# Have you ever been hassled at a restaurant for eating your take out at one of their tables? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142 "2014-07-27T04:18:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/1 "2014-07-27T04:18:25Z")
This is such a odd story. I’ve changed my mind many times and eaten my take out at one of their plastic tables. Maybe it’s blazing hot and I want to cool off before getting back in the car. Or I remember another errand before I can go home and eat. Nobody has ever even looked at me for eating the meal I just paid for at the table. Why should they care whether I eat that burger in my car or at one of their tables? It’s just a burger in a sack and a soda. Is this restaurant way out of line or what? What in the world would even get an employee to raise a fuss about eating a burger at their cheap plastic tables? [http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/aretha-franklin-respect-johnny-rockets-buffalo-article-1.1881092](http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/aretha-franklin-respect-johnny-rockets-buffalo-article-1.1881092) > [@](#): > > She ordered her usual — a hamburger and cherry coke to go. Then she sat down at one of the restaurant’s many empty tables and waited for the food. > > Out of nowhere, a worker in her mid-30s showed up and told Franklin, “You can’t sit there.” > > “I said, ‘Excuse me, what do you mean I can’t sit here?” recalled Franklin, who was with her nephew at the time. > > The worker told Franklin the seating area is only for people who are eating in. > > Franklin stayed calm. “I said, ‘Ok, I’ll have it here,” she recalled. > > The 72-year-old singing sensation said she was shocked by the worker’s reply: “You can’t have it here because we’ve already rang you up as a takeout customer.” ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/2 "2014-07-27T04:23:25Z")
In some municipalities food to be eaten in the restaurant has a different sales tax than food for takeout. Maybe it’s that kind of a deal, otherwise, I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/3 "2014-07-27T04:25:22Z")
Some places charge a nominal fee for takeout too. > [@](#): > > “My nephew mentioned to her who I was,” Franklin added, “and she said she didn’t care who I was.” > > The experience left Franklin with a terrible taste in her mouth. Her burger-slinging antagonist was “so rude and nasty,” Franklin said. > > “She’s a public servant and she shouldn’t speak that way to anybody, celebrities or non-celebrities,” Franklin said. This has happened to me, and it happened when I was applying managements rules across the board like ordered. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/4 "2014-07-27T04:26:05Z")
If she was going to just sit down and eat, WHY did she order it to go? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/5 "2014-07-27T04:28:47Z")
Because the waitress insisted only dine in customers could sit at their tables. So Gladys said fine, I’ll eat here then instead of taking it home. I’ve even called in pizza orders before and then decided to eat inside. Just because it’s hot and I need time to cool off before getting back into a hot car. You have to be careful in Arkansas in August when it’s 102 outside. That’s dangerous heat if you’ve been out running errands for a hour or so. Eating at the table is not a big deal. I just take my pizza box and soda to a table and eat from the box. I don’t ask them for a plate or anything. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/6 "2014-07-27T04:38:51Z")
Ace: when you do that, does the order start as a take-out order? If so, why not just order dine-in? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/7 "2014-07-27T04:44:34Z")
Yes. For Pizza I always call ahead and arrange a take out. Maybe from some store where I’m shopping. But, if I get over to the restaurant and feel a little light headed or just feeling over whelmed by the heat then I’ll decide to eat inside and cool off. Twenty minutes in the AC makes a new man out of me. 🙂 Or sometimes I’ll get to the restaurant and remember I still need to pick up my prescriptions. I don’t want my fresh, steaming hot pizza sitting in the car while I make that extra trip to the pharmacy. I’ll eat at a table and then go run that last errand. I’m only talking about burger and pizza places. Usually they don’t even have waitresses. You pay and pick up your meal at the counter and then you can either go out to the car or eat at a table. It’s totally up to the customer. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/8 "2014-07-27T04:48:28Z")
It is very likely the employee had no clue who Areba Frankleen is, just told to enforce a rule and that is that. I certainly can’t remember all my paren’ts celebrities. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/9 "2014-07-27T04:54:20Z")
The wait staff may see it as screwing them out of a tip. They still have to bus the table. Another reason I have done this is when I ordered a huge meal with the intention of taking home leftovers. Lots less hassle compared to moving it from a plate. I would only do that at a casual dining place though. I can see a more upscale place wanting to maintain a classier atmosphere than the guy at the next table eating out of a foam clamshell. The cashiers will also occasionally mis-hear or mis-key the order. Carrying the bag to the table is really not a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/10 "2014-07-27T04:55:29Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > If she was going to just sit down and eat, WHY did she order it to go? She wasn’t going to sit down and eat. She was just sitting to wait for the food to be ready. She was told people waiting for takeout were only permitted to stand. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/11 "2014-07-27T05:01:25Z")
I’m amazed a fast food worker even noticed Aretha had sat down. Fast food workers usually ignore customers unless they are directly spoken too. They are just there to take the money at the register and make sure your food gets in the bag. I haven’t eaten dine-in at McDonalds in a long time. Do they still put your boxed burger, boxed fries and soda on a tray? It’s really no different than take out except they don’t shove it into a paper bag. I eat at Sonic quite often and they don’t even serve car side on a tray anymore. They bring a bag out to your car. You can eat it there or take it home. They could care less. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/12 "2014-07-27T05:42:56Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > If she was going to just sit down and eat, WHY did she order it to go? Never changed your mind? The OP specified this. I’ve done this, but, of course, only rarely. Also, I’ve had fast food restaurants make the mistake themselves, giving me food in a bag when I had said I was planning to eat there. I just shrugged and went to a table anyway. A sensible restaurant manager wouldn’t make a thing out of it, especially if it’s just a one-time event, something that only happens on rare occasions. Sure, if there was an organized conspiracy by people to bypass a sales tax, then he has to get tough, but if someone just does this the once, who cares? Also, I’ve sat at tables LOTS of times to wait for my “to go” order to be ready. Why stand around and be bored when you can sit and be comfortable and be bored? If a manager snarled at me for sitting at a table while my order is prepared, I’d be on the phone to their corporate headquarters right then and there, and make a formal complaint, naming names. (For balance, I also fill out feedback forms when service is particularly good, for instance when a counter clerk is more than usually polite, or cheerful, or funny, or is helpful.) ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/13 "2014-07-27T06:08:56Z")
I’ve never had a restaurant employee tell me I can’t sit at one of their tables while waiting for takeout. The issue about eating takeout in the restaurant has never come up with me, but I would be surprised if anyone were to object. Note that a representative for Johnny Rocket’s has apologized and said that the owner has clarified takeout policy with the employee, who was described as “new and very young.” It sounds like a case of overzealousness and bad training. Employees should not try to enforce rules that don’t exist, and should not look for ways to piss off customers with trivial nonsense. A restaurant server is not a hall monitor. This reminds me of the song _Hey, Nineteen_. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/14 "2014-07-27T07:35:33Z")
How is a worker “in her mid-30s” also “new and young”? Also, I don’t care what kind of restaurant you are, if a 72-year-old wants to sit while waiting for an order, you give them a place to sit. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/15 "2014-07-27T10:06:11Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > The wait staff may see it as screwing them out of a tip. They still have to bus the table. I’ve always been annoyed when people have done this when I’ve worked restaurants. My most recent restaurant job was a “everyone do what needs to be done” situation, so when you walk in to place a to-go order you’re actually stopping a server from doing whatever they were doing so they can take your order, ring you up, give you change, send the order to the kitchen- instead of a bigger place that would have a hostess taking care of all walk-ins. Then they sit down (and wait to have their order brought to them at the table), eat in, leaving a table I’ve got to bus, making the table unavailable to someone else, and they don’t leave a tip. Annoying . . . but I’ve _never_ worked in a restaurant that had a policy against it. We’d just chalk it up to another instance of rudeness- just one of many that any food service worker sees in any given shift. Annoying, but not at all noteworthy. _And that’s not even what this was!!!_ She was sitting to wait for her order. She only said she’d stay and eat at the table when she was told the tables were for dine-in customers only. > [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m amazed a fast food worker even noticed Aretha had sat down. Fast food workers usually ignore customers unless they are directly spoken too. They are just there to take the money at the register and make sure your food gets in the bag. Johnny Rockets isn’t really a fast food place. It’s not very many steps above fast food, but it’s not fast food. It’s kind of on a level with Denny’s, it’s just that its primary focus is to be a burger joint. They have waitstaff in cute 50s-ish outfits who would come to your table and take your order, waitstaff who you’d normally tip. Being a few steps up from fast food, their customer service can usually be expected to be quite a bit better than a fast food place. So, yeah, this was a really bad employee making a really dumb choice. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/16 "2014-07-27T10:58:20Z")
[Not a policy; just a bad employee.](http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/aretha-franklin-gets-no-respect-at-niagara-falls-restaurant-1.2719180) > [@](#): > > Out of nowhere, a worker in her mid-30s showed up and told Franklin, “You can’t sit there.” > . . . > A Johnny Rockets spokeswoman says the franchise owner is sorry for the actions of “a new and very young employee.” She said the owner has spoken with the employee and has clarified his takeout policies. “Mid-30s” and “very young” sounds like the spokeswoman isn’t to bright either. Too bad you can’t call the health department after being made queasy from teh stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/17 "2014-07-27T11:36:41Z")
I often pick up take out for meetings of 20 people back at the conference room. That means I do tip since it’s as much work to bag as bus, and I will sit while I wait. When they tell me what I owe, I usually say (with a polite and friendly manner) “that’s a big order. Does it come with a free cup of coffee while I wait?” (As a flunky I’ve already fulfilled my quota of being pushed around for the day.) But regardless of my wants, which of these would a restaurant manager want to present: a herd of people milling around the lobby, or people seated at tables? ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/18 "2014-07-27T12:43:05Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Have you ever been hassled at a restaurant for eating your take out at one of their tables? I think that Aretha’s situation was just strange. Certainly from her telling of the story, there does not appear to be a valid reason for the request. To the original question though, when ordering take-out at Chinese restaurant, I have been asked not to sit and wait at one of the dining tables, but instead in one of the out-of-the-way booths. I assume that they did not like the impression that it gave to prospective diners. Also, in Paris (and I imagine in other large cities), there is often a “table” fee or a “patio” fee for dining-in at cafes. They are quite good at enforcing this. Does Johnny Rockets charge more for a table? And finally, **Bill Door** already mentioned the sales tax issue which exists in different municipalities. It could have been just overzealous enforcement. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/19 "2014-07-27T13:06:22Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Johnny Rockets isn’t really a fast food place. It’s not very many steps above fast food, but it’s not fast food. It’s kind of on a level with Denny’s, it’s just that its primary focus is to be a burger joint. They have waitstaff in cute 50s-ish outfits who would come to your table and take your order, waitstaff who you’d normally tip. > > Being a few steps up from fast food, their customer service can usually be expected to be quite a bit better than a fast food place. So, yeah, this was a really bad employee making a really dumb choice. ``` I'm not sure why people seem to be comparing this situation to a McDonald's or pizza place where the difference in take out or eat in is whether your food gets put in a bag or on a tray, you have to find your own seat and if all the tables are full you end up standing there with your tray waiting for one to open up.Johnny Rockets has waitstaff, and like any other inexpensive sitdown restaurant there is sometimes a line of people waiting to be seated,and people are usually seated based on how many tables each server already has. Does anyone expect to order takeout from Red Lobster or Outback or Denny's and sit at a table while they wait for it? In this case, it wouldn't have caused any problems for her to sit down while she waited, but I'm fairly sure a) there actually was a rule against it (owners/managers always throw the workers under the bus) b) the management was not inclined to allow low-level employees to make judgment calls like "when is it OK for someone waiting for takeout to sit at a table and when is it not"this and c) the retraining consisted of "call the manager in the future". ``` ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142/20 "2014-07-27T13:25:37Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I’m not sure why people seem to be comparing this situation to a McDonald’s or pizza place where the difference in take out or eat in is whether your food gets put in a bag or on a tray, you have to find your own seat and if all the tables are full you end up standing there with your tray waiting for one to open up.Johnny Rockets has waitstaff I think people who are not familiar with Johnny Rockets look at the article, see the graphic describing “The Original Hamburger” and the reference in the article to a food court, and they just assume it’s a fast food place. I don’t think people are intentionally equating Johnny Rockets with McDonalds. It’s just people who don’t know what Johnny Rockets is, and they’re putting an image together based on the article. > [@](#): > > Does anyone expect to order takeout from Red Lobster or Outback or Denny’s and sit at a table while they wait for it? I think lots of people would sit while waiting provided the restaurant isn’t very full. I think most 70-somethings would feel justified doing so. Now, sitting to _eat_ their take-out order would be different. But she only wanted to sit while she was waiting. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-hassled-at-a-restaurant-for-eating-your-take-out-at-one-of-their-tables/694142.md?page=2)