It’s a truth universally acknowledged that other people are just the absolute worst and no one knows anything about good-old fashioned etiquette anymore.
Take, for example, the experience of one mother who was simply trying to enjoy a coffee date with a pal when her fellow cafe-goes did something unimaginably rude.
“I was in a cafe today with a friend sitting on one side of a table for four,” the woman posted in online parenting group Mumsnet.
“There was another table for four next to us which had plates, wrappers and teacups on it waiting to be cleared.
"I'm still cross about it now." Image via iStock
"A woman and her husband came along and cleared the stuff off the table next to us and moved it onto ours before sitting down.
"They had a nice clean table for four between the two of them and we acquired a load of dirty plates next to us."Truly, it's a disturbing reflection of the state of the world, and the woman was by her own admission "still cross" when she jumped on the web to have a rant about it.
She told her fellow Mumsnet users that rather than take the affront to her brunch sitting down, she got up and put it all back.
"Was I wrong?" she asked.
The community consensus was that, no, she was not wrong and the "cheeky sods" deserved a telling off.
The mum described the offending cafe-goer as a "Mrs Bouquet/Bucket" type.
"I'd have put it back in her lap - why didn't you say something?" one woman wrote.
Another recalled: "Someone did this to me once. I was very passive aggressive and gave them a look, piled up the plates and took them to the counter myself.
"I like to think they realised how unreasonable they had been by my withering look and muttering under my breath."
Some speculated the offending diner was trying to start a fight while others accepted it as a sad indictment of modern ethics:
"I have reached the conclusion that a hell of a lot of people just float around in their own little bubble, completely oblivious to other people and unaware that their actions may have a negative effect on someone."
The mum described the woman as "a bit Mrs. Bouquet/Bucket" who just wanted an empty, clear table," but regardless was clearly rightly peeved.
Top Comments
i work in a cafe and it drives me insane when someone puts the dirty plates on another (clean) table. now i just have to clean twice as many tables.
If you clean the first table they wouldn't have to do it. I hate nothing more than going into a cafe/restaurant and seeing table full of dirty plates, they should be gone within a 30 seconds of the people leaving.
i assume you're being facetious, but in case you are not, often people would take the table as soon as another group have left, sitting at the dirty table before you even have a chance to clean it. or its a busy day and you are short staffed and don't have time to clear tables - moving the dishes to a clean table just creates more work on already stressed and overworked staff.