In the early 1950s middle- and upper-income people in cities of 25,000 or more were surveyed about their restaurant habits. People with lesser incomes and those living in rural areas and small towns were excluded because they were considered to be infrequent restaurant patrons. Thirty-five percent of those surveyed reported eating a restaurant lunch or dinner, or both, four to seven times a week. About one-third of the respondents also volunteered complaints, some of which follow:
“There was a lot of noise in the kitchen.” 
“One of the waitresses was mopping the floor all the time.”
“A fellow beside me happened to have a choking spell and told me the whole story of how it happens once in a while.”
“The vegetables were canned.”
“They don’t serve butter with the meals.”
“There was no one to greet us when we entered; we had to find a table ourselves.”
“The tablecloth was dirty and the waiter was grouchy.”
“The waiter’s cuffs were in the food and perhaps his thumb in the soup.”
“The waitress was flirting with my escort.”
“The waitresses talked about each other when they had time.”
“They started to turn off the lights before we left.”
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Restaurant-ing through history 
Surprised to see no one complained about waiting on line…
But then who would want to get that kind of hint? I sympathize with the staff for wanting to close up, but as tactics go it’s hard to square with the notion of hospitality.
I had to laugh at the last one – “They started to turn off the lights before we left.” That the old trick to get people who overstay their welcome to leave – and even better, they still didn’t get the hint…