Sit at a Clean Table or Shut Up

[SnarkyPie]

At my restaurant, we have a total of ten tables. Six of these tables are along the wall, and four are out in the middle of the floor. Our wall tables are by far the preferred seating, since they have less traffic around them, and thus are usually occupied. On any given night, the following will happen at least three or four times:

Customer comes in, sits at a wall table, enjoys meal, and leaves.

Various dishes and trash are left at said table. Several tables, mostly center, are left clean and unoccupied.

New customer(s) enter, see clean center tables and dirty wall table, then proceed to sit at the table piled high with the previous customer's trash.

New customer then proceeds to bitch if the (busy) waitress doesn't rush over and magically make all the trash and dishes disappear in one swift movement.


Now, I don't mind if people sit at a dirty table if it is preferable to them. It is similar to booth/table preferences at other restaurants. But if you must sit at my unbussed table, you WILL sit nicely until I can take a few moments to clean it. End of story.

[Shimatta]

It could be worse - i've seen people sit at a drity table at a restaurant and move the dishes from the table to the floor. I want to tell them that you might want to keep the employees on your side and not annoy them or who knows what will be in your food.

[Rapscallion]

As a side note, for anyone new reading this, this site doesn't condone food tampering.

Rapscallion

[KhirasHY]

Are we allowed to giggle knowingly when someone earns it though?

[crazylegs]

Are we allowed to giggle knowingly when someone earns it though?

Not really

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25291195/

[customersruinmylife]

I have seen people move dishes off a dirty table onto a CLEAN table...I mean...why??

[shenzee]

Not really

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25291195/

Well in that situation, it doesn't sound like the customer was sucky at all! He refused the offer of a new stead, but took one at the insistance of the manager and yet he still gets burned. The cook was just a miserable jerk and he deserves to be punished!

[marasbaras]

That cook is lucky it wasn't me. I wouldn't have called the police. Although, someone would've needed to call an ambulance after I was through with him.

Food tampering is NOT funny. EVER.

[blas]

Back on topic, I must agree...people who do that used to drive me insane at both restaurant jobs!

But I worked at larger restaurants...with TONS of tables.....every table but ONE or TWO could be clean, and without fail, everyone wanted to sit at the DIRTY table!

I don't know what's worse, people who demand to sit at a dirty table, or people who seat themselves and act all pissy that no one noticed them.

[RetailWorkhorse]

It royally pisses off the Waitresses at the Diner I frequent with friends and family. I mean, fine, you want a table with privacy that's out of the way of the lights coming in from other vehicles. Take a clean table, though. There's only ONE waitress there when I'm in (3rd shift and everything) and they're kinda busy with the Pizza kids in the Non-Smoking section since it's much closer to the exit/entrance of the kitchen. If you don't want to be seen by anyone, take a barstool and keep your damned backs to the windows! Geeze.

[draftermatt]

There is a restaurant in my hometown that my parents went to all the time when I was a kid.

It was normally "Seat Yourself" and if the only table available in the front of the restaurant was a dirty one, my parents would take it. I hated doing that. I would say "What if they don't think we're new customers" "I feel dumb sitting at a dirty table"

I always wanted to go and stand next to the table and wait for them to clean it.

(I say front because 1st the back was smoking and my asthama wouldn't allow it, and then when it stopped being a smoking section it just smelled funny being so close to the bathrooms)

[elysia]

Food tampering is NOT funny. EVER.

I concur.

However, you have to operate on the assumption that there are people who WILL tamper with your food when you piss them off. You never know who thats going to be. People should absolutely not mess with other people's food but thats not to say it won't happen.
Thats why its an unspoken law aka common freaking sense. Do not be an ass to food service workers. Its the same principal as "don't walk down a dark alley in the city at night by yourself." Why? Because its an invitation to trouble.

[Kiwi]

Haha on the other side of the coin, I remember a staff dinner once, my boss took our staff to a chain italian resturant.
It was crazy busy inside and our because the boss wanted it over as quick as possible he made us order everything at once. Asking the waitress to bring out the next course when we were DONE with our current course.

They brought out salads out, and not even 2 minutes later our mains.... but there was NO ROOM for our mains because we had bowls of salad and breads....
They bring them back after another ten minutes but refuse to clear the table or the salad and bread.... there was literally no room, the waitress stacked my main bowl of pasta on TOP of my salad bowl.....
my boss asked her to clear the table and she said "that isnt my job" and walked away
my boss ended up stacking the salad bowls and bread bowls in a pattern on the floor around the table in "protest"

I sat there eating my pasta with my head down... no way Im getting into an argument with the wait staff in front of my boss or telling my boss off. So embarressing!

[Misanthropical]

That was the one thing when I was a waitress that I could not wrap my brain around. People would come in and only one table would be dirty, all the rest of the tables clean and ready to go, but they would sit down at the ONE dirty table.

Why?!? Just why?!? I still can not wrap my brain around that and I haven't been a waitress in nearly 10 years!

[AdminAssistant]

Why are people so picky about where they sit? As long as the table's clean, I'm good. (I do prefer to not sit next to screaming children, but I'll ask politely.)