Some people eat the rotten apples first.
They must be the ones who grow up to be restaurateurs. All too often their maitres d' try to foist the worst tables on the early diners, maybe hoping they'll be suckers enough to take them without protest. Early one evening my guests and I were ushered into the claustrophobic side room of one restaurant while the lively main room still had empty tables. And at another restaurant, newly opened, most of the tables were empty when the host escorted me to one wedged against the bar with a wall jutting into the chair space. It's all about fame and glitz.