For To Go, please

As of date, there are only two people I know who are comfortable with eating out alone. These two people are myself and a colleague of mine’s. Everyone else I know is super uncomfortable or sh*t scared to eat out alone and I get it. Well, sort of anyway. I get it because you’re expected to be with a friend, significant other, family member or just someone. What I don’t and won’t ever get though is that need to be with someone when one is hungry. With food being one of our core needs, I find it unnecessary for people to prioritize their hunger behind not looking like a loner.

Because guess what? Eating alone does not make you a loner.

I still remember the time I was in a pho joint as a high schooler. Everyone was dining with someone. Everyone save for one male customer, that is. I remember both my mom and I saying how it was great that he was here eating on his own. Neither my mom nor I found him to be a loner. In fact, I found him to be both confident and attractive, two traits stereotypically not associated with that of loners.

If I was able to find the man to be confident for eating alone, then why is it so hard for society to view lone eaters in the same light?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen servers act different just because I’m there to eat alone. It’s like they all made unfounded judgments of me simply because I was alone. My worst experience would have to be from a KoreAm server (female), though as she was treating me like a suspicious person. (FYI: I had eaten a bit, gone to the bathroom, left one of my items to save my seat only to be told by my server that she thought I had left. TF. Rude as heck and I didn’t even stay in the restroom long as I had only gone in there to pee! It was obvious that she thought I would leave without paying. What a b*tch.)