

I kind of understand the intention, but we WERE still eating but it was more... "there is food left on my plate so I'm nibbling while I sit" than it was "I'm sitting here to eat dinner" kind of eating. so it was okay b/c we were still eating? Or not okay b/c we were only still eating b/c we were still sitting there?

Lunadiana75:
Just the other side of the coin (I seem to playing deveil's advocate today).  How would you feel if you were hungry, cold, waiting for a table, and watched a few people linger, and linger, and linger at their table.  Really think about how you would feel.
 
Personally, I would be annoyed at the campers and wonder why they just didn't go to a bar or coffee shop if they wanted to sit and talk. 

Sharnita:
Lunadiana, if I were that hungry and cold and was waiting that long I would go elsewhere.

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