Is this the most annoying restaurant trend today?

John Curley knows a thing or two about serving in restaurants. So he speaks from experience when expressing his disgust over a restaurant pattern that some are saying is the most “annoying trend” happening today.

Curley recalled his days dishing plates at an East Coast restaurant, on KIRO Radio’s Tom & Curley Show.

“I worked at the L’Auberge Restaurant in [Phildelphia],” Curley told co-host Tom Tangney.

“As a busboy I was trained. And I remember one time &#8212 Helen and Charlie Wilson owned L’Auberge &#8212 and I came over and put the salad plate down. And Helen, in the middle of the conversation, reached up and touched the plate with just her two fingers, just the edge of the plate, and called me over and said, ‘Curely, Curley come here. Don’t. Ever. Do. That. Again.'”

“And I took it away and I took it into the kitchen and I said, ‘What did I do wrong,'” he said. “What was wrong with the plate, Tom?”

Tangney was at a loss. Maybe there was a spot on the plate, he guessed.

“You never, ever serve salad on a warm plate,” John said. “It was like I took a puppy to the table and vivisected it right there in front of her. She was so aghast.”

But warm plates are not what’s annoying Curley. It’s the loss of another form of proper etiquette, according to a column in the Washington Post. Rather, something else is irking foodies.

Early table clearing is the source of contention. The Washington Post’s Robert A. Ferdman relates, in a June 23 article, his increasing experiences and frustration over servers removing plates before everyone at the table has finished eating.

And Curley agrees. He can’t stand early table clearing. But he was alone in his sentiment.

“As long as I’ve lived, and this has happened to me countless times, I’ve never gone to the trouble of getting annoyed,” Tom said. “To me, it’s helpful. If I have a dirty plate in front of me and somebody takes it away … that’s fine. I didn’t realize that old-fashioned, snooty etiquette …”

“Oh is that what it is? I’m surprised we’re still using forks!” Curley interrupted.

“Well, plastic, right?” Tom quipped.

But Curley argues that clearing plates early is offensive to other diners at the table. It makes them feel like they are being slow and is essentially rude all around. And that’s a point Ferdman also presses, admitting that he eats quicker than most, but that is no reason to swipe entrée plates before their time. He claims others have noticed the plate-swiping epidemic in San Francisco and New York.

Ferdman wrote that servers have told him that they feel it’s what customers want. But for the food writer, there are no excuses.