Wednesday, October 12, 2011

No Comprehension of This Seat is Unavailable


A few months ago I was waiting for a friend at the Food Court in the Bay Centre here in Victoria. I had the perfect seat for waiting for someone there, the table closest to the escalators that nearly everyone heading to the Food Court arrives from. I can’t recall for sure but it was likely a day where it was getting packed to be sure.  Without asking, a stranger joined me at my table (actually I may have this wrong; it’s possible he pointed at the chair and I thought he just wanted to grab one of the extra chairs; keep in mind that there were empty tables still, so there was no reason for him to ask to join me). I told him that I was waiting for someone, that he couldn’t sit there, stuff along those lines. I repeated the story multiple times, so even if he had pointed at the chair I was pretty clear that it was a misunderstanding and he couldn’t sit there. Unfortunately it became clear that my words were penetrating his brain about as well as a cotton ball attempting to penetrate the hull of a battleship. So I finally had to move if I didn’t want to create a scene. I did manage to still see the friend, though it did take a bit longer because I was now a bit more hidden by a sushi place.  So my point is, even if a place is filling up, if it’s inconvenient for someone already sitting at a table for you to join them, it’s important to respect that.

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