A Seat Saving Situation I Saw Today

[MushyMushy]

Hey, tables ain't parking meters and people aren't drinking and tipping by the minute.

Most of the bars and restaurants we patronize were places that catered to the smoker. Since the ban, we hear more and more from waitresses who say people don't hang around as much as they used to. They'd eat their dinner then leave immediately because they want to smoke. What used to happen before the ban is that people would linger after dinner, have a smoke, order more coffee or dessert and the price of the dinner (and tips) would increase as they stayed for an hour or so.

Thing are probably different in restaurants where they're packing 'em in and shoving them off as soon as they're done (give me my money and get the hell out of here so I can sell more). But around here bars and restaurants are little communities in and of themselves. It's not uncommon to see someone get a $12.00 lunch and leave a $20 bill behind to cover it.

Perhaps things are different where you are. I'm used to people being considerate of each other. If a group of people leave their jackets on chairs, they're coming back. It's respected.

That's the way it is here. I've never heard the attitude that people should sit at the bar for just a little while and then leave for another person to sit there. The places I frequent, people will plant themselves at the bar all night. Some tip per drink and others tip when they settle up their tab (we do that). You know, if you show up after a certain time you'll probably be standing.

 

[surfgirl]

The owners will go out of their way to make sure our table is held because they know that the longer we stay the more we buy/tip.

Hey, tables ain't parking meters and people aren't drinking and tipping by the minute.

<snip>

Perhaps things are different where you are. I'm used to people being considerate of each other. If a group of people leave their jackets on chairs, they're coming back. It's respected.

fair points. I agree consideration is important. However, if I've been standing in line for 15 minutes and see 4 chairs unoccupied for that long, I may be a tad bit frustrated.

We're not talking about a restaurant, we may not even be talking about lunch. We are talking about a sports bar where bartenders make their tips... not on empty chairs, but on paying customers.

I think had the smokers been considerate, they would have gone in stages. Or not taken 15 minutes. Or waited for a seat when they came back if there were truly none available. People try to use the corollary of going to the bathroom... taking a cell phone call. Not the same situation... not 4 chairs together for 15 minutes.

Who is the inconsiderate one?

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just playing devil's advocate that there are two sides before we all condemn the 'chair stealers'.

 

[Carly_Roach]

fair points. I agree consideration is important. However, if I've been standing in line for 15 minutes and see 4 chairs unoccupied for that long, I may be a tad bit frustrated.

We're not talking about a restaurant, we may not even be talking about lunch. We are talking about a sports bar where bartenders make their tips... not on empty chairs, but on paying customers.

I think had the smokers been considerate, they would have gone in stages. Or not taken 15 minutes. Or waited for a seat when they came back if there were truly none available. People try to use the corollary of going to the bathroom... taking a cell phone call. Not the same situation... not 4 chairs together for 15 minutes.

Who is the inconsiderate one?

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just playing devil's advocate that there are two sides before we all condemn the 'chair stealers'.

I guess I'd have to say that anyone who arrived in a room full of people and sat down at a table that wasn't completely empty, cleaned off and set up for new customers is probably going to be the inconsiderate one. I'm sorry if this describes you and you are taking offense to that assessment. IMO, if a restaurant or sports bar is so full that we have to cruise for seats and play duck duck goose whenever we think a table might be opening up, 9 times out of 10 we'll leave. Too damned crowded to even think about having a good time.

Of course, we're in our 40's instead of our 20's. We're old enough to have decided that we'd rather be treated as guests instead of just another head to give the staff money and then get the hell out of there when our wallets are empty.

Yeah, the "sports bar where bartenders make their tips... not on empty chairs, but on paying customers" might work for the short term. And yeah, they'll make some money on the crowd when there are big games in town. But these sports bars won't be the first bar of choice for the everyday businessman or woman when they want eat out themselves or to take a client or visiting relative out to - which happens MUCH more often than "the big game".

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I agree consideration is important. However, if I've been standing in line for 15 minutes and see 4 chairs unoccupied for that long, I may be a tad bit frustrated.

I think this is a good point. 15 minutes is quite a long time and I'm pretty sure I'd be annoyed if I had to stand when others were outside for 15 minutes holding unoccupied chairs. There's a huge difference between running out for a smoke (less than 5 minutes) and being outside for who knows what, for 15 minutes.

 

[luvsJack]

Its not like 4 people sitting in a row are all going to forget thier jackets.


These were not "saved" seats, these were occupied seats.

 

[Wishing on a star]

how much did they drink and tip while their seats were empty for 15 minutes?

This is a totally different, and moot, point....

This is now the second or third person to have brought this up...
And, I really disagree.

If a bar wants to try to have a policy of 15 min. per seat per drink purchase... whatever.... Let's see how that works out...

A customer is a customer.... I very highly doubt that many people just want to sit their but on a bar seat for ONLY 15 min... or, what... the tipping police move in....

People often 'park' at bars...
Bar/Restaurants now often serve the full-service food menu at the bar, and people can choose to sit and dine there... Maybe they intend to have a few drinks... maybe they don't want to sit in the 'family/kid' swamped area, maybe it is busy, and they can avoid a longer wait for a dining table...

Doesn't matter....

I say that whether it is a bar stool, restaurant chair, pool lounger, theater seat, whatever.... 10 minutes is perfectly acceptable.... Much longer than that, and chair hog rules might kick in.

Having said that, ALL FOUR of these folks leaving four bar stools empty during the game in a busy establishment.... You can't help but almost think they got what they were asking for.

 

[JLTraveling]

We're not talking about a restaurant, we may not even be talking about lunch. We are talking about a sports bar where bartenders make their tips... not on empty chairs, but on paying customers./QUOTE]

I'm totally scratching my head on this one, but it may be due to inexperience. I'm not a huge sports fan, thus I don't spend a lot of time watching games (at sports bars or anywhere else). Most of my experience is at dance clubs, where I do see how this makes sense (even though I still think the seat-stealers would be in the wrong).

The times that I have gone to watch a game at a sports bar, we went for the game. As in, my group and other groups arrived early, staked out tables/seats at the bar/whatever, and settled in for the duration. The bars I've been to always provided free appetizers, and we opened tabs and drank liberally and settled up with huge tips at the end. Again, the other table- or barstool-holding groups did the same.

Other people wandered through, stayed for a few minutes, wandered back out again. They were pretty much the dollar or less per drink tippers, barhopping their way through the city. Now, we never had to deal with this issue because smoking in bars was permitted, but I can't help but think the bartenders would have preferred to retain the business of the people who were planted for the duration, rather than having them leave because some barhopping tourists wanted their seats. This was always at corner bars in New Orleans, still in the French Quarter but well off Bourbon Street. Maybe it's different in other areas

 

[ols386]

I would think that if someone gets up, leaves their jacket on the bar stool, and leaves the building for more than about 10 minutes, for whatever reason, then the stool should be open for anyone to sit on.

What if it's in the dead of winter, and the person needs to wear their jacket when they go outside to smoke, or whatever?

Having said that, I wouldn't sit down on a bar stool or a chair at a table if someone's jacket were there.

 

[Jingle]

To comment on a couple issues that were brought up, they were outside a little longer this time because it was half time. They returned shortly after the second half started. Otherwise they didn't stay out as long.

These people were there when the game started, and first ordered food and also drinks. I wasn't paying attention to how much they were drinking.

The bartender in the area appeared to be fairly new because early on I saw someone else showing her some things, she appeared to be in her early 20's and was constantly serving people because the place was busy. She may not have known how to handle the situation and the four who lost their seats (good seats because of the view) just went to a back table and didn't take the issue to a manager.

 

[C.Ann]

The "seat stealers" were rude - plain and simple..