going out to eat and seating

troy_mclure · February 23, 2009, 07:40 PM

where do you sit when you go out to eat?
my buddies mock me because i always want a wall to my back.
it makes me way to twitchy to sit with my back "out" especialy facing the door.

NitroBerserker · February 23, 2009, 08:10 PM

+1
My GF is very familiar with this and if sitting first will give me the seat with a view of the door.

cschwanz · February 23, 2009, 08:12 PM

i usually try to sit with my back against the wall as well, or at least facing the door. if its a booth, i always try to sit so my right side is in toward the wall ( im right handed and carry strongside)

hoytinak · February 23, 2009, 08:18 PM

I always sit facing the exits with my carry side on the inside. It's hard to go out and eat with my father as he always what's the same seat I do.

rantingredneck · February 23, 2009, 08:22 PM

I sit facing the door as well.

Hoyt, Why this though?

Quote:

my carry side on the inside.

I like to have my right (carry side) to the outside of the booth if possible. Seems to my thinking that it avoids the table becoming and obstruction and crossing over your dining partner's body with your weapon.

I'm interested in your thoughts on it though.......

cschwanz · February 23, 2009, 08:24 PM

i keep my carry side to the inside simply to avoid printing and allowing everyone in the restaraunt to see/know i have a gun on my hip.

hoytinak · February 23, 2009, 08:27 PM

I just still get paranoid about printing too much, if it's to the inside no one can see the arrow that points to gun.

rantingredneck · February 23, 2009, 08:28 PM

Oh I see.......

.

I've just come to not give a crap about the big neon arrow......Mostly......

Wildalaska · February 23, 2009, 08:31 PM

LOL...if someone wants to get you in a resteraunt you are gotten...

Ask Carmine Galante, Joey Gallo and Arthur Flegenheimer

WildiwannagowithfoodinmynmouthAlaska ™

bcarver · February 23, 2009, 08:48 PM

no booth ever. I don't want to be sitting still during a robbery/shooting.
Back to wall is a must.
I have to be able to see all exits and kitchen.
Never know when a cook will wig out with a cleaver.
I also like a window to see who is coming inside.
Some reasturants don't even have one suitable table.

Wildalaska · February 23, 2009, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Never know when a cook will wig out with a cleaver.

Thats a joke, right

WildpleasetellmeitsajokeAlaska ™

dabigguns357 · February 23, 2009, 09:25 PM

furthest from the door but still facing door,i hopfully will have more time to react.If someone walks in shooting,they usually go for the closest one first.

CAP1 · February 23, 2009, 09:42 PM

Never sit with my back to the door(s) or crowd.
Wife finally understands it and takes her seat without me having to say anything.

Virginia58 · February 23, 2009, 10:47 PM

Good to know I'm not the only one who won't sit with their back to the door. I might still be crazy...but I'm not alone

BillCA · February 24, 2009, 12:28 AM

Thoughts;

Sit in a position that allows you to see the most you can of the dining area and the entrance to the dining area.

If I have to chose, I'll take the view of the entrance to the dining area over being able to see all the diners. I figure most are there to eat and few robbers have the nerve to dine & rob.

Tables are better than booths - more directions for you to move and you don't have to "slide out". Additionally, some booth seats are awfully soft making it harder to get out.

In a booth, gun-side out means you can engage from a seated position while pushing out of the booth with the off hand.

In a booth, gun-side in means you can covertly unholster and slide hand and gun under the table. Use your off hand to pull yourself out of the booth using the end of the table.

Gun-side out means you can fire further down an aisle without crossing patrons at your table or others.

A table can be flipped on its side for concealment/cover where the table in a booth generally cannot.

The almost ideal position is a table towards the back of the dining area, with a wall behind you, windows overlooking the entrance walkway visible, and where "customers" at the register will have their back to you.

I spend more time worrying about the quality of their cooks and their food than I do that some kind of robbery will go down.

In any place that might be robbed due to its location, the parking lot is two to three times more dangerous than inside the restaurant.

A robbery in the parking lot increases your danger level 1000%.

In a parking lot robbery, the thief expects the male to be the one likely to resist/retaliate/attack. So fellas, get your wives CCW's and distract while she shoots!

That's my thinking on this subject.

chris in va · February 24, 2009, 01:20 AM

Doesn't really matter to me. I'm not that 'tuned' while eating.

fivepaknh · February 24, 2009, 01:32 AM

I take whatever table or booth they seat me at. Even before I started carrying I liked to be able to see what’s going on around me. So I usually take a seat at the booth/table where I have the most visibility of the rest of the restaurant. I also try to keep my gun in the inside for the same reason as a couple of you, to avoid showing the gun if printing. Though, I really don’t go around in high alert. Like where I live really isn’t that dangerous.

Wildalaska · February 24, 2009, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Doesn't really matter to me. I'm not that 'tuned' while eating.

You must be either a sheep or suicidal *insert ironic/sarcastic smiley here*

WildhowcanyouenjoylifewithoutbeinginconditionyellowatDennysAlaska TM

Hey was Pulp Fiction on TV recently

G-man 26 · February 24, 2009, 01:58 AM

I don't worry about giving up the better seat to my dad or a few of my buddies. I take the opportunity to slip from condition "red" to "yellow". Also, you get a little practice keeping an eye on your "partner's" 6. Look out for that crazed cook and etc.

grymster2007 · February 24, 2009, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Doesn't really matter to me. I'm not that 'tuned' while eating.

Well I'm "tuned" when I'm eating and I face the KITCHEN. Home, out, it don't matter! That's where the FOOD comes from! And unless he wants to be on the menu, the wigged out chef with a cleaver better be coming over to filet my sushi!

I'm famished.

troy_mclure · February 24, 2009, 02:26 AM

im not so concerned with with robberies, but with nut jobs coming in and firing off a bunch of rounds, like has happened in california several times over the last few years.

Hirlau · February 24, 2009, 02:32 AM

Lots of good advice

Just that I don't want to mentally run through a "Check-List" of tactical options each time I go out to eat, which is often (no wife to cook)

I keep two basic rules:

1. Mix/sit close to the crowd at a point where you can see most of the activity in the resturant. (this allows you to camouflage your threat response with the hysterics of the crowd's reaction).

2. Don't sit next to the restrooms. ( Hostilities usually enter through the front/rear doors or the subject enters the restroom from the crowd to "gear up"; exits and that poor soul next to the "Johnny Door" gets the warm-up shot, establishing the mindset of the subject.

Just thoughts...

hogdogs · February 24, 2009, 02:47 AM

While not carrying CW, I still like back to wall etc. but I also like to be able to watch the honeys. Ticks me off when I gotta do a fake throat clearing cuz momma goes for my seat... She just says "Sorry hun..." and moves... After 20 dang years married she might wait for me to pick or just sit with back to door.

Brent

koolminx · February 24, 2009, 03:04 AM

Damn!
I don't know what I walked into when I registered here, You guy's are starting to sound like the people I lived near in Nebraska a while back...

Always saying the same thing many of you are... But guess what fellers?

Remember that Christmas Mall shooting in Omaha last year or the year before, where the kid walked in and just killed everybody that was dumb enough to stand there?

Well I know of THREE concealed carry people that were with in 100 feet of that lunatic teenager, that RAN and HID when the schitt hit the fan, just like all the girls and school kids.

They also talked tactically about where they "automatically sit favoring their shootin' hand" and all the same old same old, all because they seen some good old kick ass Gangster movies...

I'm not trying to rain on your parade guy's, I think you're all pretty damn helpful as a group, and have some very helpful posts, and a lot of informative reading!

I'm just gonna end my post with how I sit when I go out.

I sit wherever the hell I want' cuz there aint nobody on this here God's Lovely Green Earth ornery enough, tough enough, gritty enough, big enough, or Sneaky enough (not even them little ninjer fella's) ta come a shootin' up any place that I might be havin' my vittles!

Next time you go out to eat, and you go to your favorite place to hog on some grub, and you walk in, and a strange peacefulness settles all over you like a warm blanket... You can rest assured that it's ME koolminx, sittin' there with my back to the rest of the world protecting YOU from the bad guy's...

Gee aint I a nice feller?

-K

BikerRN · February 24, 2009, 03:05 AM

Quote:

I don't worry about giving up the better seat to my dad or a few of my buddies. I take the opportunity to slip from condition "red" to "yellow". Also, you get a little practice keeping an eye on your "partner's" 6. Look out for that crazed cook and etc.

I'm not trying to pick on you, really I'm not, but you really need to understand the color code system better if you are going to put it out there for all the world to see.

You cannot maintain "Red" indefinately, unless YOUR red is everybody else's yellow.

Biker

February 23, 2009, 07:40 PM	#1
troy_mclure Senior Member Join Date: November 17, 2008 Location: gulf of mexico Posts: 2,716	going out to eat and seating where do you sit when you go out to eat? my buddies mock me because i always want a wall to my back. it makes me way to twitchy to sit with my back "out" especialy facing the door. __________________ There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."

February 23, 2009, 08:12 PM	#3
cschwanz Senior Member Join Date: March 20, 2008 Location: IN Posts: 321	i usually try to sit with my back against the wall as well, or at least facing the door. if its a booth, i always try to sit so my right side is in toward the wall ( im right handed and carry strongside) __________________ SA XD .45 Compact -- 5" Colt XSE -- Glock 21SF Savage Mark-II .22LR Member:NRA, DU, PF Ignorance can be fixed....its called education. Stupid will get you killed!

February 23, 2009, 08:24 PM	#6
cschwanz Senior Member Join Date: March 20, 2008 Location: IN Posts: 321	i keep my carry side to the inside simply to avoid printing and allowing everyone in the restaraunt to see/know i have a gun on my hip. __________________ SA XD .45 Compact -- 5" Colt XSE -- Glock 21SF Savage Mark-II .22LR Member:NRA, DU, PF Ignorance can be fixed....its called education. Stupid will get you killed!

February 23, 2009, 08:28 PM	#8
rantingredneck Senior Member Join Date: January 12, 2007 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,728	Oh I see........ I've just come to not give a crap about the big neon arrow......Mostly...... __________________ NRA Member NC Hunter's Education Instructor PCCA Member (What's PCCA you ask? <- Check the link)

February 23, 2009, 08:48 PM	#10
bcarver Senior Member Join Date: February 22, 2007 Location: Jackson,Mississippi Posts: 838	no booth no booth ever. I don't want to be sitting still during a robbery/shooting. Back to wall is a must. I have to be able to see all exits and kitchen. Never know when a cook will wig out with a cleaver. I also like a window to see who is coming inside. Some reasturants don't even have one suitable table.

February 23, 2009, 08:10 PM	#2
NitroBerserker Junior Member Join Date: November 6, 2008 Location: Pittsburgh Pa Posts: 2	+1 My GF is very familiar with this and if sitting first will give me the seat with a view of the door.

February 23, 2009, 08:18 PM	#4
hoytinak Senior Member Join Date: July 5, 2006 Location: Texas Posts: 5,721	I always sit facing the exits with my carry side on the inside. It's hard to go out and eat with my father as he always what's the same seat I do.

February 23, 2009, 08:27 PM	#7
hoytinak Senior Member Join Date: July 5, 2006 Location: Texas Posts: 5,721	I just still get paranoid about printing too much, if it's to the inside no one can see the arrow that points to gun.

February 23, 2009, 08:31 PM	#9
Wildalaska Junior member Join Date: November 25, 2002 Location: In my own little weird world in Anchorage, Alaska Posts: 14,172	LOL...if someone wants to get you in a resteraunt you are gotten... Ask Carmine Galante, Joey Gallo and Arthur Flegenheimer WildiwannagowithfoodinmynmouthAlaska ™

February 23, 2009, 09:25 PM	#12
dabigguns357 Senior Member Join Date: May 3, 2008 Location: Ona,West Virginia Posts: 1,215	furthest from the door but still facing door,i hopfully will have more time to react.If someone walks in shooting,they usually go for the closest one first.

February 23, 2009, 09:42 PM	#13
CAP1 Senior Member Join Date: June 14, 2002 Posts: 205	Never sit with my back to the door(s) or crowd. Wife finally understands it and takes her seat without me having to say anything.

February 23, 2009, 10:47 PM	#14
Virginia58 Junior Member Join Date: June 22, 2008 Location: Richmond, Virginia Posts: 10	Good to know I'm not the only one who won't sit with their back to the door. I might still be crazy...but I'm not alone

February 24, 2009, 12:28 AM	#15
BillCA Senior Member Join Date: November 28, 2004 Location: Silicon Valley, Ca Posts: 7,117	Thoughts; Sit in a position that allows you to see the most you can of the dining area and the entrance to the dining area. If I have to chose, I'll take the view of the entrance to the dining area over being able to see all the diners. I figure most are there to eat and few robbers have the nerve to dine & rob. Tables are better than booths - more directions for you to move and you don't have to "slide out". Additionally, some booth seats are awfully soft making it harder to get out. In a booth, gun-side out means you can engage from a seated position while pushing out of the booth with the off hand. In a booth, gun-side in means you can covertly unholster and slide hand and gun under the table. Use your off hand to pull yourself out of the booth using the end of the table. Gun-side out means you can fire further down an aisle without crossing patrons at your table or others. A table can be flipped on its side for concealment/cover where the table in a booth generally cannot. The almost ideal position is a table towards the back of the dining area, with a wall behind you, windows overlooking the entrance walkway visible, and where "customers" at the register will have their back to you. I spend more time worrying about the quality of their cooks and their food than I do that some kind of robbery will go down. In any place that might be robbed due to its location, the parking lot is two to three times more dangerous than inside the restaurant. A robbery in the parking lot increases your danger level 1000%. In a parking lot robbery, the thief expects the male to be the one likely to resist/retaliate/attack. So fellas, get your wives CCW's and distract while she shoots! That's my thinking on this subject. __________________ BillCA in CA (Unfortunately) Last edited by BillCA; February 24, 2009 at 12:48 AM.

February 24, 2009, 01:20 AM	#16
chris in va Senior Member Join Date: December 26, 2004 Location: Louisville KY Posts: 13,806	Doesn't really matter to me. I'm not that 'tuned' while eating.

February 24, 2009, 01:32 AM	#17
fivepaknh Senior Member Join Date: December 7, 2001 Location: Nashua, New Hampshire Posts: 611	I take whatever table or booth they seat me at. Even before I started carrying I liked to be able to see what’s going on around me. So I usually take a seat at the booth/table where I have the most visibility of the rest of the restaurant. I also try to keep my gun in the inside for the same reason as a couple of you, to avoid showing the gun if printing. Though, I really don’t go around in high alert. Like where I live really isn’t that dangerous.

February 24, 2009, 01:58 AM	#19
G-man 26 Senior Member Join Date: November 30, 2008 Location: southern, CA Posts: 212	I don't worry about giving up the better seat to my dad or a few of my buddies. I take the opportunity to slip from condition "red" to "yellow". Also, you get a little practice keeping an eye on your "partner's" 6. Look out for that crazed cook and etc. __________________ "When one man speaks to another man who doesn't understand him, and when the man who's speaking no longer understands, it's metaphysics." Voltaire

February 24, 2009, 02:26 AM	#21
troy_mclure Senior Member Join Date: November 17, 2008 Location: gulf of mexico Posts: 2,716	im not so concerned with with robberies, but with nut jobs coming in and firing off a bunch of rounds, like has happened in california several times over the last few years. __________________ There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."

February 24, 2009, 02:32 AM	#22
Hirlau Junior member Join Date: January 1, 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 296	Lots of good advice Just that I don't want to mentally run through a "Check-List" of tactical options each time I go out to eat, which is often (no wife to cook) I keep two basic rules: 1. Mix/sit close to the crowd at a point where you can see most of the activity in the resturant. (this allows you to camouflage your threat response with the hysterics of the crowd's reaction). 2. Don't sit next to the restrooms. ( Hostilities usually enter through the front/rear doors or the subject enters the restroom from the crowd to "gear up"; exits and that poor soul next to the "Johnny Door" gets the warm-up shot, establishing the mindset of the subject. Just thoughts...

February 24, 2009, 02:47 AM	#23
hogdogs Staff In Memoriam Join Date: October 31, 2007 Location: Western Florida panhandle Posts: 11,069	While not carrying CW, I still like back to wall etc. but I also like to be able to watch the honeys. Ticks me off when I gotta do a fake throat clearing cuz momma goes for my seat... She just says "Sorry hun..." and moves... After 20 dang years married she might wait for me to pick or just sit with back to door. Brent

February 24, 2009, 03:04 AM	#24
koolminx Senior Member Join Date: January 12, 2009 Posts: 520	Damn! I don't know what I walked into when I registered here, You guy's are starting to sound like the people I lived near in Nebraska a while back... Always saying the same thing many of you are... But guess what fellers? Remember that Christmas Mall shooting in Omaha last year or the year before, where the kid walked in and just killed everybody that was dumb enough to stand there? Well I know of THREE concealed carry people that were with in 100 feet of that lunatic teenager, that RAN and HID when the schitt hit the fan, just like all the girls and school kids. They also talked tactically about where they "automatically sit favoring their shootin' hand" and all the same old same old, all because they seen some good old kick ass Gangster movies... I'm not trying to rain on your parade guy's, I think you're all pretty damn helpful as a group, and have some very helpful posts, and a lot of informative reading! I'm just gonna end my post with how I sit when I go out. I sit wherever the hell I want' cuz there aint nobody on this here God's Lovely Green Earth ornery enough, tough enough, gritty enough, big enough, or Sneaky enough (not even them little ninjer fella's) ta come a shootin' up any place that I might be havin' my vittles! Next time you go out to eat, and you go to your favorite place to hog on some grub, and you walk in, and a strange peacefulness settles all over you like a warm blanket... You can rest assured that it's ME koolminx, sittin' there with my back to the rest of the world protecting YOU from the bad guy's... Gee aint I a nice feller? -K

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search