Sharing tables when just drinking is fine... not when it's food.
Social etiquette and boundaries Page 4
Quote: Seefacts @ March 26 2009, 11:03 PM GMTHalf-way through our food an old couple approach us and say 'Excuse me, would you mind if we sat and watched you eat (chuckles) Only kidding, we're eating too'. To which I, perhaps rudely, replied 'Well, yes we would'.
Wow! What an answer to the old couple's quip! That's right up there with Oscar Wilde.
If they hadn't made the little joke, I would have politely said something like, say, "Well yes, if you don't mind, we're discussing something private."
However, given their quip, this pair laid themselves wide open and would have played right into my wrinkly old hands:
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DOROTHY: Excuse me, would you mind if we sat and watched you eat?
ALBERT: (chuckles) Only kidding, we're eating too'
MORRACE: (DEADPAN) That's okay. But only if you watch us f**k in the Gents later - and I'm not kidding.
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Okay, so it's not Oscar Wilde - more Bafta Wilde.
God I'm a terrible person!
I'm rude and mean!
The point I was raising is that I don't think people should ASK to join a table, they should just assume it's taken. Surely it's pretty obvious sitting with stangers is going to ruin said strangers'afternoon?
And I'm with Lee on the bag-on-seat thing. Until the train is getting busy, my bag is riding in comfort.
The fact is people who'll chat to strangers ruin the day for people who just want to be left alone.
Quote: don rushmore @ March 27 2009, 11:30 AM GMTIs overpraise acceptable, Marc?
Yes.
Maybe you could wear a big sandwich board reading,
"Warning unfriendly, shy eater,"
Or maybe
"F**k off!"
You don't have problems eating? Like maybe one of those peg feeders where you have to inject porridge into a hole in your stomach?
I'm going to tell you a little story.
A couple of years ago, I got on the bus. Now I looked down the aisle and every window seat was taken, so I realised I was going to have to sit next to somebody.
So I surveyed the scene. There was a nice late middle-aged woman about halfway down the bus, so I decided she was the best bet. Approximately eight seconds after I sat down, she put on a baseball cap.
Now, given that the only people allowed to wear baseball caps are baseball players and kids who will soon be off to Orlando to swim with the dolphins, I realised I had chosen wrongly.
She didn't prove me wrong. She sneezed, without covering her mouth, sending a green glowing globule crashing into the back of the head of the man in front.
She blushed, and belmed, "Excuse me." And I realised I'd misjudged the situation. She wasn't a loon, she had learning difficulties, and I felt a bit bad.
But she was saying, "Excuse me," so that I would stand up and she could leave the bus. So I did and she left. And I thought, "Great! A seat to myself." So I sat down, and put my hand on the seat to shuffle across to the promised land of the window.
Is anybody familiar with the condition stress incontinence? Apparently, sneezing is very bad for it.
Now. There I was, with a wee-wee hand and a small puddle of wee-wee next to me. What was I to do? Should I stand up? No, because somebody would sit in it. So I stayed on the aisle seat, acting as a big piss barrier.
But now the bus was filling up. And it was standing room only, apart from the seat next to me. I wasn't going to volunteer the information that I'd just dipped my palm in a mentally-handicapped woman's urine, but was happy to explain if anybody asked me.
Nobody did. Because we were all British. They just looked daggers at me because I was sitting in the aisle seat and not shoving up.
That - THAT! - is the only excuse anybody should ever have not to allow a fellow passenger or diner to sit down. Seefacts and Lee, you should be ashamed of yourselves.
Bandage you should be a governemnt "good manners champion."
I could see you on public information films calmly explaining such awakward situations.
Quote: Marc P @ March 27 2009, 10:23 AM GMTYeah but I got a mention of James Herriot in my last script! Do you see what I did there.
Strictly speaking, James Herriot is a pseudonym.
I was at Waterloo's Burger King waiting for a train. Got myself a bacon double-cheeseburger and sat at a recently-vacated table for six all by myself (as none of the other tables were free). A very drunk girl with her food came over and asked if she could eat with me, so I said 'Yes'. As a result, she gave me some chicken nugget-y things and also left her handbag so I was rich too! Karma, eh?
(Before you all go off on one, not really -- I ran down to her platform and gave her it back!)
Dan
Quote: swerytd @ March 27 2009, 3:13 PM GMTI was at Waterloo's Burger King waiting for a train. Got myself a bacon double-cheeseburger and sat at a recently-vacated table for six all by myself (as none of the other tables were free). A very drunk girl with her food came over and asked if she could eat with me, so I said 'Yes'. As a result, she gave me some chicken nugget-y things and also left her handbag so I was rich too! Karma, eh?
(Before you all go off on one, not really -- I ran down to her platform and gave her it back!)
Dan
Yeah, thanks for that. 
Quote: swerytd @ March 27 2009, 3:13 PM GMT(Before you all go off on one, not really -- I ran down to her platform and gave her it back!)
Dan
The nugget? Very wise!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYR8Wf51gWg
From 3.21 to 4.56 
Quote: Marc P @ March 27 2009, 3:22 PM GMTThe nugget?
Steve Davis was there as well? 
Quote: Seefacts @ March 27 2009, 1:06 PM GMTThe point I was raising is that I don't think people should ASK to join a table, they should just assume it's taken. Surely it's pretty obvious sitting with stangers is going to ruin said strangers'afternoon?
The fact is people who'll chat to strangers ruin the day for people who just want to be left alone.
Sitting 2 feet away from a stranger for a few minutes is enough to ruin your afternoon? Is your surname Scrooge?
Quote: DaButt @ March 27 2009, 3:51 PM GMTSitting 2 feet away from a stranger for a few minutes is enough to ruin your afternoon? Is your surname Scrooge?
Why do people who DON'T like to chat or be overly social with strangers get the flack though?
God forbid people want a bit of peace in their day.
"Oh, he's so miserable"
Why don't we hear "God, they're so f**king chatty" more often?
How am I (sitting in peace, minding my own business, NOT irritating anyone) be worse than someone who sticks their hooter in and annoys innocent people?
People say up north you'll get talked to at the bus stop, but down south you don't. Well, I'm glad I'm based south (more or less) then.