Mouthing Off | Queuing for restaurants is annoying but we’ve only ourselves to blame
- Many diners hate not being able to make a restaurant reservation and would rather go somewhere else than waste their time queuing
- While restaurants are partly to blame for no-reservations policies, customers’ inconsiderate booking behaviour also plays a key role
There is a misconception that Hongkongers love to queue. We’ll wait in line for taxis and to buy limited-edition fashion and snazzy new phones. A few years ago, we even queued for Hello Kitty toys from McDonald’s. Perhaps the whole city has a lemming’s mentality and needs to follow the herd.
But I say it’s the contrary. Nobody likes to queue, least of all Hong Kong people – have you seen the way the cheats cut in front when the MTR doors open? Most of the time, we’re too polite and intimidated by rules to be uncivil and disorderly. Combined with a penchant for chasing trends and conspicuous consumption, the result is a lot of long lines at shops and eateries.
A couple of queue-haters have lobbied me to rant about this hated practice, mostly because waiting like a character in a Beckett play is now common at quite a few popular restaurants. They say they really dislike having to queue and are annoyed they can’t just make a reservation; they would rather go somewhere else than waste their time queuing.
Of course, some of the folks saying this are society VIP-types who expect to be recognised and waved through any velvet rope. Others are media writers who can sometimes feel privileged by their position. Everybody says they wants equality and democracy, but when faced with a maitre d’ and a cordon, we all want preferential treatment to separate us from the riff-raff. To reference the TV show Cheers, who doesn’t like establishments “where everybody knows your name”?
Restaurant groups such as Black Sheep and hip joints like Yardbird have taken heat for their rigid no-reservations policies. I’m sure owners like not having to administer bookings, and a crowd always milling around your outlet wanting to get in certainly helps build buzz. It’s easy to portray them as the inhospitable bad guys of hospitality, mistreating customers and being snobby door b*****s.
However, a lot of diners have no one but themselves to blame for this trend. Until restaurants started implementing stringent rules on advance payment for reservations and charging patrons for no shows, it wasn’t uncommon for inconsiderate bosses to tell their secretaries to make reservations at three or four restaurants and decide later which one to fulfil. Even regular folks were prone to no-shows and often wouldn’t bother cancelling a booking if they knew they couldn’t make a date.