apart from eating alone in restaurants, the no smoking law made it virtually impossible for me to enjoy eating out. Relaxing after the main course with a beer and a smoke - it's all gone. Hate it.

Brave enough?? Who put the thought into your head that you should be too cowardly to do it?

Whats wrong with this? I do this all the time. I love to spend time with myself, so I often go on long drives and eat in restaurants alone. Some of my friends, and friends of my younger bro find it weird, but I don't care. Time spent with your own self is the best time.

You're talking about bausch, GFY's own self loathing basket case. I've never seen the guy post anything other than how depressed he is. In fact that's the only thing I know about him.

Im pretty sure its a chick...never known a guy to be that neurotic.

Ive eaten at very nice places by myself, even gone to movies by myself...if you spend your days worrying about how it looks to a bunch of people you will never see again then you got other issues to worry about.

Yes I do it all the time ... I like to just chill and relax..

I've done it before, and yes i would do it again...

I love you.

Which personality disorder forums do you frequent?

ABSOLUTELY! I'm leaving Thursday for Cuba alone for a week! It's better to be alone than in bad company :winkwink: Besides I make friends very easily!

I go places all the time by myself, and a lot of times prefer it.

Nothing ruins my trips to furniture or electronics buying like some nagging woman in my ear.

Dinner is the same. I eat where I want, when I want. That is the freedom of life. I do not give a fuck what others think about me. As someone else mentioned above...

Someone I have never met.
Will probably never see again.
Do not give a flying fuck about..

Who cares what they think?



If you worry about what others think of you, then you are in the wrong industry to begin with.
:2 cents: :2 cents:

i've never gone to a movie by myself... but i've certainly eaten at very nice places alone. though it's true that i'm usually traveling when this happens. and if i'm alone, it's also true that i'm either reading the paper, or on wifi. i get bored easily :)

I've spent most of my life(last 20 yrs. totally) travelling, living in hotels doing systems consulting work.

I like nice food(chateaubriand, etc), nice wines, and eat in high-end places all the time. I also like people watching, and I flirt like mad.

I even convinced one 5* place to change their menus, because a lot of their nicer stuff was for "2". They were attached to a business hotel with about 3000 rooms, mostly with single travelers.

Why not,i eat so many times alone,its kinda normal now,lol

i second this

i can't sit anywhere without having something to read or so

I used to do it all the time but I always have a book or a magazine with me. Not because of "needing" the distraction its just something that I really enjoy doing. I read while eating whenever I am by myself whether out or at home.

lunchtime - no problem, many office people do it

running into a burning building to save someone takes bravery. Eating alone just takes not focusing on yourself.

I wonder where all you single diners are because I have NEVER seen someone eat alone in a 4 or 5 diamond restaurant in the dining area. Most single diners will sit at the bar. Why? Beacuse it's fuckin' awkward to dine alone and part of the experience of a nice restaurant is enjoying it with someone else.

I live on a street in Montreal where's it's only nice restaurants. I eat out once in a while by myself, depending on the daily specials ;-)

been considering ruth chris in just that circumstance..

Ruth Chris isn't a nice restaurant; it's a chain for fat tards who think they're too good for Red Lobster.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Um, wow.

There are a lot of people in this thread who think there are some kinda society 'rules' we are too follow, or so worried about what complete strangers think of you and your 1 hour in some restaurant that you let it dictate your actions, habits, and choices.

Worrying about what you think, they are thinking, and feeling for some long stranger in some place for an hour, and blah blah blah. Yet some of you peddle porn.

I can only imagine the kind of neurotic creeper you are in your daily life...

Sure,I don't see a problem with it

I don't have a problem with eating alone, but I prefer to eat with someone, specially when I go to nice restaurant.

Some people really have a major hangup about eating alone. This one nurse I once worked with years ago thought it was absolutely sad and pathetic that anyone should eat alone. Seeing a movie at a theatre alone? Forget it. To her it was just weird. Even heading outside of work on a nice day and eating lunch alone on the lawn freaked her out. And there was no reasoning with her either. If you ate alone she felt sorry for you and couldn't fathom why people do it.

Bausch reminds me of that nurse.

I feel sorry for the creepers who think like the nurse. They are dependent on others for happiness.

When you think about it, people being concerned with what others think is the downfall to American society. All the way from, people buying 20" rims for their '88 caprice classic, to corporations stuffing the books to impress shareholders.

Unshackle your mind!

perhaps this one

http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/...t-alone-38039/

some VERY interesting posts there... :arcadefre

I have no problem with that.

I seriously think there's major discrimination against people who enjoy solitude. Think about it; the majority of people judge those of us who enjoy activities alone as though we're deviants. If you enjoy sex alone, you're a deviant. If you enjoy eating out or going to movies alone, you're "missing the whole point!" Society tells us that being alone is unhealthy. The message is that healthy people prefer to be with other people all the time except when they go poop!

This is part of the bullshit that makes the porn industry such a maligned business: because we can't believe it's healthy for someone to enjoy solo sex. It's a totally fucked up attitude.

I totally resent the assumption that spending time with people is more pleasurable and comfortable than spending time alone and that anyone who doesn't think so is somehow broken. Stupid people and their stupid codependent bullshit.

I have gone to eat sushi at some nice places alone because I just wanted to enjoy the meal myself...

good points Trixie, it is almost like the people that have gotten sucked in to the slavery and no freedom of marriage and kids resent and want to impose restrictions (even just in marginalizing them in thought) on those that are smart enough to stay free

I think it can happen in some cases that single people end up feeling bad and might get in a relationship due to the constant pressure from others in making it out to be strange or weird to want to stay single :2 cents:

Completely agree.

It is one of the reasons I have no intention of ever getting married. I enjoy my down time. I enjoy being able to take a drive, get this, BECAUSE I FUCKING WANT TO, at 2 a.m.. Or countless other things where I do not have to give a reason why. I just want to.

When I have time to myself. My mood is consistent most of the time. I do not have to listen to, or conform to, others needs. Or play the whole conversation game.

I am secure in who I am. What I like. I do not need the acceptance of others to make me happy.

Every time I see a guy eating sushi "alone", he is at the bar talking to the chef, showing off what he considers to be his superior sushi knowledge and willingness to try new things. Less like eating alone and more like getting a food "girlfriend experience".

:thumbsup

I'm not scared of eating alone, I just simply wouldn't enjoy it by myself. If I want solitude I will get it to go or fix myself dinner at home. Seems completely screwy to praise solitude but go to a busy restaurant, unless you have such a busy household that it's the only place you can escape. In which case I can still think of better places.

I think often the people that come into restaurants alone are actually looking for company. But then again my only serving experience is Hooters, so I'm probably biased.

I don't mind eating alone sometimes. It's good to get away from other people and just be inside your own head every once in a while. But it also helps that I grew up an only child so I know how to entertain myself.

I feel insecure when I do it, but it's actually been a "to-do" on my Life Coaching/Time Management list.

I never relax... and I'm always thinking about work... so my life coach wants me to set time aside during the week to do lunch by myself and a movie by myself.. (I'm a chick too, 24, bbw, so insecure).... and it's been hard.... because in my head everyone is thinking, "OMG look at the fat chick eating by herself..."

but honestly, short of young, teeny bopper cheerleader types giving me the "pity" look.. Honestly, no one with a brain really cares if you are at the movies or eating alone.

I usually do the expensive, oil man steak house here in Houston by myself at lunch here or there... The waiters/waitresses are uber nice. Sometimes the oilman assholes don't like a little BBW in Nike pants and t-shirt at their nice-ass steakhouse.. lol but oh well.

Grow a pair :)

with a book or a laptop, sure! Just by myself, no accoutrements... no way!

For me I cook almost all of the time. When I go to a restaurant I am not going for company (with someone or solo). I am going to a restaurant so that I do not have to cook, I can be served, order what I want with no hassles (typically something that's a pain to make at home), and of course not have to clean up etc.

Then better of fine restaurants just typically have better food or at least foods that are a pain in the ass to make at home by taking up shitloads of time. Not to mention that odds are in my favor that the Nice french place is much less busy than say Olive garden or red lobster (which is often full of couples and families doing their version of fine dining). The little French place typically would have many more tables open and such - often just because of the price etc. and the waitresses and staff are typically happy to get as many as possible. Especially if you are OK with eating between 5 and 8pm.

Now after some thought I could see it as weird or awkward if you booked a table at a fine restaurant for just yourself and it was say valentines day or something. Then I do think you would be going out of your way to mess with society rules or whatever - not to mention just taking up space at some place.

If you want to eat alone at a nice restaurant, and you aren't out of town, do it during breakfast or lunch.

Doing it during a busy dinner time at a Ruth Chris's or better restaurant does look pathetic. Not that you should care, but what's the friggin' point of even going there?

It's like pulling down your pants and scratching your ass in public, sure you could do it, but why?

Eating food out of a box that's gotten cold on the way home is not the same as having it brought to you hot on a nice plate, and like aftershock said you go to a restaurant to be served, relax while someone ELSE does the cooking and cleanup, make food you don't have the skill to cook or time to shop for, etc.

Even in a busy restaurant the other people you aren't interacting with are just background noise or maybe something entertaining to eavesdrop on, stare at, etc. There is other ambiance you can't get at home or in a hotel room and it's nice just to get out of the house.

I get that a lot of people are more social than I am and I don't think they should enjoy something like eating alone just because I do; what I don't get are people who totally cannot fathom it being any other way.

Yes, I could manage to eat alone.

Good luck and congratulations with that; I do think it's harder for women, and especially women society is in the nasty habit of judging superficially, to not feel like they're being judged and/or to not give a fuck even if they are. As this thread demonstrates, a lot of people *do* judge other people who eat alone so having additional factors like gender and weight to add to the "alone" thing probably makes it a lot harder than it would be for, say, a fat man. When people see men alone they assume they're away from home on business. When people see women alone they assume they have no one to keep them company. Men are supposed to work and get away from those pesky wimmin and all their jawin. while women are supposed to socialize, shop, raise kids, and attract life-long mates!

I want a coach too!

Why should I be nervous about that? It's silly.

Some people are single and/or may not have any friends available to eat with... Should they be forced to eat McDonalds just because they don't have someone to go with?

I agree with this... It seems that there is a difference between how men and women dining alone are perceived.