Originally Posted by
MaxBuck
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.
In the US both methods are considered acceptable and it is preference.
In Europe it is downright rude, not a preference, to remove the plates before everyone is finished.
One thing I absolutely cannot abide either side of the Atlantic is people putting their cloth napkins on top of an empty plate.