Order first, sit second - etiquette from Mr. Manners
Gentle reader: This author has noted recently a certain breach of what he can only call common sense when it comes to waiting one’s turn at a busy café with counter ordering. Chances are that if a long line exists, you are in a popular place. In addition to the long line, there are often only a precious few open seats.
Mr. Manners understands the desire to claim one of these spaces for yourself before taking your place in the queue. Resist this temptation. It is possible that those waiting to reach the counter might also be waiting for a table. Having a member of your group–or worse, your personal items–squat in your stead is tantamount to skipping ahead of your fellow line-dwellers.
Find the nearest third grader and ask this dear child how he or she feels about those who “take cuts.” For some reason our society is able to teach this lesson before a child’s tenth birthday, yet grown adults cannot transpose this knowledge to obviously similar circumstances.
Gordon Gekko is not a role model, gentle reader. Greed is not good.
Thank you, masked stranger!
(all he left behind was this silver soup spoon)
[…] So, I went back to plan A and hopped on the bus. As I walked toward Albina Press I worried about whether they took cards. The Visa logo on the door made me feel better. All the tables were taken, but there was a back room with some open couches. Now, I know coffee shop etiquette and one look at the four ladies in front of me said those sofas weren’t for me. […]