(There's apparently one LSA on the CZ who insists on seating everyone before serving anyone -- a proper "seating" -- with disastrous results.)
My first real long distance trip was last October when I did CHI-LAX-EMY on SWC and CS. Then EMY-DEN on CZ. On the SWC there were about 6 choices for dinner reservation times and dinner went very smoothly.
On the CZ, I think there were two (maybe three) times. When our reservation for dinner was called on the CZ, we walked in with everyone else and the tables were already set with the salads on the table. They sat everyone down, filling just about the entire car dining car (we were on the half with 10 tables). Then they started taking orders one table at a time. But after taking each table's order, they would go and get that table's drinks before taking the next table's order.
We were about the 8th table to be attended in our half of the car, having sat there for almost 30 minutes staring at warm, limp lettuce (and two tomatoes, of course) in a bowl, waiting for something to wash it down with.
When the LSA finally did arrive to take our order, he started with the somewhat elderly German couple across from us. The LSA asked for the husband's order, but the man said to the LSA, "The lady is first, please," and deferred to his wife. The LSA gruffly said to the husband, "We take the orders in a certain order and you are first."
The husband said "THE LADY IS FIRST!", and with that, the LSA proceeded to take the wife's order first.
We left a very small tip that night, and only because we were afraid that a foreign substance might end up in our pancakes the next morning if we left no tip.
By the way, I guess since this thread is actually about the Auto Train, i should mention that I am going to be riding on the auto train for the first time in about three weeks: I am picking up a friend's car and taking it south. I was in DC last weekend and decided to drive over to Lorton just to check out the station. If the demographics on my trip are the same as what I saw in the waiting area, I should be the youngest one on the train (no offense intended -- I actually find that older folks on the train have a lot better stories to share and are usually a lot more well behaved, too).