To think this is a weird place to sit

[IzzieStevens]

If you’re eating alone in a fast food restaurant, which is relatively empty, would you choose to sit in the ‘booth’ next to another person - but on the opposite side so you’re looking at each other while you’re eating?

I would too. Can't tolerate space invaders.

If it is not the same both, it's fine unless they are actually say staring directly at you whilst eating.

And doing the <fingers pointed at my eyes, fingers pointed at your eyes> thing. That would be weird

not reall maybe they just fancied facing that way

If I was in an a practically empty restaurant, I'd make sure I wasn't facing another single person directly on. It's uncomfortable to have people looking at you whilst you're eating.

Blimey another thing it wouldn't even occur to me to think about that makes me appear weird. I'd just take the most convenient or comfortable seat.

I had this dilemma in a coffee shop recently. Either face outwards towards another person Sat directly in front but also have a view of the whole room or face the wall. I chose the view because I like to people watch.

Make them feel weird by looking right back at them and licking your fork . Or knife depending how brave you are , and how sharp the knife is .

It is a bit, but it seems to be human nature. See also the phenomenon that, if you're sitting on a near-empty beach, someone will come and set up right next to you.

No, that's not weird.

theyve picked a seat by themselves. It would be a bit weird if they spent a few minutes taking into account the eyelines of 9 other diners in the restaurant to ensure total privacy

I was all ready to say that it was totally weird and then realised you were talking about another booth. I don’t think I’d even notice whether someone in a different booth was facing my way or not in a fast food restaurant. If I’m on my own I’m likely to have my nose buried in my phone/kindle/a pile of essays in a fast food restaurant. I wouldn’t sit at the same booth as another person, but in a different booth I don’t think I’d even notice them before I sat down.

I'd be mildly annoyed, even with it being an adjacent booth. More so if they sat there staring at me while they ate. However, I'd probably just read something on my phone to avoid eye-contact with them.

So not actually the same booth? Nah, that's not weird to me, you're over thinking this.

Just seen your other post and I'm changing my reply.

Different booth, but facing me? No, why on earth would that bother me, unless they are literally staring at me the whole time?

It's not my preference, but I've done it before. Want to know why?

Because the side I would have preferred to sit at (not facing you) was dirty, and the other side was much cleaner. You wouldn't be able to see that from where you were.

Sometimes you spot a booth (which is nicer than a long table) but when you go to sit down, you realise one side is grim, and the other is OK.

Different booth wouldn't bother me at all, I don't think that's weird.

made me
yeah adjacent booth is fine

absolutely.

op made it sound as if they had joined them. Total non issue.

You're the weird one here, doubt she even noticed you.

No definitely not.

There have been studies done on this -

Interpersonal Distance
How a person behaves in a given environment depends both on the presence of other people in that environment and on the qualities of the environment itself. Hall (1968) noted that in Western society there are four regions of interpersonal distance in which interaction takes place, which he labeled the intimate domain (0–45 cm distance between persons), personal domain (45–120 cm), social-consultative domain (120–400 cm.), and public domain (400+ cm). Depending on the quality of the relationship between people, they will feel comfortable interacting in any of these four domains. Intrusions of personal space—when another person enters an intimate space domain without permission—can cause discomfort to the person whose space was invaded. For example, when in an early study the personal space of an unsuspecting participant was invaded by the experimenter, the victim responded by facing away and eventually by fleeing the uncomfortable scene (Felipe and Sommer, 1966). The same kind of behavior was later observed in a library, where people avoided seats that were within each other’s personal domain (Eastman and Harper, 1971), and in a shopping mall, where people kept a larger distance to strangers than to familiars (Burgess, 1983). Besides having one’s own space domain invaded by someone else, it can also be uncomfortable to invade other people’s space. When participants were instructed to walk through the personal domain of two conversing people, the participants reported bad mood and showed avoidant non-verbal behavior (Efran and Cheyne, 1974).

😂 yes this. They just got food and ate it at an empty table.

Actually, I thought you meant same booth - not sure that's weird then, adjacent booth seems fine!

Maybe they don't like to sit facing the other way. DH likes to be able to look into the room if he can do he sits in the chair / booth seat that lets him do that.

Never seen a MN post with Harvard style references 😂