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2:30 is generally the dead time in most restaurants. There was very likely only 1-2 servers still working the floor.
Most will probably ask: Well, what difference does that make? Yes, you are there to enjoy your meal, but so are the other diners. You also want to pay as little as possible for that meal/get the best value. That requires restaurants to not have excess staff on when they don't need it. Making sure that all diners receive equal treatment means making sure that the server can provide the best possible service to all diners. Meaning don't have them run all over the place if it can be helped.
Why would they need to "run all over the place" if there's 6 customers?
Why would they need to "run all over the place" if there's 6 customers?
Is the restaurant half a mile long?
Stop making excuses for poor customer service!
Was my thoughts as well
How much effort is involved to walk a another 20 feet to seat someone where they can enjoy their lunch / dinner in a little privacy ( vs being jacked up next to romper room )
Maybe there was only the one waitperson (short-staffed)?
Even so, the experience of the customer already seated should come before the convenience of the server, and no one wants to feel crowded if there are available tables further away, and I don't know anyone who actually wants to have a crying baby seated next to them.
I want to know why the hostess leads me through the entire restaurant passing empty tables and booths a few of which are occupied by other diners and tries to seat me either right next to the station where the waitstaff congregates and they punch in the orders and keep a surplus of utensils or right across from the bathrooms every.single.time!!! There must be something about me that says, yes I want to hear the clang of plates and forks and knives for the next 45 minutes and listen to who is still waiting on bread or what a pain the new menu is or how cute the new server is or what a lousy tipper that family was.
Also, can my butt hit the the seat before I am asked what I want to drink? I realize that we are not in other countries where they don't rush you even if your meal is $10 or less, but while I am still unbuttoning my coat, do not ask me what I want to drink! I may order a bottle of wine, but rush me and its free water!
How are young children supposed to learn how to behave in public if they're never allowed to leave their house? By the time i was 3, I would sit in a restaurant and color. I didn't get up and run around. I didn't play with food. I certainly did not pour ketchup on someone. I STILL wouldn't be able to sit down if I did that!
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Amen.
One of my BFFs has raised her three children in Manhattan taking them out to eat to some of the best restaurants. Granted, they weren't going to Per Se but the family ate out and ate in many popular nice restaurants when the kids were young. They learned how to behave or the entire family left.
They ate out EARLY, by 6PM when most opened and were out early.
These kids were not raised on chicken fingers.
In their late teens and early twenties, they are some of the best mannered kids I know.
Right. I never took my son to sit down restaurants until he was old enough to handle it. Sometimes I do see both parents with babies and young children at restaurants, but if the baby cries one parent takes them out so they don't ruin everyone else's meal. This woman had a baby and a small child, so she couldn't take one out and leave the other. She should not have put herself and her kids in that situation.
We all have to share public space, so people should be respectful that it is a shared space. Don't bring kids & babies to a restaurant (other than Chuck E. Cheese or similar) if you don't have some help if they throw tantrums and cry. Don't expect others to listen to a screaming baby while you sit there and do nothing. "Kindness" goes both ways. Unfortunately, too many people these days feel that kindness means putting up with other people doing things with a total lack of regard for others. And if, god forbid, you point out that they have no regard for others YOU are the one being mean and unkind.
We used to take our dd to our favorite steak place around 4:30, when they opened and started serving dinner. Few people were there for dinner at that time, so we could take our time with the server and we could teach our kid about ordering food and behaving in a restaurant.
One of my BFFs has raised her three children in Manhattan taking them out to eat to some of the best restaurants. Granted, they weren't going to Per Se but the family ate out and ate in many popular nice restaurants when the kids were young. They learned how to behave or the entire family left.
They ate out EARLY, by 6PM when most opened and were out early.
These kids were not raised on chicken fingers.
In their late teens and early twenties, they are some of the best mannered kids I know.
Parents like that I can respect, it is the ones who think it is "normal kid behavior" for them to scream and run around at a restaurant. It is not.
Even when my twin sons were as young as 6 months, my wife was an RN and worked night shift, so I got them during the day. I would take them in their little car seats, carry them into a restaurant, and the 3 of us would sit there and eat. 2 and 3 waitresses would come over and say "What have you done to these kids, they are sitting there quietly and eating !" I said "That is what they are supposed to do."
But I was constantly watching them to make sure they were behaving, especially as they got a little older. Being boys, they had an adventurous streak, but usually a stern look and a word or two got them behaving again. It isn't rocket science, just good parenting.
Why would they need to "run all over the place" if there's 6 customers?
Is the restaurant half a mile long?
Stop making excuses for poor customer service!
I walk 4-5 miles on a single shift, but I usually work doubles meaning 8-10 miles over 11-14 hours. Yes, having customers closer together improves a server's ability to provide the best possible service. That's why server stations are drawn up so that all the tables are close together.
It's not making "excuses" for poor customer service. Not all customers want the same thing--clearly the table that got seated 2nd in the OP didn't give a darn that they were seated directly next to another table. If the OP did, make his/her preference known, and it's very likely the restaurant would have complied. Restaurant operators/servers/hostesses aren't mind readers.
Again, not making "excuses" for poor customer service. The OP's question was "Why do restaurants do this?" The question has been asked and answered, even if you don't like the why.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by djsuperfly
I walk 4-5 miles on a single shift, but I usually work doubles meaning 8-10 miles over 11-14 hours. Yes, having customers closer together improves a server's ability to provide the best possible service. That's why server stations are drawn up so that all the tables are close together.
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Again, not making "excuses" for poor customer service. The OP's question was "Why do restaurants do this?" The question has been asked and answered, even if you don't like the why.
I've never worked in a restaurant but I knew this (it makes perfect sense), hence my initial response.
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