As much as I wnted to let this go I just could not. Boomer your quote
"People waiting in those lines are not considered in the least by those squatters. But also, they never even remotely consider the server who is trying to make a living while a bunch of clueless, rude, self-important weenies sit around at the table long after they are finished and keep that table from turning."
After having lived in Europe for over 15 years of my life I find the American attitude to eating out extremely strange. In Europe if you have a table it is yours for the evening, there is no expectation from the restaurant or server that you will be leaving any time soon. And in fact one of the biggest complaints I used to hear from Americans was that they could not get served and service was slow. After living this for a while I cherished getting together and going out to dinner and talking and having a nice multi course meal. Instead of having my food thrown at me and having the check put on the table before I was done with my food. And we did tip on top of the fact that the tip is built into the bill over there. We have found the easy way to avoid waiting is to eat when the crowd is not. Been in restaurants in Sumpter when 7PM rolled around and we were the only ones there. Big difference and it is difficult to understand unless you have actually lived it, is that Europeans like to live life on another plane of existence. They seem to enjoy life more than we do. We run around with our hair on fire. I do not consider myself self important, clueless or rude. When I eat out with friends, I do it to enjoy their company and the meal. And again I tip well.
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