'My wife says it's ok to sit-down at restaurants mins before closing, I say it's rude.'

My wife thinks it's completely fine to go to a sit-down restaurant ten minutes before they close; I think she's being an entitled jerk.

AppleBottmBeans writes:

We had a sitter for the kids last night, so we ate (at home) and then got out the door to catch a movie as soon as the sitter arrived. It was a pretty long movie, so we were hungry again afterward.

She was craving pizza from one of our favorite local places that was only a 2-3 min walk, so without even realizing what time it was, we started in that direction. As we came through the door, I could see the place was empty.

They close at 10 p.m., and it was 9:51 p.m. or something. My wife could see I wanted to leave, but she was being difficult, and I HATE having arguments in public, so I went along with it.

She's done this at 20-30 mins before closing times, but never this late. All I can say is it made me feel uncomfortable. I've never been a server, but I could tell from their faces that they were f*%king annoyed.

And, of course, she had to order one of the specialty pizzas with all this extra sh%t on it. Once the waitress left, I only somewhat jokingly said, 'They're gonna spit on your pizza.' She sensed my voice's sarcasm and asked what my deal was.

I explained to her how I was uncomfortable going into a sit-down restaurant when it was this close to closing time. She was upset by this and got defensive and said it's their job to serve customers until the closing time.

She said if they're open, we can dine there. I explained that the staff probably wanted to clean up and go home, and it's just common courtesy not to barge in right at the last minute.

Here are some of the top comments from the post.

boaster106 writes:

I just went to Japan, and whenever their hours were posted, they ALWAYS had a last order time as well (mon 8 a.m. -5 p.m. LO 4:30) it was really nice to see as it helped everyone respect each other's time.

drowninginidiots says:

This is why some restaurants close the kitchen 30+ minutes before closing.

Deriniel says:

As a waiter, I can assure you that if the place was closing at 10 and at 9:51, there was no one inside; the cook was already cleaning the kitchen, and the waiter is in the bathroom.

Tell us what you think? Is it acceptable to sit down for a meal 10 minutes before a restaurant is supposed to close, or should that be considered rude behavior?