On eating out alone • Hacker News Board

Re: On eating out alone

#101

Post by soco » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 8:34 PM UTC

paulryanrogers wrote: post #90

hbn wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get why going to movies is seen as a thing you should do with your friends. You're not supposed to be talking during it, and if you are, you're annoying everyone around you. Unless the plan is to go to the movie and then get a meal at which point you can discuss it after. But otherwise, I pretty much only go to movies alone.

Friends and I often went to a less expensive cinema in a lower income neighborhood. The culture there was to react loudly and whisper amongst the neighboring seats. No one felt cheated since tickets were $1 each and movies had been out for a while. Good times. Now people spend $20+ per seat.

You should go watching a Bollywood production in a cinema in India. Now that's the communal experience.

Re: On eating out alone

#102

Post by listenallyall » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 8:44 PM UTC

listenallyall wrote: post #83

jakey_bakey wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting the disparity in our experiences. I absolutely relish the chance to have an hour entirely to myself, get a nice meal without cleaning up after, have a beer or two, watch Netflix! I also used to be a consultant, so there's that...

This is a pretty tone-deaf response. If you rarely get an hour alone, that means you're around others all the time, most likely a family and some good friends. While the poster you responded to is a solitary, lonely person. For you, dining alone is a respite, for him it is an amplification of his loneliness. Your inability to conceive of such a person and your brushing aside of his feelings is the exact thing that ma…

jakey_bakey to a homeless person: "Why so down? I absolutely relish the chance to go camping, sleep outdoors, cook a meal over a real fire. Isn't it interesting the disparity in our experiences?"

Re: On eating out alone

#103

Post by trevorishere » Mon, Sep 19, 2022, 3:18 AM UTC

bergenty wrote: post #95

trevorishere wrote: post #6

Eating out alone really hurts. It makes you feel that much more _alone_ because nearly everyone else is with their SO, a party, friend, etc. Bringing a phone is only a distraction to get through waiting for the meal to arrive. I dislike it more than being alone at home.

I don’t understand this perspective at all. Being alone is fantastic. I’m going to hazard a guess that you’ve never been in a relationship and so are effectively forced to spend time alone which at this point is associated with painful feelings for you.

I was in a relationship for 18 years.