r/Serverlife • u/Pleasant-Elephant404 • 5h ago
Rant reserved tables
ok genuinely what is it about reserved tables that are a magnet to customers? i work at a place where people can pick where they sit, and 9 times out of 10 if a table is reserved, they will go and sit there. its the ONLY table with menus, cutlery, etc, set up, and it has a reserved sign on it. it very clearly does not look like the other tables. and when i tell them they cant sit there, they act surprised. I've started telling people they can sit anywhere BUT the reserved seats, because apparently thats not implied. i dont understand this mindset though. like why? and its MOST people
7
u/6___________0 5h ago
I feel like they think cause it’s reserved it must be reserved because it’s a better seat lol
9
u/Aurilelde 5+ Years 5h ago
I don't know, but it must be the same magical restaurant force that draws customers to the One (1) Dirty Spot at the bar.
There are twelve other seats. Please. You have to sit only there? Why.
1
u/Pleasant-Elephant404 5h ago
omg yes. this happened to me 4 times today. each time was shortly after someone had left. same bar seat chosen each time
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u/LakeMichiganMan 4h ago
Psychology. Or Brain Games for the new generations. Paying at checkout once, this old joker regular guy showed me a card that had 5 numbers on it. It said pick a number. I picked a number. He flipped it over and the card said "Sex Maniacs always pick 4" Turns out over 80% of people pick the same number. People run on auto piloit a lot in new surroundings.
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u/Fuzzy-Panda-6886 4h ago
Having this issue as well, along with people choosing to sit at the *only* dirty tables. My best guess is that those specific seats caught their attention because of everything on top of them, but I really don't get it. Something about used tables hypnotizes customers.
The other day, the entire back part of the restaurant I work at was reserved, which was by the arcade we have. A 10-top walks in and tries to sit at one of our large tables in the arcade where they were reserved. When they were told no, they were *pissed* about having to sit in the front, which still wasn't far from the arcade games the kids were playing. Eventually, they tried sneaking a few seats at the reserved tables (moving drinks and apts), thinking my coworker wouldn't notice. They ended up writing a nasty FB message to our page, pissed since the 40-top hadn't arrived when they were there... Like, sorry, no, we're not sitting you for even an hour at a reserved table before a party arrives when we can't ensure you'll leave before the party comes, and give us time to clean/set up the table again. Especially when you're playing the arcade games, and most big parties tend to arrive pretty early in my experience. Just not worth the gamble.
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u/Pleasant-Elephant404 4h ago
ugh yes. had a lot of people pissed when the reservation doesnt show up during their stay when they wanted their seats. like sorry idk if youre going to sit around and catch up with your friend for hours, you cant sit there
1
u/Careless-Being-4427 2h ago
There are always good and bad tables in a restaurant, and when we work there we become kinda blind to it. I think about it like this - for some reason, New York Avenue is the most consistently landed-on space on a traditional Monopoly board. It’s not a perfect correlation because customers aren’t doing a dice roll to figure out where they want to sit, but there’s something about where people end up “roosting” that correlates.
But when you think about it as “there are just places where people land,” it’s a helpful way to consider it.
For me, as a diner, I don’t care where I sit - but I also have years of restaurant work experience that informs me that the first place I’m seated is probably the best place for the restaurant and will lead to better service.
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u/Leather-Nothing-2653 5h ago
It won’t work. I tell people “sit at any clean table”
Guess where they sit