My companion and I were shopping the restaurant. We were greeted and seated, and given menus. We told her we needed a few minutes, and she went away. We were seated in a booth. When she returned, she just scooched right onto the seat beside me.
We didn't mind, really. She was funny and cute and sweet. Also, I think I can safely say she was of "mature" years; I felt like maybe she just needed to get off her feet for a couple minutes.
Obviously, this was not a "high end" shop.
Surely I'm not the only person in the universe who thinks this is overly familiar? I mean, it's not like we INVITED her to sit? Nor did she ask permission. In fact, the chatting made the report much easier to fill out...."So, who's managing now?" "Heather" "Oh, really? Wow. She's been here like 5 or 6 years now, huh?", etc., etc., etc.
OK, moving on. Different restaurant, different town, different companion. We're seated at a table with 4 chairs. Waitress walks up, pulls out a chair, plops down, says "Hope you don't mind if I take a load off while you're looking over the menu?" (so she sort of asked permission). Again, a woman of mature years.
Although I wrote glowingly positive reports on both servers (other than this, service was above and beyond what one expects in such places -- I left a 50% tip for each, well above what will be reimbursed), I'm just thinking about this.
Do I need to cultivate an "I'm unapproachable" vibe? How does one come across as welcoming such behavior? Is this a new trend? Is it acceptable? (I think NOT, actually. If I were a waitress, I wouldn't DREAM of sitting at a diner's table!)
Would you put in the report that the servers did this? (I did not. I did report in both cases that the server was "very friendly, bubbly, outgoing" ) Would you be offended if a server did this, and if so, how exactly would you indicate to the server they were past the bounds of propriety?
OTOH, in both cases, it made it oh, so much easier to ask all the stupid questions we were required to ask, because we could just fit the questions in the casual chit-chat. So in that sense, it was a real positive.
And there's no way we were spotted as shoppers.
Has this ever happened to you? Opinions, input, ideas, suggestions -- all welcome.
As are funny stories....
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2019 06:40PM by ceasesmith.