Mirah Riben, Monroe
To the editor:
There are small, counter-serve eateries in and around Princeton that become filled at lunch time. I was at one recently that was packed to capacity. There I stood, with a tray load of food, and not a seat available.
Finally I saw a vacant table for two, with a jacket on one of the two chairs. Having shared a table at this cafe in the past, I sat at the vacant seat and began to eat my lunch when a woman lurched at me from the counter where she was placing or waiting for her order. She told me it was “her” table and demanded I move.
Thinking she would at the very least suggest I stay put until she got her food, I told her I gladly move, but there was no other table and did she mind sharing. She vehemently replied in a loud and firm voice: “Absolutely not!”
Her tirade continued until well after she had finished eating at a nearby table that became available, as I sat with two people I invited to share my table with. And I am sure she went home and told everyone she knows about the lady me who had the audacity to take “her” table!
Have we lost all common courtesies, let alone friendliness? What are the rules in crowded public eateries? Is there any place where one person with one jacket can “reserve” two seats in a crowded self-serve cafe?
Mirah Riben
Monroe
