Excuse me...How Many Tables Did You Reserve??

Hi. I'm Steven and I will be serving restaurant justice this evening.

Here's the thing. I have a problem with people - any people - who pay no attention to how hard people work in the service industry.
Tonight we were having dinner at one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants; a really great place that's not too fancy but always crowded.
Almost ever one of my pet peeves were touched on by just one couple at at a table not six feet from ours.

1.  These two had the audacity to walk the hostess all over the restaurant because they didn't want to sit at the table she had chosen. Hosts and hostesses have REASONS for seating guests where they do. They spread the tables between waitpeople so that one doesn't get slammed with too many patrons at one time. They also are in charge of knowing which tables have been reserved for specific times. SIT WHERE THEY PUT YOU, PEOPLE...it's all the same food!
2. As they sat down (finally) they took off their coats and both threw them on the banquette where the woman was seated. Put your damn coat on the back of your chair. In a crowded restaurant you KNOW people are going to show up and need that space. When the two-top next to them did get seated they acted as if it was an affront to them, personally, that they were being asked to give up space which was not theirs to begin with.
3. When they had been served and had finished their appetizers, the man picked up his used plate and put it on the clean, unoccupied table adjacent to theirs. I can't imagine that anyone would be thoughtless enough to not understand that putting a used plate on a clean table that is not your own is unhealthy, that it makes more work for the waitstaff or bus staff and just plain rude. Wait till your waiter or busboy comes to take it away. It was yours...own it.
4. And, PLEASE! It's not rocket science. It's not brain surgery. It doesn't even take all that much intelligence to realize that YOU SHOULDN'T LEAVE YOUR PURSE OR BRIEFCASE ON THE FLOOR IN THE FOOT PATH OF OTHERS. Come on...wake up and think of others for a change.

Please, folks, tell everyone you know how hard restaurant employees work (if they don't know already) and encourage them to treat them accordingly.

Thanks so much and I'll see you out there!

- SSG