Eating Alone

Traveling for work - alone - at first it sounds OK - get some quiet time to veg out in a hotel room, have time for exercise with no one waiting on you - doesn't sound too bad. Then, it's dinner time and you haven't invited anyone from the plant because they would interfere with the other activities so you start to think where you want to go to eat - ALONE.

The first time I did it it was terrible, then I learned if you take a book, magazine, or even your laptop to have something to look at while you are waiting on food you don't notice the stares nearly as bad. It's much better than the alternative anyway - getting food from a fast food 'to go' type establishment and eating in the room. I refuse to eat worse on the road than I do at home so that just isn't an option, therefore I've learned to embrace dining solo. Now that I've been doing it for the past 8-10 years I've gotten pretty good at it.

I hadn't put much thought into all the dynamics that are going on in a restaurant before my last trip. I would just try to focus on whatever I'd taken with me to occupy my time and tried not to be distracted with all the hubbub around me. But, sitting there in a Chili's - I became entranced with all that was going on. The older couple in front of me that kept staring - most certainly wondering/speculating what I was doing there alone, the couple behind me that weren't happy with anything their poor waitress brought them, the table full of young girls that occupied my servers attention a little more than I would have liked (I needed a refill!), the family of 6 holding hands and praying before eating, the strange manager stalking all the tables to make sure things were running smoothly, etc...

I guess some of this is important to me because I would like to open a cafe someday, but it's also just interesting to think about. I'm always fascinated at the wide array of people you see and meet in an airport and I'm always trying to figure out their stories as I sit and wait for flights - I just didn't realize it's the same thing going to dinner. There are so many people there from so many different walks of life - some there to eat, some there to do their job. It's something I will pay more attention to in the future.