Would You Sit at a Saved Table?

[FireDancer]

I did already say there were other open tables where she could have sat, so she did have "other options".

I was talking more general than your specific situation. If there were other open tables I would probably have just sat there instead of at a table with people's stuff on it but I still say that putting your stuff on a table doesn't reserve it.

 

[undertheradar]

Could it possibly be that she was there alone and didn't want to sit by herself? So many people save seats for events and nobody arrives to fill them. Perhaps it would have been better to make light conversation and enjoy the concert instead of being bothered that your space was somehow being violated.

 

[MIGrandma]

agreed!





If you don't want to be social, go sit at one of the empty tables you mentioned were available.

Has nothing to do with not wanting to be social. Has everything to do with not being completely sure if we were going to need the entire table or not until everyone got there. If, after our entire party got there, late-comers needed to sit down that would have been completely fine.

 

[HM]

But maybe the other options weren't as good as the saved table location. She really wanted that spot.

Devil's Advocate here: Maybe she sees better out of one eye than the other and sitting on the other side of the room would not have worked for her. And she's a private person and doesn't want to say why those seats were needed. -Obscure, I know...but you never know.

 

[Scurvy]

At a school function, I would have thought that the chairs that had things placed on them were saved, but not the whole table!
So I might sit at empty chairs at that same table....

Me too. My son's band banquet was last week and though we got there early, we weren't as early as we had hoped and there were quite a few chairs already claimed by the time we were trying to get settled. Literally every table had at least a couple of chairs with things on them, or on the table in front of them. If I had assumed that all tables with things on them were claimed, I never would have gotten a seat at all. There were two tables with "Reserved" signs on them, for the people working to check everyone in to the banquet, and of course I didn't sit at those tables. But the other tables were fair game. At something like a typical restaurant where it's expected that you aren't going to be sharing a table with strangers, I think it's reasonable to assume that the entire table is saved if there's stuff on it. But for a concert or banquet where it's common for strangers to share tables, it's unreasonable to think that setting something on the table will reserve the entire thing for your party. In a case like that, you need to actually have people sitting at the table to hold the seats that you want to save. (And that's if you're allowed to save seats. If you aren't, then any seat without a person in it if up for grabs whether or not you've left your stuff there.)

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

I wouldn't sit at a table officially reserved by an establishment. If it was just "reserved" by people putting their crap there I'd have no problem sitting there if there were no other options. You aren't an explorer in the 16th century. Planting you flag and claiming a spot for yourself means pretty much nothing to me. I also remove towels from chairs next to the pool if there are no open seats.

In a full house, I'm right there with you on both scenarios. That being said, if there were other options, I'd definitely take the empty chair/table over the one with all the random crap piled on it. Life's too short to haggle over what some stranger thinks is their "right" to a saved spot.

 

[ols386]

Could it possibly be that she was there alone and didn't want to sit by herself? So many people save seats for events and nobody arrives to fill them. Perhaps it would have been better to make light conversation and enjoy the concert instead of being bothered that your space was somehow being violated.

If there were other tables open, then I would see no reason to sit at a table that looked like it was saved.

 

[suzannen]

I hate that whole concept of leaving things on a chair or table makes it yours. If I go early to "reserve" myself and my group a certain table, then I also make sure that at least two or three of us are actively sitting there at all times. Then, if someone comes up, you can politely say, "I'm sorry all of these seats are taken." Otherwise, I'm with FireDancer, leaving things on a table and walking away doesn't "save it."

 

[crashbb]

I was talking more general than your specific situation. If there were other open tables I would probably have just sat there instead of at a table with people's stuff on it but I still say that putting your stuff on a table doesn't reserve it.

I agree.

I also agree that both parties in the situation were rude. It is rude to try to save an entire table but, unless there was nowhere else to sit (or the other places to sit were not as good), I'd likely have sat elsewhere. However, I also agree that the woman likely didn't realise that all the seats at the table were saved (which leaves the OP as the only rude one in the situation).

 

[lizabu]

I think it depends on how the table was saved. If a backpack was on the table no one is going to assume the entire table is saved. However if there is a sweater, bag, shoe or other personal object on every chair around the table anyone would be certain the whole table is reserved. When it's clear the whole table is reserved I would never sit there. If there are no other tables available and it's not clear the whole table is saved I would sit there. There's nothing worse than people hogging up all the seats leaving others to stand at the back only to find their party didn't show up anyways

 

[cluvsdisney]

Since there were plenty of other options, I wouldn't have sat at that table.

 

[Kathi OD]

Has nothing to do with not wanting to be social. Has everything to do with not being completely sure if we were going to need the entire table or not until everyone got there. If, after our entire party got there, late-comers needed to sit down that would have been completely fine.

I've been to functions where it appears that a table has been saved and then along come the owners of the objects at the table; they pick them up and move on to greener pastures. So everyone should avoid that table?

IMO, you should have known beforehand whether or not you were going to need the entire table and place one object at each seat you need. One object saves one seat. Alternatively, you could have had someone stay at the table to let others know. People aren't mind readers. Two bags doesn't save 10 seats, it saves two.

I know that sometimes one person in a group can't get there on time. Life happens, but depending on how crowded the event is, they get what's left, regardless of whether someone "saved" them a seat or not (and I know this doesn't necessarily apply to the situation you've described). But no way would I be standing just because someone "saved" a seat and the person the seat is saved for hasn't arrived yet.

 

[akhenaten]

I guess I don't see a reason why a whole table full of people should have to move because one woman decided to sit at a table that was obviously saved. And I didn't want to move because DS had specifically asked his kids to save the table they did, as they had saved it for us many other times (with no problems) and being this is DS's DD's last concert since she is a senior and will be graduating in two weeks. DS barely had time to drive home from work, take a shower and get to the concert.

If I had been the woman, I never would have sat at a saved table, or even if I did and then the people came I would at least ask, politely (not crabby like she did) if they were going to need the entire table. If they weren't sure, I still would have moved. Oh well, like I said in the end it worked out okay but I was just curious to see other opinions on what they would do in this same situation.

There was no "whole Table full of people" to move... you had just arrived... no one was at the table except for the woman and a couple of backpacks!!

 

[jrmasm]

I doubt I would have sat down at 'your' table but next time, try having at least one butt in a chair. A person can communicate your intentions much better than a bookbag.

 

[pweyl36]

I wouldn't sit at a table officially reserved by an establishment. If it was just "reserved" by people putting their crap there I'd have no problem sitting there if there were no other options. You aren't an explorer in the 16th century. Planting you flag and claiming a spot for yourself means pretty much nothing to me. I also remove towels from chairs next to the pool if there are no open seats.

If there was no open seats the get there early. If a towel is on the chair why would you move the towel? That person could be in the pool, I would be hot if you touched my stuff.

 

[MIGrandma]

There was no "whole Table full of people" to move... you had just arrived... no one was at the table except for the woman and a couple of backpacks!!

Okay, I should have said "potential whole table full of people to move", since everyone wasn't there yet and I didn't know if DS's fiance was bringing her girls too, sorry.

I doubt I would have sat down at 'your' table but next time, try having at least one butt in a chair. A person can communicate your intentions much better than a bookbag.

There was no butt to put into a chair when the table was saved. The grandkids put their things on the table to save it, then they had other duties to tend to before the concert started. My Mom, DD and I got there at 6:30 (concert started at 7:00). There were maybe a dozen cars in the parking lot at that time, very few people in the actual auditorium (thus the reason for many open tables still) and we stopped to hug the grandkids and speak to their Mother first, then I happened to notice the woman sitting at the table and we went over after that to sit down.

 

[msjprincess]

How does a couple of backpacks save an entire table? Was each family supposed to get it's own individual table? That's the only way I could think of that the woman would know she shouldn't sit there.

 

[MIGrandma]

If there was no open seats the get there early. If a towel is on the chair why would you move the towel? That person could be in the pool, I would be hot if you touched my stuff.

I'm not sure if FD is talking about on a cruise, but on those there are people up at 6:00 a.m. staking out their preferred chairs. I think the rule is 30 minutes to wait and see if someone actually claims the chair, then the crew has the right to remove people's things from the chairs. But to walk out to the pool area say at noon or 1:00 in the afternoon, look around and see items on the chairs you want and then walk over and move them, no that isn't right. Someone may be actually in the pool, in the restroom, ran back to their room to get something they forgot, or at the deli getting food to bring back, etc.

 

[FireDancer]

If there was no open seats the get there early. If a towel is on the chair why would you move the towel? That person could be in the pool, I would be hot if you touched my stuff.

Yeah, I wouldn't care. People put stuff on chairs and walk away thinking that just because they put their crap there they have reserved the chair all day. Like the PP said, I'd wait a bit but if no one came back for a while I'd move it without question. This goes for Disney cruises and water parks.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I wouldn't sit at a saved table unless there were no other spots available and I would have asked if we could share.