A Three-Hour Tour...

[Raveni]

Saw this last night at Chili's. Not sure where the suck lies with this one.

It's busy last night, maybe a little bit more so than normal because of the holiday. I'm waiting for a table with my family, when I start listening to the people trying to get on the waiting list.

C - Customer
H - Host

H: How many people tonight?

C: I have a party of eight people.

H: I'm sorry, we only have one big top tonight, and they've been here over three hours now. We're not sure when they are leaving.

C: Seriously?!?!

H: Yes, I'm so sorry, but there is nothing that we can do.

C: (Leaves)

My family and I are seated, we eat, and leave in about an hour. When we leave, I see that the big top is still there. The table is cleared, and they are just laughing and sipping on sodas. I wonder how much business they lost to other people leaving because they couldn't sit. Could no manager muster up a John Pinette impression?

[Pairou]

Whoops, longer reply than I intended...

My father always talks about how in our country (we moved to the US when I was a toddler) lunch was a social gathering of sorts- you'd go to a restaurant and literally take hours to eat, drink, talk... of course, you'd buy much more food and spring for the more expensive drinks. And leave a good tip.

Here, that sort of thing can make a restaurant miss out on a lot of customers, so even when we're not being slow, my parents always feel rushed to eat and get out. But since it's an American thing to eat and leave, even they are surprised when people stay for too long.

Not sure what my point is, honestly... : x

[Mottom24]

When I worked at a resturaunt on the boardwalk we had a strict rule of 30 minutes after check. when a table asks for their check and pays, they have a 30 minute limit before we politly ask them to either order something, or leave. if they asked for drinks then they were asked to do so at the bar. we tried to stress that we had people waiting for seats, and if they whined we told them the server was saving for college and needs the money (everyone there minus one person was actually saving for college). if they still gave us lip we got the police who hang out outside our doors every day.

I was usually the person to do this, since I was a busser I was tipped through how much food the resturaunt sold, and if they decided to order more food they wouldn't stiff the server because they obviously aren't me. I loved kicking out the jerks, but most of the time people became very understanding once you told them the server was saving for college. once you enter that "we are humans, not robots, we have lives outside this place" they immediatly surrender.

[Solumina]

I get having a nice long dinner but it kind of depends on the place you go Chili's isn't really right for a three hour meal, plus it is down right rude to stop ordering food and yet still stay at the table, if you want to stay for a while then you really should eat more than you would for a short dinner. If you want to stay longer but aren't hungry check with your server to see if they mind or if they would rather you move to the bar. When my mom's side of the family gets together we have been known to stay in restaurants for over four hours, then again we eat and drink the whole time and be sure to let the place know that A) how many people are going to be there B) that we will most likely be there for a while and C) we can be a little chaotic, we have never had a problem.

[Sapphire Silk]

I go out to dinner about once a month with my co-workers J and K. It's not unusual for us to take a couple of hours over dinner.

However, we tip REAALLY well, and J and K always order a seperate meal to take home to the son/husband.

[Andara Bledin]

I've stayed for extra-long times at restaurants. But only if I could observe that a good 1/3 of the tables were empty. If it's a busy place, I take a reasonable time to eat, then get out of the way so they can serve the next guests.

^-.-^