“I got shouted at by an uncle today and would like to know if I’ve done anything wrong.
My bf and I were at a smallish eatery with a free seating policy. There were 4 tables with face to face (f2f) seats, and 1 was available when we arrived so we took it. The other f2f tables were occupied by other couples and a group of 3. Elsewhere in the restaurant you would have to sit side by side.
Our meal came, we dug in, then an old uncle inquired from the entrance of the eatery, in an impossibly loud voice, “Can sit behind? [i.e. the side by side formation] I need your table. I have 4 pax and I have kids with me.” We asked the restaurant if we needed to move, but they said it was free seating so we don’t have to if we are uncomfortable. We then declined to move as we were midway through our meal, and the uncle was effectively shouting at us. I couldn’t understand why we were being shouted at? It was quite clear that even couples are allowed to take f2f tables – another couple had occupied the f2f table and we’ve been here more than once. I seriously doubt we have done anything wrong.
Once uncle heard that we declined, he descended at once into an angry tirade. He loudly told his kids that bf and I “have poor upbringing” and “normally people will give up their seats but they want to have their cheap candlelight dinner” as they lingered around the eatery. And could not stop pointing his fingers at bf and I. Did not appreciate this at all.
I get that he was hungry, but we were literally halfway through a meal. Couldn’t uncle have waited for a table to clear up? I mean when I go to restaurants with silly formations and sorely lacking in seats, I don’t demand that they rejig seating arrangement so that I can be seated; I simply wait for a table, annoying as waiting may be. Perhaps if the Uncle had came up to us and asked sheepishly and apologised, I would have agreed. But he chose to demand a table loudly by speaking to us halfway across the restaurant (there was nothing stopping him from entering and approaching us), and didn’t even apologise. Beyond that I really saw no reason why he had to shout at us.
It may be that we would’ve avoided all this by simply agreeing to take a side-by-side seat, but I really disliked the way Uncle felt entitled to our seat simply because he he brought 4 pax. What does one do when a restaurant runs of seats) Wait, wait, wait…”