To the Editor:
In response to the couple who had to wait for two seats together at the Olive Garden restaurant recently:
Requesting someone to move over is just that, a request. I am single and frequently sit at restaurant bars for a drink and have some food. I am constantly asked to move over, even while I am eating. Couples often arrive during the dinner hour and even though I arrived earlier than them they expect their late arrival to be accommodated by those who were there first.
I have observed late arrivals request four or five people to move down while they are eating. I have had my chair grabbed and taken to unknown places somewhere down the bar while I was in the restroom. Even though I left my drink and a ball cap in front of my seat indicating that I will be back. I even had a couple come in and the man sat down in the empty single seat next to me and then said that if I was a gentleman I should give up my seat for his wife. I have also moved over for a party of four who then proceeded to sit down, order a drink and then take it inside to be seated. A single person becomes a ping pong ball moving up and down the bar accommodating move-over requests.
Perhaps the Karen in the Olive Garden restaurant already moved several times before being asked to please move over one too many times.
I usually accommodate move-over requests, but sometimes the Karens are the folks arriving after you and ask you to move over.
Thomas Farrell
Village of Collier
