Originally Posted by
braslvr
As long as it's preceded by "Can I get some of these dishes out of your way?", I am normally very pleased. No doubt partly because I'm American, but I lean toward the practical over the traditional. I don't want to look at dirty dishes/excess clutter on the table.
Obviously, I'm with you.
One may
prefer that waitstaff wait until everyone at the table is finished with all their food before they remove empty (dirty) tableware, and that preference is fine. But someone behaving counter to one's preference does not constitute rudeness.