Empty Seats
A waiting room full of chairs and every other one is empty.
I'm currently sitting at a car dealership because apparently there is an acceptable amount of oil to burn in a 3 year old car, and I'm beyond that. Which is maybe a topic for another day.
There are 6 seats in the waiting room for the service department and a few more scattered around the sales floor. At this moment, there are at least 6 people waiting for their car to be serviced or diagnosed or whatever magic happens behind those doors.
Only 3 of the seats in the waiting room are being used. The remaining patient masses have migrated throughout the sales floor. Every other chair is empty.
It's Weird to Sit, Weirder to Watch
I've been slowly watching people trickle in and out and every one of them has gone through a similar process. They walk in, see the waiting area, check in with the service advisor, and then face the waiting area. They then make a calculation as to where they should sit and, if they have to sit next to someone, who they would be willing to sit next to. They either take the one open seat or they wander into the aforementioned wasteland of a sales floor to see if there's something there.
They find their chair and they pull out their phone or laptop, put in their headphones, and disappear.
Could that same task have been accomplished in the seat next to me or the other two people sitting here? Probably.
Did I do the same calculus when I walked into the room? Absolutely.
Cultured Like Yogurt
I've been fortunate enough to do a fair bit of traveling for work and I've seen this happen time and time again. If you board a train in any major city with functioning public transit, people will make the same calculation.
If the train is full, they will sit wherever they fit. If the train is empty, they will go out of their way to sit by themselves.
Again, pulling out their phone or laptop, putting in their headphones, and disappearing into their own mental space.
Is there anything inherently wrong with sitting next to someone? Does that wrongness go away based on capacity and utilization?
I don't know.
But it seemed too weird to not call out.