Does the room really matter?

We had a group of about 25 come in last night for a Christmas party. It was a family party….they had reserved a room. As I’ve mentioned before, there are 8 different banquet rooms of various sizes. Every party has different table configurations, some have round tables that seat up to ten, some have rectangular tables…sometimes those table are in a “U” shape, sometimes two long tables…there are many variations. But what doesn’t vary is the work that goes into setting these up. We servers have to take down and put up any tables that are used. When you have to move a round table, that is a foot taller than you are and roll it to another area, it’s not easy, and it takes more than a minute.

We are all working double shifts and stretched to the limit. So last night, when this group came in….the boss decided to put them in a room that already had round tables set up, as per their request. All the rooms are decorated and have Christmas tress in them. But this wasn’t good enough for one woman. She insisted that we take down the tables and set up new ones. Then she laughed and commented “This is funny.” as an already weary staff hustled about to reset the entire room.

My guess is that they had their gathering at the restaurant because no one wanted to cook or clean or go through any of the necessary preparations for having a holiday gathering.

Isn’t the point of getting together to share some time with the people you hold near and dear? No matter what room you are in, you will be with the same people, eating the same food, sharing the same conversation. If the physical room matters that much, if you feel you won’t have as much fun in a different room, well, that’s just a sad commentary on your group.