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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

canteen attitude

Some strangers (especially foreign students) just like to share table with you while you are away buying food at the canteen.

Yesterday after placing my bag at the table I went off to buy my lunch. When I returned I was stunned to see a stranger sitting there, right in front of my big backpack. So with the extra few newtons of force I tossed my plate of rice onto the table and stared at the man with my cool chilly eyes.

"Is there someone sitting here?"
nod. DUH!
"All 4 seats are taken?"
nod. Actually I was having lunch alone.

Then the guy stood up while I sat down. The best part was after that 3 different lone lunchers came one after another and asked if they could share the table with me, and I agreed, right in front of the first stranger who had by then found a table just in front of mine.

Maybe it's cultural difference or what, but it would be nice if he could at least ask if he could share the table with me before settling down. I know I feel wrong to be one person hogging 4 seats and giving the first guy different treatment and lying to him and etc... (it was like a revenge)

But if it was you, how would you feel to return to your table to find a complete stranger sitting there? (at least this time I was alone, there were times when we really needed all 4 seats)


posted by chillycraps at 6:50 AM | Links

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16 Comments:

  • Angry because such people are rude to just take over the table while you were gone.

    There was this time when we had just found seats for the 5 of us and when we returned, there was this stranger sitting down. We asked the colleague who was sitting there how come there was one more stranger when the space was just nice for the 5 of us. He shrugged because the guy had just plonked his plate of food and began eating and ignoring everyone else, including the drink seller.

    By Anonymous WishBoNe, at 8/29/2007 09:25:00 AM  

  • I had about the same experience as wishbone, was at a 4 person table with a friend of mine chatting while waiting for the other 2 to arrive. Then suddenly a foreign student just plonked himself at one of the 2 seat without even asking us.

    By Anonymous arzhou, at 8/29/2007 09:32:00 AM  

  • I dunno if it is mean to tell the guy to get packing and leave the table with his food eaten halfway...

    ok at least for yesterday's case, he was just sitting there without food and waiting for his friends. Sounds worse that he was planning to take more seats from my table.

    By Blogger chillycraps, at 8/29/2007 10:17:00 AM  

  • happened to me lots of times.

    plus thing is, they look at me as if i was in the wrong!

    basket!

    By Blogger metrosexual-me, at 8/29/2007 10:52:00 AM  

  • happen to me too, it is just so rude to eat at someone else table w/o asking first and it is always the foreign students who are doing it....it's not as if we wun share the table...just ask for goodness sake...ok..shall not get so pissed off...apply double loop productive reasoning... :)

    By Anonymous Arsene Whinger, at 8/29/2007 07:14:00 PM  

  • LOL! Double-loop!! Learning organization somemore!

    ok at least I'm glad I wasn't the only one who have faced this kind of situation.

    By Blogger chillycraps, at 8/29/2007 08:09:00 PM  

  • yawnz.. never had tat problem here in australia.. cuz people will buy food.. and then go look for seats.. i reckon that's the culture here..

    if it's taken.. (which is seldom the case..) the person would politely say.. sorry.. and move away.. like totally apologetic type.. even if u offer to share the seat.. they will say sorry.. and tat's alright.. and move away..

    By Anonymous dj niwde, at 8/29/2007 08:27:00 PM  

  • like I said, different culture lor.

    I still haven't seen the tissue booking system with my own eyes. I've seen laptop booking system though. =P

    By Blogger chillycraps, at 8/29/2007 08:29:00 PM  

  • Laptop booking!? Not scared lappy will be gone when you come back meh?

    Anyway, I would be angry too. Because I believe in plain basic courtesy. If you see a table being "booked/chop-ed" and no one else around, at least wait for the "owner" to come back and ask if you can sit lor.

    Sometimes when I'm at kopitiams and some uncle/auntie would do that, just plonk him/herself down without asking, I would give a weird stare. Then he/she will ask if the seat is taken and I would say yes although not all taken and definately can accomodate him/her. If they ask before sitting down, I would surely say, I have how many people with me, you can take the rest of the seats.

    I agree to a certain extent that it's a public place and that table don't have your name on it. Even if you are willing to share a table, you would want to share with someone who is polite and "repects" your "personal space" rite?

    By Blogger Jasmine aka paced, at 8/29/2007 09:12:00 PM  

  • actually maybe these foreign students dunno the culture here to 'chope' seats, hence they ploke themselves on choped seats. I think in most countries, people buy their food first before finding seats.

    Possible?

    By Blogger snoookems, at 8/29/2007 11:44:00 PM  

  • Tissue booking? Oh, yes. That one see before. I and my friend were finishing lunch one day when some girl put a packet of tissue on our table. We thought she was giving us tissue to use... haha... but no, she was booking that table using the tissue...

    By Blogger Nakazawa, at 8/29/2007 11:44:00 PM  

  • I had a strikingly similar experience with wishbone.

    Worse was that the canteen was packed, so the 5 of us had to squeeze in the space for 4 people (it was a circular table so it was possible to squeeze around a bit, but it was uncomfortable).

    To make it worse, the stranger ate chicken and just dropped the chicken bones on the table from his mouth (instead of on the plate so that it's easy to clear). He ate damn fast and when he was finally done, his part of the table was littered with chicken bones.

    By Blogger Hendri, at 8/30/2007 12:43:00 AM  

  • hendri, that was soooooo gross!!! What happened to table manners and table etiquette?

    By Blogger Jasmine aka paced, at 8/30/2007 01:42:00 AM  

  • paced: yes got laptop booking! Then the campus security guard was standing and guarding the laptop until the owner returned with his food, then the security guard niamed him.

    naka: you should have just taken a piece of tissue paper out from the packet =)

    hendri: canteen A? That unofficially "don't need" clear table one? =P

    paced once again =P Can't expect table manners in kopitiam and canteen lah. Can't expect people to drink soup without making sound or eat chicken rice with mouth closed =P

    By Blogger chillycraps, at 8/30/2007 06:19:00 AM  

  • Nope, it was at canteen 2. BTW, most canteens in NTU are "don't need clear tables" canteens, unfortunately.

    paced: Yes, we got quite grossed out. But then again, it could just be how they usually eat at where they come from (don't want to say where), which happens to be conflicting with our concept of table etiquette.

    By Anonymous hendri, at 8/31/2007 10:25:00 PM  

  • even at canteen A also got ppl don't clear table de leh... very contrasting to nus' canteens.

    yah i try to be objective also, don't want to say all foreigners are like that. Maybe after getting exposed to local culture for longer time they will assimilate.

    By Blogger chillycraps, at 8/31/2007 10:30:00 PM  

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