“The sign says ‘Wait for Hostess to be Seated’ but the bitch will NOT SIT DOWN!”
“Please wait for hostess to be seated” is a sign that used to be in many restaurants. A joke was posted on Twitter by Belly Roll Morton on February 21, 2010:
“The sign says ‘Wait for Hostess to be Seated’ but the bitch will NOT SIT DOWN!”
The joke was also printed, in a slightly different form, in the Indianapolis (IN) Star in 1972, and in a 1980 column by William Safire in the New York (NY) Times.
Newspapers.com
26 November 1972, Indianapolis (IN) Star, “Wives Dumb; Put Up With Men” by Lowell Nussbaum, sec. 2, pg. 1, col. 2:
A LARGE, PRINTED sign in the doorway of the Hilton’s Country Oven restaurant bothers me. It says:
“Please Wait for the Hostess to Be Seated.”
I know that’s the polite thing to do, but no one does it there. The hostesses never sit down, they just keep walking around directing customers where to sit.
Newspapers.com
16 December 1980, The Morning Herald & Review (Decatur, IL), “‘Signs of the times’ confusing” by William Safire (New York Times), pg. A12, col. 3:
The sign requiring the most patience: At the Howard Johnson restaurant near Cornell University, patrons are greeted with a sign reading “PLEASE WAIT FOR HOSTESS TO BE SEATED.” Reports student Leslie Sara Goldsmith: “I waited patiently for about 10 minutes, but the young lady failed to sit down, and feeling rather neglected, I felt compelled to sit first.”
Newspapers.com
16 February 1986,Daily News (New York, NY), “Only in New York” edited by Paul LaRosa, magazine sec., pg. 24, col. 1:
SHE NEEDS IT MORE THAN YOU DO
Sign spotted in a mid-Manhattan coffee shop:
PLEASE WAIT FOR HOSTESS TO BE SEATED
—Herbert H. Westphalen Jr.
Newspapers.com
24 February 2006, Tallahassee (FL) Democrat, “Don’t underestimate the power of signs” by Jerry Osteryoung, pg. 1E, col. 2:
One of my favorite signs in a restaurant says, “Please wait for the hostess to be seated.” Shouldn’t the guest be seated first?
Twitter
Belly Roll Morton
@Ratatat_Pat
The sign says “Wait for Hostess to be Seated” but the bitch will NOT SIT DOWN!
10:49 AM · Feb 21, 2010·Twitter Web Client
Twitter
Joanne Lessner
@joannelessner
Replying to @UffishL
@UffishL My all-time favorite sign, in a diner: Please Wait for Hostess to be Seated. Okaaay…and then can I sit?
7:33 PM · Mar 13, 2014·Twitter Web Client
Reddit—Dadjokes
Posted by u/DinglebarryHandpump January 19, 2020
The sign in this restaurant says “Please wait for hostess to be seated.”
I’ve been here two hours and she is still on her feet.