Why restaurant servers clear your plate before everyone finishes eating

Your empty dinner plate may be disappearing faster than etiquette says it should. Traditional dining etiquette calls for restaurants to wait until everyone at a table has finished eating before clearing the plate. But many contemporary restaurants clear plates individually, creating an awkward question for diners: Is the server simply being attentive or are you being hurried out? "Everyone at the table should be finished before all the plates are cleared," Jacqueline Whitmore, Florida-based foun