sandi

Many places, cruises, beach resorts, ships, out door stadiums, etc., folks come in early, put towels, blankets, books on a great number of chairs, then go away until curtain time, or the sun comes up, in case of busy beaches. Is this rude? How do people feel about it. As for me, if I don't see someone sit down very soon, I just sit down...and if they say, "sorry, that chair is taken" I say "I don't see anyone sitting here". Seems there should be a rule of good manners about this. Especially on cruises, folks put their towel on the choice deck chairs, then go to the casino for the afternoon, secure in the knowledge that they can have a nice chair, should they every want one. And yes, the Europeans do it too...in Mombassa they got up before dawn to claim the beach chairs. How do you all handle this.??

barbara

Ran accross this thread and it interested me, as we just returned from a large resort in Mexico. Point is, if you didn't claim a row of beach chairs by dawn, you ended sitting on the pavement, while families indulged themselves in entire sections--all draped with towels, etc., to "hold" them in case they choose to sit in them. Some folks had rows by the pool, and others "saved" under an umbrella in case they got too much sun. This aspect of our stay sort of ruined it for me. What do you think is proper etiquette in this regard and what should one do if they too want to sit down????

Dayle

This is an interesting question. I don 't have an answer, but you've just given me another reason to never go on a cruise!

Lesley

Sandi, I agree with you. It is infuriating to see the chairs "reserved" with a beach towel, then the owners don't come and use them until about 11 o'clock. Some people even take their towels out the night before!!! I have seen notices in some hotels in Europe saying towels found reserving beach beds before 9am will be removed by the management. I think we should all do what you do and just sit down on the empty seat. I just wish I had the guts to do it.

x

Sandi, didn't you get enough answers when you asked this same question last summer?

Inconsiderate

Out of principle I never do it. In Europe it is usually Germans who do it, and it is very, very bad manners. For example many pool areas in Turkish hotels have big signs saying that the personnel will remove the towels from chairs if they seem to be reserved for "invisible" people. Once a German man even tried to chase me away from the shade of the tree claiming that the shade had been his for the whole week. I have been told "That chair is mine", and I have answered "Oh, I thought is belongs to the hotel". <BR><BR>Have Germans never noticed that hardly any other Europeans reserve pool and beach chairs? That is one of the reasons Germans are wiewed in many places as "ugly Germans".

Teena

I have traveled all over the world and have found Germans to be the most rude, lacking in manners, and inconsiderate people on the planet (ever watch them eat?). <BR><BR>That is why, since my first visit to Germany 30yrs ago, I will NEVER set foot in Germany again. It's bad enough to find them invading beautiful countries like Italy and bringing their horrible habits with them.

Barbara

Sorry guys, but the rude ones I was referring to in my response to <BR>Sandi's original post were not Germans, but Americans. While the management at this hotel had a sign that "chairs can not be reserved", when they once tried to enforce this rule, a near riot occured, anger like I have never seen, from this lady who insisted it was her "right" to occupy several chairs at once, even tho she could only sit in one at a time. Nope, guys, while Germans may have a reputation for rudeness, I have seen French elbow to the front of a line, and Japanese literally push you off a train steps, if they thought they could get ahead of you. I have seen all sorts of people jump a queue. But we Americans always pride ourselves, arrogantly, as being polite!! Nuff Said!@!

Patrick

Sorry to say that when I took the Hurtigruten (mail boat) trip around the north coast of Norway there was a wonderful glass observatory lounge on top, that probably seated about 75 people. Everytime I went there I was not allowed to sit, even though it was normally less than half full. There were a lot of small tour groups on the boat. They claimed every seat for their friends, and it didn't seem worth it to start a huge battle. <BR>

Suzy

Poor Patrick! I have found that sometimes one can cope with such a situation by saying "Then I'll just use this seat until your friend shows up. Then I'll give it to them; let me help you save it." And don't wait for consent, just plunk down!

edna

These are the same folks who can't wait to exit a freeway in the proper lane but bust up to the front, then "cram" in, daring you to hit them, or the women in the ladies queue who "simply can't wait" and must be accomodated to the front. Or the folks in Austria (and elsewhere) who ski over the tops of your skis to the chairlift...One's only defense is to act agressively....short of active road rage, I do NOT let people impose on me, but hold my ground. When we were in turkey, we soon learned that we would miss our plane if we didn't "push" like everyone else, so we learned quickly to PUSH&gt;

John

Next to my mother-in-law visiting me, this practice annoys me the most. I learned to handle the situation very simply by moving the offending items onto the lounge chair of some other person who was saving the chair.<BR>If the person whose items I had moved turns up, he may question me as to why I was sitting in his seat and I would simply say that the seat was empty when I sat in it, and gosh, I don't know how his stuff ended up on another chair. <BR>It then gets interesting 'cause offender #1 now has his stuff on offender #2's chair and he either has to move offender # 2 stuff's to offender #3's chair in order to make way for his sorry butt on offender #2' chair, all with me acting as a witness. <BR>Life is never boring when you play musical offenders chairs.!

Patrick

Ah, Suzy, I wish I were as bold as you, but alas I guess I never will be. The only reason I knew those seats "were taken" was because I actually sat down. I suppose I could have smiled gently as the German woman screamed at me over and over again that her friend was coming back. And when I moved and got the same thing from another person, I decided that some people could be content just ignoring them and holding firm -- but not me, I went to the bar and enjoyed a drink instead. Sorry, I just don't do well when people scream at me.

Suzy

Well, Patrick, that's why I always speak to the (apparent) seat-saver before sitting down. As long as you promise to get up when their friend arrives, they really can't pretend to have a reason to keep the seat. Of course, the friend usually doesn't show up, either.