"AITA for refusing to move in a restaurant?"
Earlier today me and my girl friend has a few hours between classes so we went to Nando’s and when we got there it was completely empty apart from 1 other table and the guy at the host stand directed us to a big long table with 10 or 12 chairs at it and just told us to use that table. I found it a-bit odd but figured no one’s here and it’s a very quiet time of day (Monday around 12).
So my and my gf order food and it takes about 25 minutes to arrive , whilst we are waiting for our food the restaurant starts to get a lot busier. By this point maybe 70% of the tables are now in use.
Our food arrives and then the waiter comes up to the table and asked if me and my gf would mind moving tables as they have just had a party of 10 walk in and non of the other tables are big enough. At this point I’ve maybe had half my food and my gf was the same so I refused to move and said we’d be done shorty as we both have classes to get back to.
About a minute after this, a woman who looks likes she’s from an office comes over and asked if I can move as her work place is having a staff lunch and they need the big table so they can sit together. I explained to her the same thing I said to the waiter that I was sat here when the restaurant was empty and it wasn’t my choice to sit here originally and that staff had sat me and my girlfriend here.
I also explained that I had not been interrupted two times in 5 minutes and I would like to be able to finish my food and then they could have the table. The woman repeatedly said she needs me to move and that as a “kid” I should give her the table. For reference, me and my girlfriend are young.
I said that I would not be moving and went back to eating my food. The manager and the woman came back again and said the woman and her work people only have an hour for lunch and they had already waited 10 minutes and they needed the table back immediately.
Tbh I haven’t finished my food yet but my gf has so she ordered dessert on the app for us both as the manger and the woman watched and then they both walked away in a huff. About 10 minutes later, mine and my gfs desserts arrived and the woman and her work group left as they couldn’t get seated. So am I the ahole?
NOTE: Just to add on, the food we had ordered would have been eaten and we would have left in 10-15 and whilst I get it’s not idea to have the group it’s not like we’d have occupied the table for much longer.
My gf did only order dessert as we where getting annoyed with the situation which I know is a slightly ahole thing to do but again it felt reasonable due to the amount of disruption to our meal.
Also we asked when we where first seated to move and the host person said it was fine and he didn’t want to seat us anywhere else. When the waiter “asked” me to move. He came up and his exact words where “you need to move to that table because there’s a big party here and they need this table ” and then pointed to a smaller table for 2. Hence my initial response/refusal to move tables.
Here's what people had to say to OP:
GreekAmericanDom said:
I'm going to go with YTA. Yes, the situation was not your fault. Yes, it was an inconvenience to you, but moving would have taken all of a minute. Your actions punished people who did nothing wrong as well.
What really pushed me for YTA was the ordering of deserts. That just feels petty. Next time, why not go with "Sure, but you need to comp us desserts." That way you punish the people at fault, not other innocent people.
leovinuss said:
NTA. Host messed up it's 100% their problem. If they didn't want to lose the big table they shouldn't have sat you at the big table. Also if they REALLY wanted that 10 top they should have offered you a free dessert in exchange for moving.
TheDudette840 said:
NTA. 38 year old ex-server here. If you hadn't gotten your food yet, i would say the right thing to do would be to move, thats just being a decent human. But at the point that you were halfway through eating? Asking once is fine, but they should have left it alone when you said no.
Lack of planning on the Host and Office Party's part does not constitute an emergency on yours. Not only should you never have been sat there (they did that to save regular tables for the lunch rush instead of "wasting" one on you), the 10-top obviously didn't call ahead and make a reservation.
What if another large group happened to be there? There would have been nothing for them to whine about. The dessert was petty, but im here for it. Your age doesn't dictate the amount of respect you deserve. I would be proud of my kids for standing up for themselves in this manner.
pottersquash said:
ESH. Am I reading this wrong, y'all decided to order desserts just to zing everyone? Let's face it, that confirms what the real issue is, the restaurant doesn't have any systems, but hey you could probably guess that.
In a situation where no one likes the result, doubling down on the bad thing just isn't a win in my book. The real solution, of course, is the party of 10 just pay for your food to incentivize you to just put remainder in to-go containers.
Electrical_Business2 said:
NTA. You didn't choose the table and you had already started you meal, if it was before then yeah, move but not mid meal, that's BS. If the work party was important then they should have reserved a table. The desert trick was justified after they talked down to you because of your age. Glad you enjoyed your meal.
browneyedredhead1968 said:
Nta. I wouldn't move after I received my food either.