Customers!
(Hospitality)

Those who take treating the place like home a little too seriously

Now I'm a bit on the messy side, so returning home with a load of shopping and carelessly 'placing' the bags everywhere and anywhere somewhere around me is the norm - in a resturant however, it's one of many obsticles you may miss when a large tray of goods obstruct your vision, plus it makes reaching over tough.
Another thing I do at home is load up tables with goods that don't really belong on them - customer eating out, please avoid doing the same.

Another obsticle being children; running children are one thing, yet wondering toddlers who are 2ft off the ground are another all together.
Toddlers stood 4 inches behind busy staff, staring at backsides, not knowing of the collision that'll happen.
Toddlers venturing into staff area's which prompts the parent who are wrapped up in their conversations to eventually move into said staff area employees keep their personal belongings - parent giggles on their way in whilst staff give a faux smile, too busy and too powerless to do anything.
Parents allowing their youngsters to 'decorate' tables via spreading butter, mayonase etc across a wide area whilst commenting "he's having a lot of fun", or allowing them to directly doodls onto tables with pens of crayon - not a slight mark but the start of a murel.

Though just when you've seen enough, things step up!
No! A busy resturant (or even a dead one) is not a place to set a young baby down and allow it to crawl freely whilst directing attention back to adult company.
All sorts are swept and mopped up from the floor constantely, from; dropped food, pills, to jewlery (earrings so often) to broken shards of glass.

Finally, phones!
Yes. Taking a phonecall that's clearly not too importiant the second you opened your mouth to state your order is rude. Continuing the obvious casual conversation and not breaking away for four seconds to ask for a burger and a coffee is also rude.
It says something when a young child has to tell off their parent for such actions and direct them to point out what they want.

Those who behave like they're the only ones there

If the place is heaving packed, there's a chance your modified drink may take an extra few minutes.

The person who served you wasn't the one who bought you your food/drink, thus don't be upset at the latter having to ask who in your party ordered what.

Waiting 9 minutes for 4 meals isn't consistant with "We've been waiting a while", yet it is consistant with the follow up statement "We're in a rush".

Arrives, accepts menus, states "We'll give you a shout when we're ready", actually waves bust server over, after 30 minites - orders tap water - some time later requests cakes from the sibling eatery in another part of the building be bough to them.

When someone's carrying a tray of drinks elsewhere, don't flag them with urgency to 'drop everything' (not literally :D) just so your very quiet child can ask a redundant question about 'why there's slightly more of this condement than that one' as the party looks up smiling.

Customers aggressively pursue a date or "atleast your phone number" hogging your time whilst the slightest bit of observance shows that there are just two people running the place, thus when you're server lets you know they're "really busy", "have to go" and "my co-worker's alone", yes, you're a bother by preventing them from leaving via a barrage of talking. Plus that claim of winning the lottery did zero. \:[

Those who make things awkward for all including themselves

Party 1
° No, the five of us don't fancy that nice round table of five with the view we want, where we can all pretty much face one another and have plenty of space for our orders.
Party2
° There's six of us, but we don't want to sit at that table for 6
Party 1 & 2
° We'll all just huddle around that table of 4
Party 3
° There's 8 of us, that server just join together a few tables so we can all sit, lets's just move that table once she's left so we can squeeze into one
Waiters
° Stands over party 1, 2 & 3 with a big heavy tray of drinks then food with no opening
° There's barely any space for them to eat and drink comfortably

A lady with a party of 8 arrives (during a busy period) and asks if they can sit and eat their pack lunches. Upon being politely answered "sorry we're not allowed to", she politely responds with; she's telling the media.

Winter!
It's cold, rains, it's dark by 4, busses move from 10 to 30 minute slots from rush hour and on this (very recent) occasion, it was very windy (there's now a small hurricane).
Not wanting venture into the cold and rain may be the case, however after spending hours exhausted on your feet, rushing around whilst being timed and flagged, not getting the chance to sip water outside a 20 minute break - your only chance to sit - sticking around for X amount of unpaid overtime isn't too appealing.

Nobody appreciates customers showing up before closing time, wanting to eat, drink and relax.
On such a lousy day, a jolly "we lost track of time" and "my husband on his way" upon being told "we're about to close" just makes the day that bit worst.
Husband shows up bang on closing time, refills are requested, then after all is polished off, the husband and daughter decide to take a walk to see the sights - leaving behind their coats and bags with wife/mother focused on her phone - though almost half an hour after closing time wife/mother chooses to leave; awkwardly carrying the loads.

What can a server do?
The customer's time's more important than staff's, plus people genuinely don't know any better.

1K words of experience