As a former server and bartender (and still part-time though not as much any more) in a busy resort/tourist town the current climate of customers coming in requ

As a former server and bartender (and still part-time though not as much any more) in a busy resort/tourist town the current climate of customers coming in requesting seat changes and playing on phones is significantly higher than 10 years ago. In personal experience I would say that if a server has a 5 table section out of those 5 at least 3 will hold the server up while they play on their phone or talk among themselves before even looking at the menu. On the flip side though, friends of mine that work in restaurants in less touristy areas don't seem to experience the same type of customers. Based on this I think a lot depends on where the restaurant is and the type of customers it attracts. I think when people are on vacation (i.e. tourist) they tend to want to converse more with family/friends and take pictures of every little thing. Some even tend to be more "picky" about simple things such as seating. To me it is an interesting observation, but I don't think you can draw a general conclusion about all restaurants just based on the experiences of one. It would be neat to look at multiple restaurants in completely different areas over the same period. From a restaurant perspective the "slow" customer is frustrating and costly and if there was a way to speed the process up it may be worth something to a restaurant. We went as far as hanging menus in different parts of the waiting areas so customers would look at them and get ideas before they were seated to help speed the process up for servers.