Increasingly hate sitting next to people

[Woollypullover]

and I don't know why.

Is anyone else like this? I'm BU and should be comfortable sitting next to people, shouldn't I? I never used to be like this.

This coming week, I wish I could avoid a trip to the theatre and lunch with a group in a restaurant because I don't want to sit next to anyone.

I even make excuses and turn up late, so I can sit on the end.

I'm BU aren't I?

Some theatres do actually have standing sections though.

having said that, I doubt you’ll find a “completely free from people” theatre at this time of year. In fact at theatres in general - they run limited shows for a limited time to maximise footfall. I think it’s more a case you would need to avoid the theatre or book extra seats…

This was to @Howmanymoredays .

I totally hate sitting next to people for extended periods of time too though so I do get it. I was at the theatre recently and the woman in front was taller than me and literally couldn’t sit still, was strangely dancing at one point. It was really distracting, but ultimately it was a packed theatre so nothing anyone could do to avoid it. I just had to swivel and extend my neck, more than I knew was possible lol

I was at the theatre recently and the woman in front was taller than me and literally couldn’t sit still,

I feel your pain.

I recently went to a showing of a 1922 silent movie in a local cinema where the stalls seats are not stepped. The subtitles in German (where it was originally made) were at the top of the screen. The subtitles in English were at the bottom of the screen. I had a very tall person in front of me, so I spent the whole film dodging about trying to read them. When the film finished I turned round and apologised to the person behind me. Luckily they were very understanding.

Ha ha - it's easier just to avoid people. Funny you found that though - I did actually look into air purifying equipment (there are some much neater than that already available), and I expect that it's only a matter of time before breathing other people's filthy exhalations does indeed become a preserve of the poor. And anyone rich enough will have their own purified air supply, in the same way we have come to expect clean drinking water.
In 100 years I expect people will look back and laugh at some of our societal norms, just like we look back on the primitive ways of previous generations.

Give it a few years until the technology improves. These have very mixed reviews!!

https://www.shopplay.co.uk/dyson-zone-absolute-plus-headphones-with-air-purification-prussian-blue-bright-copper

I absolutely hate sitting next to people I don't know. We're off to the theatre later, and whilst I'm looking forward to the show, I'm getting all tense about sitting next to a stranger. DH suggested I let out one of my mega-farts and it'd clear the row! Cheeky bugger!

Sat next to a stranger at the theatre yesterday and we talked about the show. It was fun.

The last time I went to the theatre by myself and ended up in conversation with the person next to me at the interval, he turned out to be the leading lady’s husband, very interesting in his own right, and then he said hi to someone in sitting behind us, who turned out to be Anya Taylor-Joy and also very interesting. I had the offer to go backstage with them afterwards, but was meeting DH for dinner, so didn’t, but, honestly, there’s potentially more to other people in a theatre than smelly, noisy, too-tall nuisances!

What a lovely experience.

This is just a weird perspective. I’m not even going to try to argue against it.

Once you think it, you can't 'unthink' it!
And it really is quite grim

I can.

*Howmanymoredays

Yes, if you are sitting there for a while, all the air you are breathing in has just come straight out of their mouth. Seems equally as disgusting as sharing a toothbrush with them*

Just when you think people couldn't get weirder, one comes along.

I'm amazed that some people on here actually have sex. What do you do, disinfect your partner beforehand?!

Wear full body biohazard suits with little trapdoors you can unzip at the crotch?

@WarmFrogPond

Do you have sex with all the random strangers you happen to be seated next to at the theatre?

@Mercurial123

I'm amazed that some people on here actually have sex. What do you do, disinfect your partner beforehand?!

Don't know about you, but I don't have sex with anyone who has poor personal hygiene, or no manners/respect, or who is generally obnoxious in any other way.

I think we are all agreed that everyone else has poor hygiene, no manners and are inconsiderate/gross/smelly, including our own friends ( The OP clearly mentioned going with friends).

Our own family and sexual partners are of course fragrant flowers, with the etiquette of Emily Post and the sweet breaths of new born babies.

This is so peak MN with "I only like my little family" and " my husband is my best and only friend" energy.

But random strangers sitting close to you at the at the theatre are just a cross-section of the population who have bought a ticket to the same show as you. Likewise the people you could potentially sleep with are just a cross-section of the population which is available and in your vicinity when you’re single and looking.

These were the person sitting immediately beside me and the person immediately behind me last time I was at the NT, for instance. In neither case smelly, noisy or troublesome. And both seemed like very acceptable potential sexual partners. (I say this not because I’m obsessed with Anya Taylor Joy (I’m the only person in the world who thought The Queen’s Gambit was meh) or Joseph Coleman (of whom I had never heard), but because normally, we don’t know the identities of people sitting around us at a play, and in this case I did.)

I went to "Ballet Shoes" on Saturday alone. ( No one I know was keen and DH is away). It was one of my favorite childhood books. I was next to a little girl and her parents. We talked about how fantastic the performance was, and how it had been updated. She wasn't smelly or gross or rude or anything. Neither were her parents.
It was a magical evening, and it was lovely to connect with other people who enjoyed the book as much as I did. That really is what makes us humans, not hiding at home worrying about germs.

It really isn’t. It’s just…air

@WarmFrogPond

Likewise the people you could potentially sleep with are just a cross-section of the population which is available and in your vicinity when you’re single and looking.

You have a choice as to who you sleep with. You don't have a choice as to which random stranger sits next to you.

FFS what do you want from this thread OP?

You're bristling and being rude for no reason.

Go and see a GP and stop picking an argument with strangers on the internet.

She is hoping for validation, which she won't get from posters who thinks that her phobia about other people needs addressing (I do too TBH).