Table sharing
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| Chinese | 搭枱 | ||||||||
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| Kanji | 相席 | ||||||||
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Table sharing refers to the seating at a single table of multiple separate parties—individual customers or groups of customers who may not know each other.
Overview
By practicing table sharing, two (or more) groups of customers who may not know each other sit together around a table in the restaurant, and are able to get a table faster than waiting for the first group to finish.[citation needed] However, in many cultures, the act of sharing food with another person is a highly emotionally-charged act; even in cultures which take a more casual attitude towards it, sharing a table with strangers in a restaurant can create some awkwardness.[1]
Table sharing is a common practise in busy restaurants in Japan.[2] In Japanese culture, being invited to a person's home to share a meal is rather uncommon and indicates an extremely close relationship.[1] However, sharing a table in public with strangers is just a routine occurrence with no special meaning.[2] It is said to be an example of how Japanese concepts of personal space are adapted to crowded urban living conditions.[2] The custom of table sharing is also widespread in old-style yum cha Chinese restaurants, dai pai dongs and cha chaan tengs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and parts of China. The Chinese restaurant process, referring to certain random processes in probability theory, is a mathematical allusion to this custom.[citation needed] Harry G. Shaffer reported in the 1960s that it was a common practise in Soviet restaurants.; he used the opportunity of being seated with strangers to strike up conversations with his fellow diners.[3] Table sharing is also practiced in Germany.[4]
American business author Cheryl L. Russell points out that promoting sharing of tables can be an effective part of creating a friendly atmosphere in a restaurant, and would also enable the restaurant owner to free up a table for another party.[5] However, a hospitality industry training guide from the same publisher recommends that waitstaff avoid seating strangers together unless crowded conditions demand it. The authors suggest one way of bringing up the topic is to explain to the guest the length of the wait for a private table, and then to suggest sharing a table with a stranger. They also advise against seating a man at a table where a woman is dining alone, or vice versa.[6] In South Korea, McDonald's found that customers would leave more quickly if they were seated next to strangers, thus effectively increasing the restaurant's capacity.[7]
Etiquette
In Japan, diners who are strangers to each other will generally be seated together only by their mutual consent.[2] In Canada, advice columnist Mary Beeckman pointed out in 1948 that the head waiter would generally ask a patron before seating a stranger at his or her table, but that refusal to do so would be regarded as "stuffy and selfish".[8] South Korean McDonald's customers tended to feel awkward asking for permission to sit at a stranger's table, and were more comfortable being conducted to a seat by an employee.[7] Being asked by the waiter to share a table or not may be a function of party size. For example, in restaurants with tables seating four to six people, a party of two or three may be requested to share a table, as one author pointed out in the context of Belarusian etiquette.[9]
Japanese etiquette does not require that one converse with the unknown party with whom one is seated.[10] In the United States, Emily Post advised that it was not necessary to say anything to a stranger with whom one shared a table, not even a "good-bye" when leaving the table. However she pointed out that one would of course naturally say good-bye if there had otherwise been previous conversation during the course of the meal.[11] Simiarly, Mary Beeckman advised that the safest rule was not to try to start a conversation when sharing a table with strangers.[8]
References
- ^ a b Tiger, Lionel (1987), The manufacture of evil: ethics, evolution, and the industrial system, Harper & Row, p. 61, ISBN 9780060390709
- ^ a b c d Nishiyama, Kazuo (2000), Doing business with Japan: successful strategies for intercultural communication, University of Hawaii Press, p. 25, ISBN 9780824821272
- ^ Shaffer, Harry G. (1965), The Soviet system in theory and practice: selected Western and Soviet views, Appleton-Century-Crofts, p. 121, OCLC 405914
- ^ Steinbicker, Earl (2002), Daytrips Germany, Hastingshouse/Daytrips Publishing, p. 17, ISBN 9780803820333
- ^ Russell, Cheryl L. (2006), "Restaurants and Food Service", 2001 innovative ways to save your company thousands and reduce costs, Atlantic Publishing Company, pp. 233–234, ISBN 9780910627771
- ^ Arduser, Lora; Brown, Douglas Robert (2004), The waiter & waitress and waitstaff training handbook, Atlantic Publishing Company, p. 46, ISBN 9780910627474
- ^ a b Watson, James L. (2006), Golden arches east: McDonald's in East Asia, Stanford University Press, p. 148, ISBN 9780804749893
- ^ a b Beeckman, Mary (1948-08-13), "Request To Share A Table Is Polite In A Restaurant", The Ottawa Evening Citizen, retrieved 2011-04-18
- ^ {[citation|title=Kiss, bow, or shake hands: the bestselling guide to doing business in more than|page=35|first=Terri|last=Morrison|first2=Wayne A.|last2=Conaway|publisher=Adams Media|edition=revised|isbn=9781593373689}}
- ^ Takada, Noriko; Lampkin, Rita L. (1996), The Japanese way: aspects of behavior, attitudes, and customs of the Japanese, McGraw-Hill, p. 20, ISBN 9780844283777
- ^ "Nothing usually said to stranger", The Milwaukee Sentinel, 1952-09-20, retrieved 2011-04-18
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