Virginia

If you book sleeper service, you can have meals in your room or in the dining car. The dining car is not large enough to accommodate all sleeper customers, so you have to reserve a time slot if you want to eat there. You cannot occupy a table which you have not reserved outside of that reserved time, and you must vacate the table when you are not dining.

The story says that during breakfast hours (6:30-9:30), they were playing cards at one of the tables.

Then, for some reason not stated, they did not feel obligated to vacate the table when they weren't eating.

Perhaps there was something about the employee who asked them to vacate a reserved table, which caused them to feel they did not need to vacate the dining table when they were no longer dining.

If you have never been on a train, then there is probably a lot about (a) Amtrak service employees and (b) sleeper car customers, that might provide some insight into what the other side of this story may sound like.