Seat Etiquette

I’ve been wondering this for a while now, what do you do when you’re sharing a table in a coffee shop or sitting right next to a random on public transport & another space comes up further away from said person? Do you move? Do you stay & wait until you’ve finished your meal/journey?

Don’t know why this bothers me so much but I feel like if I move it looks like I really didn’t want to be sitting with that person (which ok I might not want to) or maybe they’ve done something to annoy or disgust me & then they’ll worry about this for the rest of the day, but at the same time they might be thinking ‘why doesn’t she flipping move?!’ I know that when it’s happened to me & a stranger sat next to me on a bus & then another seat became free & they moved I’ve sat there & thought ‘humph fine be like that then’ but maybe that’s me just being over sensitive! (don’t answer that one please!).
CASE STUDY: This morning I was on the tube & it was quite busy so all the seats were taken & I sat between 2 business men with there elbows sticking out & legs spread wide (who do men have to sit like that?!), gradually more & more people got off the train & it ended up being about 4 of us all sitting right next to each other then about 5 or 6 empty seats. Now, should I have moved?! I know the others could have done as well but I was the last one to sit down in that bunch & so maybe should have moved first?! I guess we’ll never know!

Another dilemma that’s started only a few days ago is what to do if someone sits down next to you & has on really smelly perfume/aftershave/body spray? This has only become a problem since it started to get hot & I know they must think they’re saving their fellow travellers the smell of B.O by bathing in scents but it’s just as bad! At least you don’t get a headache from a sweaty pit!
CASE STUDY: I was on a jam-packed train the other day sitting down & a seat came free next to me, a bloke sat down who must have poured a bottle of aftershave over him & I immediately got a headache. I was then stuck with
a) do I get up & move away bearing in mind the train’s full so if I move I’ll have to stand up, give up my seat & leaving the guy wondering why I moved away from him?
b) stay put, try to take little shallow breaths so I don’t get a mouthful of his wiffy scent & read a book with my head hurting?
Guess which I did?! Yup, b), I suffered cos I didn’t want to hurt the guy’s feelings.

Think I’ve figured it out that this is a lost cause, I think I’ll be typically British & keep quiet, not say anything to anyone or act on anything & just moan on here!
x x x

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