Earlier today me and my girl friend has a few hours between classes so we went to Nando’s and when we got there it was completely empty apart from 1 other table and the guy at the host stand directed us to a big long table with 10 or 12 chairs at it and just told us to use that table. I found it a-bit odd but figured no one’s here and it’s a very quiet time of day (Monday around 12).
So my and my gf order food and it takes about 25 minutes to arrive , whilst we are waiting for our food the restaurant starts to get a lot busier. By this point maybe 70% of the tables are now in use.
Our food arrives and then the waiter comes up to the table and asked if me and my gf would mind moving tables as they have just had a party of 10 walk in and non of the other tables are big enough. At this point I’ve maybe had half my food and my gf was the same so I refused to move and said we’d be done shorty as we both have classes to get back to.
About a minute after this, a woman who looks likes she’s from an office comes over and asked if I can move as her work place is having a staff lunch and they need the big table so they can sit together. I explained to her the same thing I said to the waiter that I was sat here when the restaurant was empty and it wasn’t my choice to sit here originally and that staff had sat me and my gf here.I also explained that I had not been interrupted two times in 5 minutes and I would like to be able to finish my food and then they could have the table. The woman repeatedly said she needs me to move and that as a “kid” I should give her the table. For reference me and my gf are teens.
I said that I would not be moving and went back to eating my food.
The manager and the woman came back again and said the woman and her work people only have an hour for lunch and they had already waited 10 minutes and they needed the table back immediately.
Tbh I haven’t finished my food yet but my gf has so she ordered dessert on the app for us both as the manger and the woman watched and then they both walked away in a huff.
About 10 minutes later mine and my gfs desserts arrived and the woman and her work group left as they couldn’t get seated.
So am I the asshole ?
Edit
Just to add on the food we had ordered would have been eaten and we would have left in 10-15 and whilst I get it’s not idea to have the group it’s not like we’d have occupied the table for much longer.my gf did only order dessert as we where getting annoyed with the situation which I know is a slightly asshole thing to do but again it felt reasonable due to the amount of disruption to our meal.
Also we asked when we where first seated to move and the host person said it was fine and he didn’t want to seat us anywhere else
Edit 2.0
When the waiter “asked” me to move, He came up and his exact words where “you need to move to that table because there’s a big party here and they need this table ” and then pointed to a smaller table for 2. Hence my initial response/refusal to move tables.
I’m going to go with YTA
Yes, the situation was not your fault. Yes, it was an inconvenience to you, but moving would have taken all of a minute.
Your actions punished people who did nothing wrong as well.
What really pushed me for YTA was the ordering of deserts. That just feels petty.
Next time, why not go with “Sure, but you need to comp us desserts.” That way you punish the people at fault, not other innocent people.
So, walking up to costumers eating in a restaurant and harassing them is ‘being innocent’?
Fuck that. If I’m seated at a particular table I expect not to be asked to move during my meal, especially for someone who would disrespect me because of age. The restaurant should have planned better and deserves a bad review letting guests harass other guests like that.
Or the work group can call ahead and make a reservation to ensure there is space for them rather then going up and interrupting the people who are halfway through their meal… or! Wait the 10 or so mins it would have taken them to finish. And if they feel like complaining, do so to the restaurant who sat the couple there, not the people just trying to eat their lunch!
Edit: grammar
When AHs collide. Would it have been an inconvenience to move? Sure. Were you being petty by not moving when she decided to be an AH with the kid comment? Yup.
YTA. It would have taken two mins to move. But the fact that you additionally ordered a dessert to linger at the table longer rather than leaving (as you told the manager you’d be done in a min) means you purposely stopped the other group from having their lunch.
NTA
Host messed up it’s 100% their problem. If they didn’t want to lose the big table they shouldn’t have sat you at the big table. Also if they REALLY wanted that 10 top they should have offered you a free dessert in exchange for moving.
Absolutely. This was an error on the part of the staff. Had you moved, you would have been doing a favor for management, and they should have offered to comp your desserts or one of the meals.
Anyone with civility as their core programming would have moved. When I was a teen I was a punk so I don’t blame you for not moving based on that since I wouldn’t have out of spite and a head full of myself and my narrow view of the world and my place in it. But I grew up out of it now I actively look for ways I can be of service and put that stuff behind me long ago.
I’m the driver in traffic who gives you room to merge without riding the car in front of me to make sure nobody can get in. Here’s why. If everyone was doing this there would be no traffic.
Ideally you want a world where people are in a better mood, because you yourself have to deal with people. One day you’ll need someone for yourself or a loved one and you’re going to hope they’re having a good day when it comes time for them to serve you. You spread this idea by generating it in small ways and looking for opportunities to do it.
When my youngest son was in a drive through with us We paid for the car behind us. He was about 12. He was stunned and in disbelief that happened and the entire ride home we explained to him why, the concept of compassion etc… He was not having it and wasn’t even close to understanding why we’d do that. The car behind us could have been anyone, total jerks etc… how did we know they “deserved” a free meal on us. So we explained it didn’t matter, giving them a free ride was more about us and about him, not them in time and practice we hoped he’d understand.
He’s 22 now and the kind of guy who would buy the car behind him a free meal. The world is better in some completely tiny way as a result. It all adds up, so take any chance you have to serve your life will be far greater in the end.
Or ride that ego and sense of being right into the dirt like everyone else and find the results of living that way like everyone else ever did.
NTA. Why would anyone have seated you two at that big table? But they did. I’m sure if your food had not yet arrived, you would have moved, but once you’re eating, no way. The manager should have been keeping that woman off your back, not helping her harass you. The manager could have comped you in various ways: if they had offered to make your meal free if you’d move, they’d still have made good money on the office group, and you might have found it worth your while.
Of course YTA and you sound incredibly entitled. Ordering dessert on top just to inconvenience a group of people for longer? Pathetic.
As someone who works in restaurants i think nta. Big parties like that should call ahead so the restaurant can accommodate them properly, and you should been sat elsewhere originally from the start. Plus if there were no other guests when you arrived the food should have come out quicker and you would’ve been out of the way before being bothered. It’s not your fault where you were sat, and its rude that you were asked to move by not only a worker but someone from the party.
I mean – they screwed up but you’re being an AH. If you’d moved and told the it was annoying you probably would have gotten free drinks or dessert comped.
It’s a classic you can be right or happy. Sure, you’re right, they screwed up, but you’re being an AH.
Also having worked in restaurants the hosts and managers who do seating do not always communicate well to the staff so taking it out on the staff and the people who wanted a table was not cool.
NTA. 38 year old ex-server here. If you hadn’t gotten your food yet, i would say the right thing to do would be to move, thats just being a decent human. But at the point that you were halfway through eating? Asking once is fine, but they should have left it alone when you said no. Lack of planning on the Host and Office Party’s part does not constitute an emergency on yours. Not only should you never have been sat there (they did that to save regular tables for the lunch rush instead of “wasting” one on you), the 10-top obviously didnt call ahead and make a reservation. What if another large group happened to be there? There would have been nothing for them to whine about.
The dessert was petty, but im here for it. Your age doesn’t dictate the amount of respect you deserve. I would be proud of my kids for standing up for themselves in this manner.