#CafeDilemma: Is it wrong to order food as soon as the waitress comes to take your drink order? Let me explain what happened 2 days ago at a local cafe and why my wife thinks I’m an AH for doing this.
So, my wife and I popped into our go-to cafe for a quick brunch before I had to head to work. When the waitress came to take our drink order, I already knew what I wanted to eat and decided to order my food at the same time. Seems harmless, right? Wrong.
The waitress hesitated a bit, saying they usually take food orders after drinks are served. But hey, I was in a rush and knew what I wanted. So I asked if I could order my food now, and she reluctantly agreed. My wife was not pleased.
She called me “arrogant” for jumping the queue and making others wait longer for their food. I argued that I simply wanted to save time and get to work faster. Who’s right here?
What do you think? Sound off in the comments below 👇 #AITA #CafeEtiquette #FoodOrdering #BrunchDrama 🍳🥞
NTA. Despite it being the cafe’s policy to make you wait longer to try to sell you more stuff, I don’t see anything wrong with getting in and out fast, giving them your money and freeing up the table for someone else to then make their own orders.
There are no rules for this that must be obeyed no matter what, situations differ, and you can ask and they can refuse. If they agreed then no problem. NTA.
Also, the queue argument is irrelevant as you can’t control when they serve you and they can move you up and down and anywhere in between.
NTA Thats not a rule and that waitress does not know what shes doing
You’re not the a-hole (AH). You were considerate by asking the waitress if it was okay, and she agreed. While your wife has a valid perspective, you weren’t jumping any queue and were simply trying to be efficient. It’s a minor issue, so maybe just agree to disagree and move on.
NTA.
NTA.
Given how some places tell you that you only have the table for 1.5 hours, ordering immediately is not wrong. It frees up the table for more customers.
NTA, especially since this was brunch before you go to work, not a dinner date where you would hopefully have wanted to take your time!
Restaurants do this to give people time to decide what they want to order. It is not rude to order rather than wait if you already know what you want…NTA.
NTA! Restaurants like this – they can turn more tables and make more $. Waitress must have been new.
NTA.
Even if the restaurant is slammed and they are trying to stall or gap orders, it’s their job to communicate that. I have tried to order immediately when I’m hungry and had staff say “unfortunately I’m a bit slammed and will have to come back in a few minutes”. YWBTA if you made a scene or insisted and were rude. But if you simply wanted to order and she was ok taking it, that’s fine.
It’s a restaurant’s job to communicate with you. If they’re behind, they should tell you and give you the option to leave. Almost every bad situation can be avoided with communication from the get go. “Welcome! Here’s the menus, just wanted you to know we’re out of the scallops today unfortunately!”. Or “unfortunately the sous chef called in sick so we are backed up. The food will take awhile. Is that ok?” Their job.
NTA, eating out is not an equal activity, some people want to sit and relax, some want to eat and move on. As long as you communicate your needs to the server, (this is the most important part), all is well.
Former waitress here. I *loved* it when a customer knew what they wanted and didn’t need to spend 5-10 minutes to look at the menu. NTA, at all.
Nta. And if cafe told me I needed to order my drink first I would leave. As other people said though it’s probably just the waitress being useless (I mean new) and not knowing that’s a guideline to give them time to think of their order not a rule to make people wait. It’s just all a bunch of BS what your partner is saying. You wanted food, you knew what you wanted and you ordered, you didn’t want a big drawn out affair, pretty simple.
In some restaurants the rule is to get the drink order first so that the diners have a quick response when they first come in. That allows the waitress to go ahead and now take the order from Mr I Dunno What I want and his wife Everything must be cooked to order without THEM holding you back in the queue
The waitress just wasn’t sure how to handle it.
NTA.
I have Been in restaurant business +20 years. I would love customers like you.
Your wifey is silly.
High turnover is better Then stalling people.
NTA but… In most diners, it’s the hostess that takes your drink order, not the server. They get you your drink so you have something to sip on while you look at the menu. It’s not to force you to buy more drinks, it’s to make you comfortable while you wait for your server. You mentioned your wife is a server. What type of restaurant does she work? In fine dining, things are way different than in a diner. I’ve been a waitress for 25 years now and I MOSTLY love customers like you as it expedites the process but if we’re short handed, it also makes it harder to maintain a pace that the employees can keep up with. Bottom line, waitress was ok with it. But would you have been ok had she asked you to wait a moment? There may have been tables who came in first already waiting for her time at their table.
NTA, I was a waitress and this is honestly less work for me, I don’t have to keep an eye on when you’ve closed your menu and can turnover tables faster 🤷♀️ Plenty of people were in a rush due to work or catching a show. The protocol is only meant to give people time to decide, nothing to do with “jumping the cue.
NTA
If you know what you want, why make the wait staff take two orders? It seems much more efficient to order everything at once, if you know what you want.
NTA.
I don’t know why everyone except you in this scenario is acting like they have never been to a restaurant before.
>She works as a waitress and said that what I just did meant I was jumping the queue and making others wait for their food longer.
What? That’s ridiculous. NTA
I’d expect that they’re happier to get all order in one go so they don’t have to go back and forth
NTA. Restaurant cook here. The ‘queue’ is formed by the order in which chits are punched in. No one I’ve ever worked with would consider ordering your food when you sit down as ‘queue jumping’. Now, if your server comes back and demands that your food needs to go to the front of the line…*that’s* causing other customers to wait longer than they should.
But I don’t like the phrase ‘within my rights’. Technically, lots of things are, but if you’re not in a big hurry, and the server seems like they would be more comfortable following her steps of service (maybe she was new?), then you should ve a little flexible, and not worry about your ‘rights’.
ETA restaurants have lots of tricks to try and get you to stay and order more, but I’ve never heard of ‘refuse to take their food order when they order drinks’ being used as one.
I’m just confused how this is the first time your wife has seen this behavior if you’ve done it before and tou two are, ya know, *married*. NTA though. I think it’s perfectly fine.
We often order our food and drinks at the same time. I hate waiting 10-15 min for them to come back to take our food order when we already know what we want. NTA.
NTA. What a weird policy. I usually ask the waitperson if it’s cool to order now, but I’ve never gotten pushback.
My ex is a head chef. Whoever’s running the kitchen should be able to keep things flowing? Cooking good food is important, but so is timing everything.
NTA. Former server here, and your wife has no clue what she is talking about “jumping the queue”
I have ordered my drink and food at the same time. If you know what you want why waste time. It’s not arrogant or jumping any queue.
NTA. You’re also not making anyone wait longer for their food.