Campers

This was mentioned in a previous thread and I think it deserves it's own. The debate revolved around how long diners should be comfortable tying up a table while others are waiting to dine. I will take it a step further...

Every restaurant worth it's salt will make every accomodation for it's guests. No matter what they spend, or how long they want to stay, their service should remain top notch. That is the base nature of service. But it's also a manager/owner point of view.

Everyone knows that an empty table is lost money, but what if a table orders an appetizer, drinks water and sits for three hours? Is it still lost money?

What if they walked in 10 minutes before closing time? At what point does good service over-indulge rude guest behavior?

Very tough question with no definitive answer. I think most of what is considered rude behavior is caused by an over abundance of self- absorption. When it comes to thinking of others before yourself or acting on the good of the community as a whole instead of your own self interests some people are just clueless. These same people are also bad drivers, crappy pet owners, irresponsible parents and, in some cases, short lived business owners.
That's my rant for the day.

When it comes to thinking of others before yourself or acting on the good of the community as a whole instead of your own self interests some people are just clueless. These same people are also bad drivers, crappy pet owners, irresponsible parents and, in some cases, short lived business owners.
That's my rant for the day.

Amen, sister, amen.

When it comes to thinking of others before yourself or acting on the good of the community as a whole instead of your own self interests some people are just clueless. These same people are also bad drivers, crappy pet owners, irresponsible parents and, in some cases, short lived business owners.
That's my rant for the day.

Amen, sister, amen.

And the choir sang, Ahhhhmen..

Over decades of dining, I've been a clueless camper a few times, and twice, groups I've been in have been asked to give up the table, one time much more appropriately than the other time. Usually though, I can see the line forming at the host/hostess stand and we clear out. I suspect those of us who are regular restaurant diners/ITB, are more sensitive to campers/table turns.

Having been on the receiving end of "we need your table" I can attest that there's a gracious way to say it and a guaranteed-to-piss-off-the-customer way to do it.

Over decades of dining, I've been a clueless camper a few times, and twice, groups I've been in have been asked to give up the table, one time much more appropriately than the other time. Usually though, I can see the line forming at the host/hostess stand and we clear out. I suspect those of us who are regular restaurant diners/ITB, are more sensitive to campers/table turns.

Having been on the receiving end of "we need your table" I can attest that there's a gracious way to say it and a guaranteed-to-piss-off-the-customer way to do it.

It's not just a matter of being clueless. A lot of guests are perfectly aware of the situation. For example:

Guest: "What time do you close?"
Me: "About an hour ago."
Guest: "Oh. Sorry we're here so late."
<<guest then continues to sit for another hour and a half>>

Of course closing time is one of the rare situations where if it becomes late enough, you might actually have to ask the guest to leave. Otherwise, I don't think it's ever appropriate to ask anyone to give up their table. Forget about there being a right or wrong way to do it.... it just shouldn't be done. The restaurant should be flexible enough to work around the situation. That being said... there needs to be a rule of thumb regarding lingering etiquette.

Here's how it should be done, in my opinion...

Frame: Derby = specific seating times. You have a table of 4 that is enjoying each other's company past the slotted time.

The Approach: 'Hey, everybody. It's great to have you in, yet there are some folks that are slotted for this table now. I know this is a bit unorthodox, but I'd love to buy you a drink at the bar.'

It's like Billy D.Williams- it works every time. Shoot, I'd move off a table for a free drink!

Had an interesting "Camper" experience this past weekend....If nothing else it illustrates the "rock and a hard place" restaurants find themselves in when dealing with inconsiderate patrons.

We were out of town attending a concert and our party of 6 held long-standing (pre concert) reservations at a popular restaurant. The reservations were at 6:30pm, which gave us (we thought) enough leeway (even with a late seating) to dine and still arrive at the concert venue in plenty of time to meet some other friends at 8:30pm. When we arrived 5 minutes before our reservation we were told our table would not be ready for "10 or 15 minutes" (no problem, since we'd built a reasonable delay into our schedule)...We later found out the restaurant had seated some "walk ins" at 5:30pm...with the stated caveat that the table they were being seated at was reserved at 6:30pm. At 7:10pm (a full 40 minutes after our reservations) the party at "our" table finally completed their deserts and coffee. To say I had a case of the white hot ass would be an understatement...Not at the restaurant, which was guilty of nothing other than being accommodating but at the patrons who were seated with the full knowledge that they were being seated at a table that was reserved at 6:30pm. Now...because of these bone heads...instead of enjoying a relaxing dinner, we all felt the pressure to order quickly and slam down our food in order to get to the concert on time (good thing we'd checked out the menu online).

Had an interesting "Camper" experience this past weekend....If nothing else it illustrates the "rock and a hard place" restaurants find themselves in when dealing with inconsiderate patrons.

We were out of town attending a concert and our party of 6 held long-standing (pre concert) reservations at a popular restaurant. The reservations were at 6:30pm, which gave us (we thought) enough leeway (even with a late seating) to dine and still arrive at the concert venue in plenty of time to meet some other friends at 8:30pm. When we arrived 5 minutes before our reservation we were told our table would not be ready for "10 or 15 minutes" (no problem, since we'd built a reasonable delay into our schedule)...We later found out the restaurant had seated some "walk ins" at 5:30pm...with the stated caveat that the table they were being seated at was reserved at 6:30pm. At 7:10pm (a full 40 minutes after our reservations) the party at "our" table finally completed their deserts and coffee. To say I had a case of the white hot ass would be an understatement...Not at the restaurant, which was guilty of nothing other than being accommodating but at the patrons who were seated with the full knowledge that they were being seated at a table that was reserved at 6:30pm. Now...because of these bone heads...instead of enjoying a relaxing dinner, we all felt the pressure to order quickly and slam down our food in order to get to the concert on time (good thing we'd checked out the menu online).

The restaurant was guilty of only seeing the unlikely outcome while overlooking the most likely outcome. And, at the end of the day, it made money off of both tables. It made a bad choice and paid no penalty.

Had an interesting "Camper" experience this past weekend....If nothing else it illustrates the "rock and a hard place" restaurants find themselves in when dealing with inconsiderate patrons.

We were out of town attending a concert and our party of 6 held long-standing (pre concert) reservations at a popular restaurant. The reservations were at 6:30pm, which gave us (we thought) enough leeway (even with a late seating) to dine and still arrive at the concert venue in plenty of time to meet some other friends at 8:30pm. When we arrived 5 minutes before our reservation we were told our table would not be ready for "10 or 15 minutes" (no problem, since we'd built a reasonable delay into our schedule)...We later found out the restaurant had seated some "walk ins" at 5:30pm...with the stated caveat that the table they were being seated at was reserved at 6:30pm. At 7:10pm (a full 40 minutes after our reservations) the party at "our" table finally completed their deserts and coffee. To say I had a case of the white hot ass would be an understatement...Not at the restaurant, which was guilty of nothing other than being accommodating but at the patrons who were seated with the full knowledge that they were being seated at a table that was reserved at 6:30pm. Now...because of these bone heads...instead of enjoying a relaxing dinner, we all felt the pressure to order quickly and slam down our food in order to get to the concert on time (good thing we'd checked out the menu online).

The restaurant was guilty of only seeing the unlikely outcome while overlooking the most likely outcome. And, at the end of the day, it made money off of both tables. It made a bad choice and paid no penalty.

This. You don't seat a large party and expect them to be properly served and out in an hour. On a busy night you're lucky to move a two top through that quickly.

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The restaurant was guilty of only seeing the unlikely outcome while overlooking the most likely outcome. And, at the end of the day, it made money off of both tables. It made a bad choice and paid no penalty.

This. You don't seat a large party and expect them to be properly served and out in an hour. On a busy night you're lucky to move a two top through that quickly.

It was a party of two yammering females seated at a six top...They had actually completed dining by the time we arrived at 6:30pm...They spent the next 40 minutes lingering over desert and coffee. The hostess/manager was VERY pissed and made a point of telling us that she had made a point of telling these two women when they arrived that she was only seating them as a courtesy and that there was a party expected at 6:30pm. I don't blame the restaurant one iota...in my mind, this falls strictly on the behavior of two inconsiderate diners.

Ah. I had "assumed" they wouldn't put two people at a six top. Ooops!!

Had an interesting "Camper" experience this past weekend....If nothing else it illustrates the "rock and a hard place" restaurants find themselves in when dealing with inconsiderate patrons.

We were out of town attending a concert and our party of 6 held long-standing (pre concert) reservations at a popular restaurant. The reservations were at 6:30pm, which gave us (we thought) enough leeway (even with a late seating) to dine and still arrive at the concert venue in plenty of time to meet some other friends at 8:30pm. When we arrived 5 minutes before our reservation we were told our table would not be ready for "10 or 15 minutes" (no problem, since we'd built a reasonable delay into our schedule)...We later found out the restaurant had seated some "walk ins" at 5:30pm...with the stated caveat that the table they were being seated at was reserved at 6:30pm. At 7:10pm (a full 40 minutes after our reservations) the party at "our" table finally completed their deserts and coffee. To say I had a case of the white hot ass would be an understatement...Not at the restaurant, which was guilty of nothing other than being accommodating but at the patrons who were seated with the full knowledge that they were being seated at a table that was reserved at 6:30pm. Now...because of these bone heads...instead of enjoying a relaxing dinner, we all felt the pressure to order quickly and slam down our food in order to get to the concert on time (good thing we'd checked out the menu online).

But you didn't even tell us what the concert was.... And were they good?

But you didn't even tell us what the concert was.... And were they good?

Michael Stanley and The Resonators...Michael dedicated this song to Becky and I on Saturday night. Kinda cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PinwfVnGyM

That's a wicked saxophone player!!!