Weird waitressing maneuver.....

[Mighty Girl]

Maybe I'm just in a pissy mood, but recently my husband and I went out to dinner and the waitress did something that I thought was really odd.

We went to Longhorn, and were sitting in a booth. When the waitress came over, she took our drink orders and left. Normal, right? So when she came over to take our food orders, she actually sat down in the booth next to my husband and scooched right over (not like, she was trying to snuggle with him, just a little too familiar for my taste).

Now, I don't have much waitressing experience- a mere three days at the pit of despair aka Jack Horners. So, I'm not sure if this is their policy or what. I neglected to take note of whether other waitresses were doing that.

Is this some weird way to get overly familiar with the customer so they'll give you a big tip, or what? She didn't seem to have any problem getting around, and she was pretty young.

[RentalRacer]

A lot of Corp. Chains encourage that kind of thing...Texas Roadhouse, Longhorn, and...err Hooters to name a few.

Back in my Restaurant days you could always tell who used to work where (insert Hooters joke here__________). I, however, was never really comfortable just plopping down beside my guests. My restaurant (Ruby Tuesday) encouraged you to kinda kneel down at the table, which was ok I think.

[Anakah]

I've never heard of such a thing... I guarantee there'd be a lot of problems where I live. The waitress would get a good slap from a jealous girlfriend. Honestly that shouldn't be a policy or even encouraged... Some people would take a lot of offense to that. I'd feel bad for the poor woman having to do that... It must be embarassing!

On a side note and a little off topic:

I recently found out that a co-worker of mine while he worked at another casino had to make the customer "feel lucky." That's right...

In fact, a supervisor would be standing behind you as you said; "Hello my name is ____. What's yours? Well ____ .... How was your stay?"

I mean good god, if a cashier tried that crap with me... I wouldn't be rude but who would be willing to give out that much info when they just want some twenties?

Now to "feel lucky" I asked him how the hell that was possible. He said that he has to tell them where he thought they might hit money, advert them from thinking about loosing and give them "lucky" money. I smell a lawsuit waiting to happen right there. Some places go through too much trouble to make themselves seem better than others. I see this as annoying.

[powerboy]

I am okay with it. A waitress does that to my family all the time, when we go in.

[NightAngel]

Back when I waitressed I did that quite frequently. I never had anyone complain and some people really liked it as they had the opportunity to go over the menu with me, etc.

I never scooched up close to anyone though unless I knew them, were regulars, etc.

[iradney]

I would actually get a little squiffy if someone did that to me - I have a personal bubble, and only people I know can enter it.

[Maevis]

I've had this happen to me at The Outback. My guess is that it was done for two reasons, 1. to make the place feel friendlier and 2. to keep the walkway between the tables clear when it was really busy.

I hate it when they do that. This is what I think,"Hello? Planning on eating dinner with me? No? Then don't sit down next to me. What's next? Are you going to cut my meat up for me too? Spoon feed me?"

Yet my husband likes it when they do this, so when we go, I sit on the outer edge of the booth so they can't sit next to me.


That my husband likes it when a waiter sits down amazes me, since one of his biggest restaraunt/retail pet peeves is when they call him by his first name, instead of addressing him as Mr. LastName. eh...I guess we all have our personal preferences. No wonder dealing with the public is such a stressful task.

[Banrion]

This is the one of the reasons I LOVE Texas Roadhouse, all the guys are super buff and cute, and 90% of the girls are too, I have no problems if they wanna sit down next to me, hell if they wanna stay a while I'll even buy em a beer.

[Geek King]

They do this at every Longhorn I've been in, and I don't begrudge them. At least the they get a couple of minutes off thier feet. Lord knows I have enough other things to get upset over.

[mrtauntaun]

They do this in my area of New England quite a bit. However, the servers are very polite about it, and only seem to do it if there is ample room in the booth. If the booth is full or there is just enough space, they won't force their way in or anything.
I never really thought about it before.

[SnapAddict218]

On the subject of "too friendly" servers, my boyfriend and I were out to eat one slow weeknight at a popular restaurant. We were bushed from the days activities of furniture shopping. And while we hadn't been arguing with one another, we were a little frazzled by that time, and I'm sure it showed. And so the tale begins.

To start off, the waitress turned her back to me giving me a great view of her fanny as she took the most detailed and carefully scribed drink order in history. Then she walked away to get it. Sweetie had to call her back to take my order. Drinks came and we were talking our time to peruse the menu, as I said, it was a slow night, so we didn't see any harm in it. Sponge Bob Friendly-Pants was waiting in the wing with another frosty cold beverage for sweetie. He didn't even have to signal to her, she'd been watching him. Naturally he was getting a kick out of this, since it was very obvious she liked him. I'll admit, it was cute, even though she'd ignored me for the most part. (She was a girl of 16 or 17, and I just chalked her behavior up to age and maturity. Annoying, yes, and even though her parents should have taught her better, it seemed harmless none the less. Follow me?) We finally decided and ordered our food, again the waitress taking all the time and care to get his order written down correctly while cozily sitting in the chair next to him. She ran off to the kitchen to submit the order, and I excused myself to got to he little Snap Addict's room. By the time I returned, Sweetie's face was quite red, and he said to me, through clenched teeth: "Get your coat. We are leaving now." He left enough cash on the table to cover the drinks we had already consumed, and he hustled me out the door, as I protested the entire way. It wasn't until we were well on our way to Burger King (the dining out mood was kinda lost at that point) that he would tell me what was going on.

Turns out once I was out of sight of our table, the waitress came back and settled into her cozy little spot next to him. In a matter of minutes she managed to insult me up, down, and sideways, asking why he would want to be with some "tubbo" (no kitten, at 24 I don't have the body I had a 16, that doesn't make me fat though!) when she'd be happy to give him her number, and that I looked like a total bitch and he looked miserable sitting with me. She suggested that he drop me off at home and come by after her shift was over, so he could finally know what it was like to have a good time. She said more, but I don't recall what he said it was, suffice to say, it was not very nice. Sweetie advised her that it would be a wise idea for her to leave the table. Bless his little pea-pickin' heart he was so embarrassed, shocked and furious that he really was at a loss for words. For once

No, I never reported it. Think about it, I call YOUR restaurant and accuse one of your servers of, at the very least, making passes at my boyfriend. It was so bizarre that Sweetie and I had a hard time believing it, I didn't expect the manager to just take my word for it.

I have no problem with the servers copping a squat with you, it does make it easier for everyone to get around. I just find it slightly offensive when they try to pick up your date while you are powdering your nose.

oo. sorry that was so long

[Broomjockey]

We've had waitresses do that while I'm out with my family, and a couple of time my mother has even *invited* them to sit down. Then again, my mother does go out of her way to embarress me. It's like, the motherly thing to do.

[Rahmota]

Wow i must be going to the wrong places. I have never had a waiter/waitress/server or anyone sit down next to me. Once when I had laryngitys from shouting over the crowd at a ballgame the waitress had to kneel down to hear me but other than that not even close.

[Immortal1982]

It's kinda funny, Corporate( for a restraunt that rhymes with dizza rut) wanted us to do that. My manager said to us, "Its your choice". I refuse on the basis that it does not seem the least but professional.

[Rubyred]

I used to work at a sports bar type thing very similiar to Hooters (exept our uniforms were smaller and we had a full bar and better food-anyone that live close to Boca or Deerfield Beach might know where-initials are CJ's) and the only customers I ever sat down next to were groups of guys that came specifically to flirt with the girls who worked there.

It worked pretty well to....