I AM surprised that Mr Oh Kian Chew's letter ("Be gracious diners"; Forum Online, last Friday) included a revival of the topic of seat reservation.
If his issue with seats being reserved is that they are not being put to optimal use, then the mode of reservation - a living person, or inanimate tissue packets and name cards - is irrelevant.
On the contrary, securing a seat before purchasing food is indisputably a more sensible sequence than wandering around desperately for a seat while carrying a tray of food precariously in one's hands.
Seat reservation should not be compared to understandably ungracious acts such as indiscriminate spitting or chatting in a cinema during the movie; instead, it should be compared with unique customs like how locals in Japan slurp when eating noodles in soup.
Terence Lim
If his issue with seats being reserved is that they are not being put to optimal use, then the mode of reservation - a living person, or inanimate tissue packets and name cards - is irrelevant.
On the contrary, securing a seat before purchasing food is indisputably a more sensible sequence than wandering around desperately for a seat while carrying a tray of food precariously in one's hands.
Seat reservation should not be compared to understandably ungracious acts such as indiscriminate spitting or chatting in a cinema during the movie; instead, it should be compared with unique customs like how locals in Japan slurp when eating noodles in soup.
Terence Lim
