I'd like to hear people's input on a recent interaction I had. I was taking my 4 close friends out to dinner to celebrate being together again. We decided on a casual tex-mex burrito place. The restaurant was crowded when we arrived so we got in line and waited to order. The process was you waited in line to order, placed order at register, then took a number they gave you and went to find a seat. My friend suggested she go sit at a table that she saw was open in order to hold it for us so we'd have a place to sit. There were no signs saying "wait to be seated" or "no saving seats". So my friend went to the table and sat down.

Within 5 minutes, a woman approached her and asked how many people were in her party (the woman was not an employee, just a customer). My friend said "five total" and they are coming as soon as they finish ordering. The woman then turned around to an employee and started loudly complaining saying my friend was just sitting at a table holding it and she and her dining party had no where to sit. She then loudly called my friend rude to the employee. The employee said she thought that was rude too, but then told the woman she would open up more tables. My friend was so horrified and angry at this indirect form of confrontation that she got up and told the woman "you want the table, fine, you take it" and then my friend walked back to me and our group to explain what happened. All the while, this woman proceeds to follow my friend loudly telling her as they're walking that holding a seat is not allowed and is not fair. My friend continued to try to avoid a direct confrontation because there were families with young children all around us and she thought she gave the woman what she wanted anyway. Well, nope...the woman then stands in our groups faces and says to me "we were here before all of you and ordered before all of you and it's not fair if we don't have a place to sit because you are holding a table, I don't think that's fair, do you?" I told her "lady, there are no signs saying it's not allowed so that means management says it is allowed". Then the woman says "I know the manager at the other location and saving a seat is definitley not allowed there." I was honestly ready to go full throttle yelling at this woman when my friend told me not to engage her any further and let it go. So that's what I did. The woman then walks away for a moment, then comes back to us and says "they opened more tables, now we have a place to sit and so do you, so it's good. Then she puts her hands on my friends back in an apologetic manner. Like she was trying to signal that she wanted to smooth over things. I found this invasive, intrusive and very very bizarre! My friend stared at her in anger and she walked away and never came back. Why would you harrass people you don't know in a restaurant over something so petty, then touch them like "I'm sorry, it's okay". The woman should have kept her hands to herself and minded her own business!

If I had been saving the seat, I would not have moved unless management or the police made me. This woman had no right to tell people where they can sit. I've replayed this scenario in my head many times because I'm infuriated at the audacity of this total stranger to think she could harrass my friend like that. And if she felt guilty enough to have to touch my friend in a half-*** way to try to smooth things over, then she needs to re-evaluate how she treats people to begin with. What is wrong with some people?