To wonder if this is cultural?

[SpeedbirdSquawker]

I sat down this morning in a massive Wetherspoons. It has lots of little rooms off of the main room.

I was the only customer in there, ordered my breakfast and sat down. A few minutes later, a man strolls in and sits at the very next table to me. What?! This has happened to me before but in a smaller place. I mean, he has about 5 other empty rooms to choose from and he chose mine. The table right next to mine too.

😂😂This has made me laugh far more than is rational or kind.

What does 'cultural' have to do with this? What culture?

Yes, this!

There are people who do this, I have no idea why.

I've had someone come and use the treadmill right next to me when there are 10 others free in the row. I once parked in an almost deserted Tesco car park and I came out to find a car had parked right next to me. So close I had to get in the passenger side door!

I think it's due to our survival instinct of safety in numbers so we are subconsciously drawn to be close to other people.

Yes it's cultural. It's a british thing and it's very annoying.

I find this creepy personally. Particularly given it was a lone man sitting near you.

Ive had this happen on the train before where I’ve actually moved seats because someone has sat next to me when there’s empty seats available.

It’s definitely a mindset with some people. It’s as if, when they see an empty area that is gradually going to be filled, they think you need to start from a single point and fill outwards from there.

I wonder if you can test it? Give people a sheet of graph paper with a single random cross on it and say they need to fill the sheet up with crosses. Would there be one group that randomly places crosses until the sheet fills, and another that takes the first cross as a starting point and works methodically from there?

im sure someone must have tested this!

yes what culture- I'm dying to know.

Maybe he always sits there or you were in 'his' seat? People are creatures of habit. I see the same people sat in the same seats on the bus most mornings. If a 'new' person gets on and sits in someone's seat, you can see the pause and hesitation from the regular and they'll often end up sat right next to them

I would bet it's this. There are people (mainly men, mainly lonely) in my mum's sheltered housing complex who go into town every morning to have their breakfast at either Wetherspoons or McDonalds. I can well imagine that they always sit in the same seat and probably order the same thing. It's their routine and their comfort. They're the kind of places that are going to be very quiet at breakfast time so 'their' seat is probably available to them most of the time.

Then why eat in a public place? If it bothers you that much eat at home

Honestly. I am also baffled at why anyone is eating a (big) breakfast at Wetherspoons on Monday at 8.30.

Just so you know, there are people around who aren't terrified of food.

This never happens to me tbh. I must have a particularly forbidding presence! I don’t see why it shouldn’t have a cultural element though. I feel like OP is being invited to admit to being racism, but I could imagine when people are from a very communist minded, together-y sort of culture (like my DH for example) they do this more than someone from a more individualistic culture (like me!)

You lack imagination. Some reasons I can think of - just done a night shift, just arrived from abroad, just left a relationship and fuelling up for the next bit, partner has just given birth so eater has been at partner's side for the last 48 hours eating scraps, had bad news and not eaten for a few days but feeling a bit better and very hungry, homeless and someone's just given them a tenner, just about to embark on a long journey, nostalgia for a dead love one who used to love a fry up and it's their birthday, house has just burnt down, cooker suddenly broke, felt suddenly lonely and wanted to be out and about for breakfast, has a metabolic disorder that means they eat a lot, recovering from illness and appetite come back, about to do a demanding work shift, I mean there are a million reasons to be eating a big breakfast at Wetherspoons (or somewhere else) on a Monday morning or JUST HUNGRY!

Thankfully , my imagination doesn't spread to a greasy Wetherspoons with it's tacky tables.

😂 😂 😂

that’s the only reasonable explanation for it to be “cultural”

im also wondering what “culture” has to do with it??

I've never actually been in a Wetherspoons. The loss is a loss to your imagination.
Life is rich. Even in Wetherspoons.

I do think it is cultural.

Take a row of empty seats.
Typically Brits will fill them up by sitting in alternate seats. They will not sit down next to a stranger. Once all the alternate seats are taken up, the next person may chose to stand rather than sit on one of the empty in-between seats.

But that is VERY British. In many other cultures the first person sits down, and then the second person will sit in the next seat to the first. They will fill up person next to person.

It is a very different feeling and understanding of our personal space.

When I read the OP I thought the guy was creepy to sit on the closest table facing her.
If I was (eg) Brazilian, I would probably have thought it was odd if he DIDN'T sit on the next table.

Which culture? General dumbass isn't a culture...oh wait... 😂

I get up and move if anyone does this to me on the bus, Tube etc.

I'm sure it's more normal in some cultures/countries than others, yes. That said, I have definitely had other British people do this sort of thing to me many, many times, much to my chagrin.

When I was a kid, we actually had a running joke in the family about people who did this sort of thing. In particular, if we had a day at the seaside, my dad was specifically infuriated by families who, despite there being absolutely loads of space, would plonk themselves down right to us on the beach.

Nah. I'm good thanks. I've googled Wetherspoons and driven past a few. I have enough enrichment in my life without a visit to a (mostly run down) chain of pubs.

you don't go to my gym then! there are about 30 running machines in a row all literally touching each other. you can only get on/off at the bottom. And bizarrely yes some people choose the one next to you when all the others are free. So weird!

some of the previous posters suggestions might have explained why he sat in the same room as you but not why he needed to sit on the next table!

No you misunderstand me. I'm never in my life going to go into a Wetherspoons. But it doesn't prevent me from understanding that the people who do are all fully formed humans with complex lives.
Which is the bit you seemed to be struggling with.

Perhaps it's like the scene in I Robot where they open up the huge crates and find the robots are all clumped together despite lots of space.
Or maybe he's Italian.