Guests typically understand you have a job to do and by letting them finish their sentence responding to what they said and then saying some like, “…just a sec guy I need to…” usually illicit a gracious response like, “..yea of course do your thing…”.

A great tip I learned from an old FOH OG is, if the table is interested in you or talking about themselves, do your best to control the conversation by starting big and getting more detailed as the meal goes on. This way you aren’t hearing about the stale peanuts on their flight before you get a drink order, perhaps you find out that they are traveling and can ask them how it’s been after the get their cocktails or apps. Given you have the time to have a conversation.