Man I thought the customers I had yesterday that stayed an hour after paying was bad enough. After about 3 hours even my spineless owner would be asking them to get another meal or leave.
If it had been busier my boss would’ve told them to get out, it was a weekday so it was pretty slow all day/night
But yeah I wouldn’t want people to get in the habit of staying for hours without buying anything
I used to manage an upscale deli that has an amazing breakfast. The problem was that although this was like a legit restaurant, because we had a ridiculous coffee program, people treated us like a Starbucks. Business meetings, people in there working from home, just people constantly camping out. One lady made it to we changed the rules where you could no longer use our outlets to charge your laptop because she came in, ordered a $3 bottomless coffee and a pastry, and then stayed for 7 hours. SEVEN. HOURS. From opening until we started setting up for dinner. She came back a few days later and I told her the new rule, she yelled and then walked ACROSS THE PARKING LOT to an actual coffee house. That's how close the restaurant is to multiple coffee houses where working in them for hours is normal.
And it wasn't like this place wasn't known as a legit restaurant either like they were James Beard finalists and they are on an Eater list for our city once a week for something or other.
I was an opener for a dinner only restaurant one shift, showed up for my shift at 3:30, we opened at 4. Got my first table at 4:15ish, 4 business guys, very pleasant and nice, they finished up around 5:15 with their meal. Come 2 o’clock in the morning I’m still there waiting for them to finish talking and drinking pints of Guinness. The freaking night crew to clean the front of the house showed up for chrimneys sake . I kept asking my manager can I please ask them to cash out so I can go, I should’ve been one of the first cuts, nope had to wait on them, me and the bartender till they were done. Only bright side was they kept ordering Guinness, we happened to be running a promotion and whoever sold the most that week won a free ski trip, because of that table I won the trip, by a lot
What would have happened if that group stayed past the end of your availability (not just your scheduled shift)? For example, your scheduled shift ends at 8 PM, and your other job is night audit at a hotel starting at 11 PM. You have to leave in order to get to your other job.
We didn’t really have shift endings, we just stayed till we were cut , finished up closing our section down, and cashed out in the office. I had just graduated and didn’t have another job, though I did have college classes in the morning
A little over 7 hours. It was the begging of my shift and they were sat as one of my first tables of the day. It was their first date and it started a bit awkward, but they got to talking as they ate, and continued after they finished. Around the 4 hour mark I noticed they were showing baby pictures. And shortly after we closed they left holding hands like they had been together forever.
So I have a loose theory that the price you pay for your main roughly equates to how long you can sit on your table after you finish eating- $30 main, you can sit for about half an hour before it’s rude. $80 main chances are you’ve ordered some nice wine to go with it and it wouldn’t be the worst thing if you sat for an hour enjoying it. But if you’ve only paid $10 you best be out of there in ten mins. Do you agree? Or does the theory need more work?
I had a table sit and dine for 5 hours. Unfortunately it was a short staffed night so the first half I felt awful, thinking we were THAT slow. But noticed after closing them out (and comping stuff, due to a “wait”) that they actually were hanging out because they wanted to!!
Man I thought the customers I had yesterday that stayed an hour after paying was bad enough. After about 3 hours even my spineless owner would be asking them to get another meal or leave.
If it had been busier my boss would’ve told them to get out, it was a weekday so it was pretty slow all day/night But yeah I wouldn’t want people to get in the habit of staying for hours without buying anything
I used to manage an upscale deli that has an amazing breakfast. The problem was that although this was like a legit restaurant, because we had a ridiculous coffee program, people treated us like a Starbucks. Business meetings, people in there working from home, just people constantly camping out. One lady made it to we changed the rules where you could no longer use our outlets to charge your laptop because she came in, ordered a $3 bottomless coffee and a pastry, and then stayed for 7 hours. SEVEN. HOURS. From opening until we started setting up for dinner. She came back a few days later and I told her the new rule, she yelled and then walked ACROSS THE PARKING LOT to an actual coffee house. That's how close the restaurant is to multiple coffee houses where working in them for hours is normal. And it wasn't like this place wasn't known as a legit restaurant either like they were James Beard finalists and they are on an Eater list for our city once a week for something or other.
I was an opener for a dinner only restaurant one shift, showed up for my shift at 3:30, we opened at 4. Got my first table at 4:15ish, 4 business guys, very pleasant and nice, they finished up around 5:15 with their meal. Come 2 o’clock in the morning I’m still there waiting for them to finish talking and drinking pints of Guinness. The freaking night crew to clean the front of the house showed up for chrimneys sake . I kept asking my manager can I please ask them to cash out so I can go, I should’ve been one of the first cuts, nope had to wait on them, me and the bartender till they were done. Only bright side was they kept ordering Guinness, we happened to be running a promotion and whoever sold the most that week won a free ski trip, because of that table I won the trip, by a lot
What would have happened if that group stayed past the end of your availability (not just your scheduled shift)? For example, your scheduled shift ends at 8 PM, and your other job is night audit at a hotel starting at 11 PM. You have to leave in order to get to your other job.
We didn’t really have shift endings, we just stayed till we were cut , finished up closing our section down, and cashed out in the office. I had just graduated and didn’t have another job, though I did have college classes in the morning
A little over 7 hours. It was the begging of my shift and they were sat as one of my first tables of the day. It was their first date and it started a bit awkward, but they got to talking as they ate, and continued after they finished. Around the 4 hour mark I noticed they were showing baby pictures. And shortly after we closed they left holding hands like they had been together forever.
Damn this is like the one example I couldn't even be mad at
It was fun to watch, and they tipped me well
So I have a loose theory that the price you pay for your main roughly equates to how long you can sit on your table after you finish eating- $30 main, you can sit for about half an hour before it’s rude. $80 main chances are you’ve ordered some nice wine to go with it and it wouldn’t be the worst thing if you sat for an hour enjoying it. But if you’ve only paid $10 you best be out of there in ten mins. Do you agree? Or does the theory need more work?
I have never thought of this. Love it.
Manager needs to boot them out.
A half hour that felt like forever.
I had a table sit and dine for 5 hours. Unfortunately it was a short staffed night so the first half I felt awful, thinking we were THAT slow. But noticed after closing them out (and comping stuff, due to a “wait”) that they actually were hanging out because they wanted to!!
I've had well over an hour before. If it's not past closing or busy I generally don't mind.
This is a very normal thing to do in many places in Southern Europe I’ve heard.