Really Lowered The Bar

(This happened a couple of years ago at a local restaurant and bar known for their pies. It’s baseball season and it’s a night where [Home State Team] is playing towards the World Series. Restaurants and bars with TVs all over the city are packed in order to see the game except for this one. My mom and I arrive to see the game and find out with luck that the bar area is half empty with a majority of who’s in there at the bar counter and not at the tables. We head inside and are followed by a group of four older adults there for the same reason. The hostess immediately tries to lead us to the main dining area without so much as asking us. The service has really been lacking for months, but this really takes the cake.)

Mom: “I’m sorry, but is there any chance we could be seated in the bar area?”

Hostess: “I’m sorry, no. We are completely full for the evening.”

Mom: “That can’t be right. It’s almost empty in there.”

Hostess: “Well, that’s how it is. The waitress told us it’s full and she doesn’t want any more people in that section.”

Mom: “But it’s not full. You can see from the street all the empty and clean tables.”

Hostess: “Ma’am, you don’t seem to be understanding me. The waitress said she does not want any more customers in that section, so we are not seating any more customers in the bar for the rest of the evening. There’s already a party of eight in there.”

(They went back and forth like this for a few more minutes, the hostess growing more adamant about not seating anybody in the bar area because the waitress said so. During this, several patrons seated in said bar area had left, but it didn’t faze the hostess at all. Turns out, the waitress wasn’t disabled or anything but was just too lazy to help more than one table at a time. We eventually turned to leave and the older folks behind us asked if they could sit in there since more people had gone. The hostess repeated everything she had told us, including the part about the table of eight. The folks got frustrated, as well, and followed my mom and me out. The location just went out of business a couple of months ago. I wonder why.)