What do you guys think?

Wibbs · 14-02-2008 09:26PM

Being a grumpy old man I would have told her to Foxtrot Oscar. Actually joking aside, unless I was in one of my once a decade retiring nice guy moments I would have told her in a quiet tone; no, I've not finished eating my food which she could clearly see so if could she muster up the manners to wait until I had eaten same I would be grateful. If she pushed it then I would have told her where to go.

I had something vaguely similar recently. Having a spot of lunch on my ownsome in a coffee shop. Two seat table. Couple(irish for those interested in such things) hove into view and she asks me was I finished yet as her and her boyfriend would like to sit down. The seat was barely warm under my arse so I looked at her askance and explained quite politely that I had just sat down. Her reaction? Click of tongues and mumbled something to her boyfriend. My response to that? Excuse me do you have an issue you would like to air? She comes back with "other people would like to sit and eat". The irony. I suspected said irony would pass her by, so when faced with idiocy quiet expletives usually do the trick. At that she tried to get the boyfriend hyped up against me. Since he was the usual browbeaten chinless wonder, a few choice words in his direction stopped him cold. They ate outside in the street with scowls from her every so often.

End long winded rant.

dsmythy · 14-02-2008 09:28PM

Have to laugh at this thread about the race had nothing to do with it remarks while martial arts references go on with no generalisation rebuffs.

funloving · 15-02-2008 10:13AM

Moving to another table wasn't a big deal for you but I think you're right when you say you shouldn't have moved.
You were there having your lunch and you were entitled to eat it at the table and finish it....
The girls could easily get a chair from another table and sit all together with you without asking you if you could go eating somewhere else.

I know for sure cultures are stereotyped and Italians are seen as firy, Asian as more shy...of course this doesnt correspond to the truth because in every country you can find people with different personalities.

Blackbelt is not racist..I am his girlfriend and I am not Irish

Dyr · 15-02-2008 10:23AM

Godammit, did we loose a war or something people? This is just massively symbolic of our lot being pushed out to the margins by fordiners because theres more of them.

Those asians dont even have chairs back where they come from, they all kneel or squat. Coming over here, robbing our chairs ffs.

/drives off in taxi

15-02-2008 10:27AM

latchyco wrote: »

However, what i did find disturbing was on plonking himself down next to me, finnish and wife proceeeded to not only stare at me but was evesdroping on our converstaion in a way that might best be described as ' intrusive' (or just down right nosey ) .So after 30 odd minutes of this and in keeping my polite manner , my friend amd i moved much further away .He might just have pushed his luck if he had continued his Marty feldman look

Maybe they were hoping to improve on their understanding of english.....still annoying though.

Spud83 · 15-02-2008 10:58AM

Race-War, Race-War!!!!

Dave! · 15-02-2008 11:07AM

Seems unnecessary for them to ask you to move. If I were the Asians I would have either (a) grabbed another chair and stayed where we were, or (b) move to the bigger table.

You woulda been well within your rights to point them in the direction of the other table IMO.

pickarooney · 15-02-2008 12:35PM

funloving wrote: »

Moving to another table wasn't a big deal for you but I think you're right when you say you shouldn't have moved.
You were there having your lunch and you were entitled to eat it at the table and finish it....
The girls could easily get a chair from another table and sit all together with you without asking you if you could go eating somewhere else.

I know for sure cultures are stereotyped and Italians are seen as firy, Asian as more shy...of course this doesnt correspond to the truth because in every country you can find people with different personalities.

Blackbelt is not racist..I am his girlfriend and I am not Irish

And where were you when he was going through all this trauma alone? Probably hiding. Probably French. :mad:

Pherekydes · 15-02-2008 12:42PM

pickarooney wrote: »

And where were you when he was going through all this trauma alone?

Maybe he doesn't bring his girlfriend to college with him? Just a thought...

RxQueen · 15-02-2008 12:43PM

Slow coach wrote: »

Maybe he doesn't bring his girlfriend to college with him? Just a thought...

+1

it wasnt show and tell day

funloving · 15-02-2008 12:47PM

pickarooney wrote: »

And where were you when he was going through all this trauma alone? Probably hiding. Probably French. :mad:

I think he's allowed to ask what people think of what happened to him, even if it's not a big deal at all.
Yes..I was hiding..actually I was under the table ..that's why he got p1ssed off when they asked him to go eating somewhere else

ps: I am not French...

RxQueen · 15-02-2008 12:47PM

classy!!, god valentines theses day:rolleyes:

funloving · 15-02-2008 12:49PM

emo!! wrote: »

classy!!, god valentines theses day:rolleyes:

I hope it's clear that I am only joking....

Wossack · 15-02-2008 12:50PM

Baudelaire wrote: »

I think you were mad to move, you paid for your lunch and occupided the table first, if anything the girl should have known there wouldn't be enough seats for her friends and chose the other table. You were entitled to finish your lunch in peace.

+1 to Monkeyfudge, their nationality is irrelivant to the story

sounds to me that the girl was there first

though, that would have been irrelevant to me and would have moved anyway I think

RxQueen · 15-02-2008 12:52PM

funloving wrote: »

I hope it's clear that I am only joking....

REALLY??? never:rolleyes:

Dave! · 15-02-2008 01:06PM

emo!! wrote: »

REALLY??? never:rolleyes:

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

funloving are you Polish?

funloving · 15-02-2008 01:08PM

DaveMcG wrote: »

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

funloving are you Polish?

Why should I be Polish???

I can give you a tip...we're the champions of the World

RxQueen · 15-02-2008 01:10PM

oh oh oh oh oh oh oh i know you italian right?:cool:

MIN2511 · 15-02-2008 01:13PM

She asked if you minded? You could have said yes...

Terry · 15-02-2008 01:15PM

WindSock wrote: »

I would have moved to make way for the larger crowd. I know what it is like trying to politely reserve a large table for a crowd, it's hard to get everyone together when there are lone persons scattered about in dribs and drabs.

And you are a racialist.

MCMLXXXIII wrote: »

Maybe you could have been social and interacted with them - joined their group for a lunch.

But if not: She was there first. There were ten of them and one of you. You should have moved out of their way, you shouldn't have even taken time to think and/or make a remark, and you should have been polite about it.

Oh yeah...you are racist by nature, you can tell just by your wording of the post.

Banned.

zuutroy · 15-02-2008 01:30PM

WTF? just move chairs and forget about it forever 5 seconds later like a normal person.....

stevoman · 15-02-2008 01:31PM

TBH i would have swallowed my food and said no. whether they were black white asian or green.

I wouldnt have the neck to ask anyone eating their food to move to make way for other people, so why should i entertain.

Treat onto others as you like to be treated yourself

Tigger · 15-02-2008 01:40PM

monkeyfudge wrote: »

Then why mention the race of the people involved at all? I don't see what bearing it has on the tale.

what he said
so if we remove the nationality it becomes i was first at a table that a group wanted and one of them asked me to move

the answer i suppose would depend on how nice they were to me

io wasd on a train the other week an di wanted to sit next to my girlfriend so i nicely asked this guy to move because he was gonna end up sharing with either me or someone else i rthought he would
but he didn;'t so i sat next to him but my impression was that he could have moved so i'm gonna say you were right to move you were wrong to mention the nationality and stereotype as dara obrien (isishify) said the people of lagops are happy and horney

Peared · 15-02-2008 01:55PM

Theres no waaay I would have moved, black green or blue.

And I would have sat there with my elbows at maximum sticking-outtage daring them to encroach on my space.

I hate when people try and oust you from your spot cos if its me sitting down somewhere with people already there, Im aware that its me barging in on them and act accordingly.

blackbelt · 15-02-2008 02:52PM

Some interesting replies.I mentioned the race of the people as it was part of the overall story and it added to my surprise to be asked out straight if I could move as it was something I didn't expect.My perception of Asian people are that they are generally shy but as said previously generalisations are not always true.As somebody mentioned,that my perception was a prejudged opinion ie a stereotype which is not always bad.People tend to think of stereotypes as negative judgements but thats not necessarily true.

Anyway,the girl that was originally there was not the same girl that asked if I could move.It was another girl that arrived after me and she wasn't seated long before she asked me.

To add to the irony of it all,the group weren't eating any food from the canteen itself which was kind of rich in my opinion.

I had no problem with the aspect of the group wanting to all sit together but my gripe (if you can call it that) was the principle of disturbing somebody during their lunch.I don't think it was generally/principally polite in that regard to ask me to move even though her request was asked in a polite manner.The word "sorry" was used not "please" so it may have seemed less polite but I didn't take much attention to that given that language barriers were hard enough for them and I accepted the request as polite one and acted politely back.

I'd never even think of disturbing anybody during their lunch to ask them to move for the sake of a group especially if that person is near the end of their meal.Its bad manners,thats what I think however I'm not the type of person that would make a big deal out of it and go mad to spite them.The principle of it all annoyed me more than the sentiment.

You learn from experience and if the same thing ever happens me again,I'll be sure to politely refuse and finish my lunch.IMO there is a line between having your space and being territorial.

For instance,when I go on holidays,I never leave my towel on the sunbed by the pool.Thats just been silly.:D

claiva · 15-02-2008 03:14PM

love pigheaded's 3rd person perspectivities.
Anyhoo...back to the thread, I would have hated this to happen to me coz I would have gone bright red in the face. I would not have moved if they were not customers of the canteen. I would have moved if it was easy for me to do so and they were clearly holding trays of food from the canteen. I mean the cheek of them to interrupt you. I would never make someone feel uncomfortable like that by asking them to move, nor should the group of people in this case. The fact that the group were visitors to Ireland has a bearing because they are representing their country whilst abroad and they should demonstrate better manners. When I am abroad I am always concious that I am representing Irish people and therefore I behave with a little more consideration for others than usual. It's not racist. Racist would be saying "This group of ChXXXks of GXXXks came and took over my table".

slipss · 15-02-2008 03:31PM

blackbelt wrote: »

I was nearing the end of my meal when one of the asian girls interrupted/asked me if I could move/sit somewhere else as one of her friends didn't have a chair.

If I had of just started eating I probably would have let her have the seat because I wouldn't want her friend to have to sit on her own for her whole lunch but if I was nearly finished I would have just said so and let her wait the 5 or 10 minutes.

If I was in thier position and me and a bunch of friends were sitting at a table and someone was in a seat at the table and our freind didn't want to sit alone, I wouldn't even consider asking the person that was there first to move, you said there was loads of free seats available, I would have got up with two or three of my friends and wetn to a table with 4 or 5 available seats and sat there with the left out freind.

scaramanga · 15-02-2008 03:35PM

great bunch of lads

FruitLover · 15-02-2008 03:39PM

dsmythy wrote: »

Have to laugh at this thread about the race had nothing to do with it remarks while martial arts references go on with no generalisation rebuffs.

Have you missed the fact that the OP's username is 'blackbelt'??

claiva wrote: »

When I am abroad I am always concious that I am representing Irish people and therefore I behave with a little more consideration for others than usual. It's not racist.

I can't see what this has got to to with the topic of racism

claiva wrote: »

Racist would be saying "This group of ChXXXks of GXXXks came and took over my table".

That's just one (overt) form of racism. Prejudice that's less overt is still prejudice.

yaynay · 15-02-2008 03:49PM

prendy wrote: »

ok..your on your own and a group want the table..no big deal IMO.
id have moved if it was me.

WHAT! I can't believe people are agreeing with this complete ignorance. I would have told her to do one. As the OP stated the friends could have easily sat at the next table and the original girl move to sit beside her friends. How dare they ask the OP to move. I'm generally a polite person, but I would have made an exception in this instance.

What do you guys think?

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