

“That makes moving people along more important.”Ī similar trend, after all, sees many restaurants hoping that diners don’t order dessert, because the course isn’t terribly profitable and it encourages people to linger. “The price of land is going up, which pushes up the value of each table,” said Cowen. Why that subtlety seems to evade so many restaurants these days is unclear.

Some examples: SF Gate, the San Francisco Chronicle’s sister site, ran a short piece in 2008 imploring waiters to be patient. I don’t like it, either.”Ī chorus of disapproval has surfaced elsewhere too. “It’s definitely been getting worse,” said Tyler Cowen, an economics professor at George Mason University who has written extensively about the economics of eating out. What was originally a group dining experience becomes a group exercise in guilt. Those who are still eating are made to feel as though they are holding others up those who are not are made to feel as though they have rushed the meal. When a server clears a plate before everyone is finished, he or she leaves the table with a mess of subtle but important signals. Article content Are you done with that?” the server asked, fingers already comfortable with the rim of my plate If you’re lucky, they might ask permission before stealing your plate. Like vultures, they then promptly snatch up the silverware - along with everything else in front of the customer. Rather than clear plates once everyone at the table has finished the meal, which has long been the custom, servers instead hover over diners, fingers twitching, until the very instant someone puts down a fork. Without my permission, restaurants have abandoned, or simply overlooked, a classic tenet of service etiquette when it comes to entrees (not the ubiquitous small plates, which demand a different etiquette). Yes, I had finished eating, because I am a vacuum there was no food left in front of me. The next issue of NP Shopping Essentials will soon be in your inbox.

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