Don’t tell me there’s a “ten to fifteen-minute wait” when there are at least 10 empty tables at a restaurant! (This was at a local pizza/pasta place that used to be good. Wait, my ass! :mad:
There most likely wasn’t enough wait staff to cover those empty tables. If they seat more tables than they have waitstaff to cover, then every table’s service suffers, so they don’t seat them. Of course, you can get mad at them for not having enough people in working, but it happens sometimes. If one or more waiters calls in sick, the restaurant screwed until they can get more people in. So it’s not always that they’re slacking.
I have a rule that if there is a line of people, I don’t eat there. I am a customer, I don’t wait for you, you wait for me. (Yes, I am a licensed asshole.)
One day I was with my parents, and of course, they were going to wait. I decided to go to the bathroom, when I see that half of the damned restaurant is empty. They had no waitstaff. So, I have to agree with the above that there is usually a line out the door because of a lack of help.
At the risk of being redundant, I have to second Anamorphic’s explanation. I spent many years in the restaurant industry and that’s usually the reason. You can only have every table in the restaurant sat if you’ve got a full waitstaff. There is a number of reasons why this may not be. Someone called in sick, the whole staff isn’t on the floor yet (usually waitstaff comes in on a staggering schedule) it’s a night that’s usually not busy so they don’t have a full staff scheduled, ect. If any of those things happen, then yes, you will have to wait, even though there may be empty tables.
Would you rather get sat right away and get shitty service? Because that’s what would happen.
And corndog man, you’re right. You are an asshole. The restaurant won’t miss you. I gurantee that.
What if they were holding the tables for reservations?
He may have stated that he was, but based on the behviour described in his post, is he really? He chooses not to eat at places that are busier than they have staff to handle. He didn’t say he curses at a waitress, pimp-slaps the manager, or plays “Walking Tall” with the cars in the parking lot.
I don’t like to wait either, and I won’t unless I’m entertaining a client. Since the vast majority of (even fancy) restaurants in my area don’t take reservations for some baffling reason, this means that I typically cannot eat out on Friday or Saturday night. And if I show up at a restaurant too many times and see hour+ waits too many times, I won’t ever try them again even off-peak.
Plus the fact that my diabetes greatly restricts when I can and cannot eat. The snotty attitude I often get from a server when I ask as politely as possible “How long will it take before there’s food on the table?” Usually the response is “WE’RE MAKING IT AS FAST AS WE CAN!” or “THE SAME ANSWER AS LAST TIME (20 minutes ago…)! IT WILL BE OUT SHORTLY!” is uncalled for. Since polite asking of a simple factual question exposes me to abuse, I am then forced to embarass myself by saying “I have to time taking a shot so I don’t become ill or die here at the table. Can you please tell me when the food will be here?” Then I sometimes have to explain exactly why I need to take a shot, and get the “Oh you poor thing, I could NEVER take a shot myself…”
There’s an Outback near me that routinely has insane waits, and won’t take a reservation even if I was to try to slip the manager a $50. I’ve called one Friday night and been told there was a 2 hour and 45 minute wait. Ironic, since that wait time put the time we would be served past closing time… 
As a pimp, I take great umbrage at the term “pimp-slap” that was offered up on the sacrificial posting altar not quite an hour ago.
How can we fight ignorance if we continue to stereotype pimps, hos, and others oursleves?
Besides, I (and my pimp union friends) refer to it as “bitch-slap.”
Hos gotta eat, too! (Winky Dinky Ho Cakes)
Around here, I think the hosts all read from a prepared script. Apparantly, you can’t eat at 7:30, anywhere. Unless you get there at 5:00.
As a bitch, I take great umbrage at the term “bitch-slap” that was offered up on the sacrificial posting altar not quite an hour ago.
As a tall person…
wait, I’m only 5-10.
And as a ho…wait.
Never mind.
I forgot to mention in my OP that this place is entirely buffet. The waiters bring drinks, that’s it.
I think the asshole part is the attitude he demonstrates: “I am a customer, I don’t wait for you, you wait for me.” Yes, customers should be treated with reasonable respect, but that doesn’t make them all-holy important enough for the world to revolve around 'em.
Do people actually wait this long to eat at a restaurant? We tried to go to Outback once and were told the wait was 2 hours - needless to say, we took our business elsewhere and were seated immediately in another steakhouse. I’m serious, though - why would people wait that long for dinner? Are their lives so pathetic that camping on the bench in a restaurant is preferable to any alternative? I don’t get it.
Ahh, I can answer this one. It’s usually because the patriarch of the tribe has gotten it in his head that he wants Outback gawddammit and he’s a gonna HAVE some Outback. And you may say “But there’s another steakhouse up the road!” And they’ll say “But it’s not as good as/as cheap as/…I WANT OUTBACK!” This seems to strike males, especially the Controlling Patriarch type. God knows, I had to do enough waiting in stupid lines when I was a kid.
Or they get that line blindness that hits people in lines. You know, they’ll see the line for the Whirl-O-Rama at Disney world is by the “Five Hour Wait From This Spot” and just sigh and say “We may as well get in line now!”
I am with you, I am paying for service when I go out, if I want to wait I can do that at home.
This does not make either of us assholes, just not patrons of restaurants that do not staff there place with enough help.
Yes you can say it is because someone was a no show but that is hardly my problem.
Wait a minute. Since when does
willing to wait for dinner = pathetic loser?
Not that I do it all the time, but if the food is good enough, I would wait. That doesn’t mean I’d sit on a bench with my thumb up my butt and tap my foot impatiently. I’d go to the bar and have a drink or two and socialize with whomever I’m having dinner while waiting for my table. I don’t know why you would think that is pathetic. To me it would be like a “whole night out” experience, not a quickie dinner. Of course, if I wanted a quickie dinner I’d go somewhere without a wait.
It’s not so bad if the people you’re with a good company and good conversation. I’d happily wait on a bench for a couple of hours with Fierra, Tansu, and Winnowill and gab about things. So long as they brought by drinks. And maybe a Bloomin’ Onion…smothered in cheese…
I don’t believe I used the term loser anywhere. And there’s a difference between waiting and camping out. A nearly 3-hour wait?? That’s 12.5% of a day. Waiting. It’s a free country, and it’s not my place to tell anyone else what to do with their time. But I believe I’m entitled to my opinion, which is that waiting nearly three hours for a table at Outback is pretty pathetic.
Corndog man’s assholishness arose out of his “I don’t wait for people, they wait for ME” attitude (which is only steps away from gobears legendary “one does not take crap from the help” comment. It’s an overall attitude, not any specific thing he said. It came through in his post quite clearly. Also just got done reading that stupid CAPS thread. That had a little to do with it too.
Usually restaurants with extremely long waits have more customers than tables, so iwire, so someone being a no show most likely wouldn’t have a darn thing to do with it. If it’s because of a no-show or not enough staff or whatever, the wait wouldn’t be longer than 20 minutes at most. Enough time for the servers there to get their current tables started before getting new ones. If 20 minutes is too much for you to handle, go somewhere else. Like I told corndog man, I’m sure the restaurant won’t miss you.
I think they’re referring to the line of people who stand in the parking lot while the line runs around the building because the waiting room is full. No bar available or is full also. Sounds to me like y’all need somewhere else to go.
I won’t wait either, sorry. If there not a lounge/bar available or if we have the kids, forget it.
I don’t have “spare” time. I also don’t wait (long waits, of course)at other places either. I guess I’m certified too. But, I’ll be damned if my icecream frozen foods etc. is gonna melt, while I wait 30 minutes to check out at a grocery store. I don’t sit for hours at a doctor’s office, (everyone scheduled for the same time) and if I’m at an emergency room, you can bet that it’s an emergency. Last time I took my mom during a HEART ATTACK…“if you’d take a seat and this form etc.” but, excuse me, “Sorry but you’ll have to WAIT” , needless to say that set me off.
As far as waiting for a table at a restaurant, if they are that busy, it would probably be better for everyone to go somewhere else. They obviously are overcrowded/understaffed/whatever…give everybody a break and find someplace else.
sorry 'bout the hijack 