It's Too Crowded. Let's Go Somewhere Else!

[guywithashovel]

This is something that a few of my family members do.

Let's say we're all going out to eat. We'll get to the restaurant we've picked out, and lo and behold, that place is very busy. They will then insist that we leave and find someplace else to eat.

No, I don't want to go somewhere else. Why? Because in the time it takes us to go back out to the car, pick another place, and then drive to that place, we could probably be served at the place we initially went to. Not only that, if it is busy at the first restaurant we went to, it's probably a meal time, which means that any other restaurant we go to is probably going to be busy as well, so we might as well just stay where we are.

And if it we really could eat a little bit sooner if we leave and go somewhere else, so what? Are you really going to starve to death while we wait for a table, or wait in line for the people at the counter to take our order? Besides, wouldn't it be nicer to just chill out and wait a few minutes instead of fighting traffic to get to some other place that's probably very busy as well? And there most likely is heavy traffic, too, since like I said earlier, if the restaurant is busy, then most likely, it's a meal time, and traffic is usually quite heavy during those times.

I remember one time my grandma, my aunt and uncle, and me were in Kentucky for Memorial Day. It was mid morning on Sunday, and we were going out for breakfast. We went to Shoney's, and we had to wait in line for a table. My grandma insisted we go somewhere else. We left the place only to realize that the Shoney's was the only restaurant in town, save for fast food, and nobody wanted that. So after driving around for about a half hour and my uncle being almost reduced to stopping at someone's house and offing them twenty bucks to cook breakfast for us, we ended up going back to Shoney's.

Of course, by then, it was almost lunch time.

[Peppergirl]

Hmmm. I sort of liken this to how I feel about sitting in traffic.

I'd rather take a 20 mile detour or 'shortcut' to avoid sitting at a dead stop in some sort of traffic jam that might take me half the time.

Completely illogical, but I just can't stand to sit there.

'Course, with gas prices like they are now - that's probably not a great example.

I hate to wait, but the only time I'll leave a restaurant is when the wait is ridiculously long, like over an hour.

How long are these waits that your family wants to leave because of?

[HYHYBT]

Yeah, "let's go somewhere else" works REALLY well when there's nowhere else to go...

I could see, if you were in a real hurry (say, on a lunch break) deciding to get fast food instead, or if you notice the place you like just as well next door isn't that busy (say, for example, the one you're at has a large group or something), or if instead of a long wait you notice the place is filthy... but a line is a line, and if you go at mealtimes then all but the worst restaurants will be busy. And if the idea was to visit with people over the meal, rather than just eating, well, you can visit while waiting.

[blas87]

I hate huge crowds, especially at bars.

There have been times I have begged t leave, pleaded, almost in tears and sweaty because I am sick of being stepped on, shoulder checked, nearly sent sideways and onto the floor because 300 people are crammed into a bar that's only suited for about 100-150 people, it's wall to wall and all you can hear is thundering bass and boom boom boom boom, and my friends and bf are loving the madness and dancing and shouting at one another, not minding that you can't hear anything, while I am about to cry because my shirt is covered in beer or whatever else has been spilled on me.

Edited because that made no sense the first time around.

[guywithashovel]

I hate to wait, but the only time I'll leave a restaurant is when the wait is ridiculously long, like over an hour.

How long are these waits that your family wants to leave because of?

Usually, if there's a twenty or thirty minute wait, they'll insist on going somewhere else. Yeah, that might seem like a long time, but usually, if the wait is that long at one place, it's like that pretty much everywhere else, too (around here, anyway). A few times, my grandma has just wanted to go home when there have been waits like that. But then again, in the time it takes us to get home and fix something, we probably could have gotten seated.

Maybe it's just the act of sitting there and waiting. Maybe that makes them feel out of control of their lives.

But if there's an hour wait, I would probably just leave, too.

[Rageaholic]

Add me to the list of those who hate crowded restaurants. Not only do you end up waiting longer to be seated, but the wait also extends to taking orders and getting the food. Plus, crowded restaurants are just unpleasent places. Screaming kids + loud mouth assholes + excessive noise = hell.

I draw the line at 20 minutes. Sure, it may take more time to find another restaurant, but at least I'm not sitting their waiting and waiting and waiting.

[boringscreenname]

I don't like crowded restaurants and if there's a 20-30 minute wait, I'm going elsewhere. I have small kids and it's not fair to them, nor anyone else in the restaurant to make them wait. I'm all about keeping the peace with the kids, if they're happy, then we're happy and generally have a nice time out.

Plus we live in a large city and have tons of restaurants to choose from, so we can easily find something that's less crowded nearby.

[Greenday]

It's nice being the youngest in my family. If we hit a wait, we can just go to the bar and wait there. I hate hopping from place to place for food.

For bars, if it's packed, I'd rather go somewhere else where I don't have to yell "WHAT!?" three times before just nodding and pretending like I heard them. The bar is for drinking. If you want to be dancing, go to a damn club.

[MaggieTheCat]

I generally don't mind waits if they're 20-30 minutes or less. But, being in a big city, there is always a restaurant within 5 minutes of anywhere so if the wait gets longer than half an hour, we can find someplace else pretty easily in less time that it'd take for us to get a table at the original restaurant.

We once tried to go to Olive Garden for dinner...there was a 75+ minute wait for a table. Yeah...no. It was located in a huge strip that had about 10 other restaurants around it. We picked one and got our food in about 20 minutes.

[Andara Bledin]

I don't have any problems with waiting up to 30-40 minutes for a table, despite the fact that more often than not, there are other restaurants within a short walk from the one I'm waiting at. First, I've already decided I want whatever food is prepared by the restaurant in question, and second, any other restaurant near enough to go to is likely going to have a very similar wait time, so it's counterproductive.

^-.-^

[Boozy]

No, I don't want to go somewhere else. Why? Because in the time it takes us to go back out to the car, pick another place, and then drive to that place, we could probably be served at the place we initially went to. Not only that, if it is busy at the first restaurant we went to, it's probably a meal time, which means that any other restaurant we go to is probably going to be busy as well, so we might as well just stay where we are.

I have used this argument so many times with friends that I've lost track. I always lose, and we always end up going somewhere else, only to meet with the same wait times. Except that we've wasted 15 minutes travelling to another restaurant at this point.

I've solved this problem with the worst offenders of my social circle by refusing to eat at a restaurant that does not take reservations. These places are usually much more expensive, but it's worth it to avoid the aggravation.

[blas87]

I may just be parroting everyone else, but I've found that if the wait at say, Olive Garden, is 20-30 minutes, if we wait for 5-10 minutes and someone loses their marbles and wants to go somewhere else, we'll end up waiting for 30+ minutes at Applebees or Texas Roadhouse or Pizza Corral.

I understand people don't like downgrading and continuing to wait, but if you've even put a few minutes of effort into it and had your name taken and been given a buzzer, you should wait and deal with it. Once you lose your place, you lose it.

Now, if we walk into a restaurant and there's a huge crowd to begin with, we'll probably go, before we make any committments to wait.

[AdminAssistant]

I have crowd-triggered claustrophobia, so I pretty much refuse to go to places that are too crowded. It's not that I mind the wait, it's that waiting in a lobby packed to the brim with people for 30 minutes is likely to trigger an anxiety attack. But if the wait's not too long and the waiting area isn't crowded, then it's fine.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm fortunate that I live in southern California. If the lobby is crowded, we can just wait outside, as it's generally well within tolerable temperatures. Hell, we could even wait in he car, if we wanted, seeing as how those "pager" devices have a pretty decent range.

^-.-^

[AdminAssistant]

Yeah, waiting outside isn't an option from November - March and late July - early September. *sigh* Kansas weather....