I was talking with a friend today and was reminded of an incident from the past.
A friend and I seated in a booth at McDonalds eating our lunch. A boy of about 10 or 11 approached us and asked us if we would mind moving to a different table because the table we were at was their (he and his mother’s) table.
My friend was wiling to move but I said no because we had already started eating. Had he asked before we had unwrapped and taken bites out of our food it wouldn’t have been a big deal but I wasn’t willing to wrap everything up and put it back on the tray and move.
Besides who walks up to total strangers eating in any kind of food establishment and asks them to move because you are sitting in their seat.
The McDonalds wasn’t crowded, there were plenty of tables available, including the booths in front and behind us.
They ended up sitting in the booth in front of me, the mother staring at me with dagger eyes the entire time until I set my sandwich down and stared back hard at her.
My friend said I was rude, it would have been no big deal to move.
I say it was rude of the kid and his mother to even think we should move and for her to stare at me that way was beyond rude.
Nobody was rude unless the dagger thing wasn’t a figure of speech. (A little on the insane side, though.)
Then again I find it perfectly reasonable to take the last seat somewhere even if people want to save it for a friend, so maybe my rudeness scale isn’t calibrated properly.
I’m a pretty easy-going person, and I don’t mind being flexible, but perceived ownership of a particular table in a restaurant isn’t a reason to ask someone to move. We all have our preferences – I like THIS treadmill, but THAT bike at the gym – but if it’s taken, it’s taken. You can use something else or you can wait.
I’m perfectly happy to move if there’s some kind of rational reason, like having a big group wanting to get adjacent tables, needing a particular table type due to physical disability, or management getting ready for a birthday, anything sensible. But “move, this is ours” makes zero sense, and getting angry about it enough to rudely stare makes even less sense.
Unless you were particularly nasty about the refusal, I don’t see this as rude at all. It’s a strange and unreasonable request.
That’s a weird request. I’m wondering if the boy was autistic or something, and if the mom knew that this was going to cause all kinds of problems and was unreasonably pissed off at you for something you couldn’t know.
It was a weird request. It was their’s how? Was it their usual seat? I’m thinking maybe the mother told him to sit their to hold it while she got the food but he got up and lost the seat. But the fact that they were able to easily get a seat makes no sense.
No it was not rude of you. For such an odd request the burden is on them. What is so special about the seat? “We always sat there with my father and now he’s dead.” OK give them the seat. “Its the only seat and Mom has MS.” Ok give them the seat. “I called dibs when we pulled into the parking lot.” So sorry try again.
I’m curious as to the kid’s reaction when you told him no. Did he seem upset or did he seem OK with it? I’m betting it was the latter and it’s Mom whose nose got all out of joint over it.
I have an acquaintance (I’d call her a friend, reluctantly, if she didn’t do stuff like this herself) who firmly believes that the Biblical phrase, “Ask and you shall receive,” is her personal ticket to getting anything she wants. The place we hang out only has five tables. Since most of the business there is take-out, it usually isn’t a problem, but occasionally there’s someone at our table. She has no compunction whatsoever in telling them to move, much to our chagrin. Sounds like she has a kindred soul in the woman you described.
If she keeps this up, Mom will probably wonder why her son doesn’t want much to do with her when he’s an adult.
Edited to add that I really liked kaylasdad99’s approached to the situation.