Originally Posted by
ScatterX
IMO, people's self-esteem and insecurities about eating alone is the greatest factor. For example, a coworker feels everyone is looking at her a thinking she is a loser if she would dine alone. She thinks she's a loser too. The result is she refuses to dine alone unless there is no viable alternative. She won't even get take-out if she has to walk into a public place to get it. To avoid her emotional issues in these situations, she will get room-service, pick up drive-through crap, or grab something up at grocery store and literally hide in her room where nobody can see her eating alone. It's truly sad.
I just can't imagine why some people's self-esteem is so low that they will hide in their room and eat crap rather than be seen dining alone. I see this occasionally at restaurants when people respond to the "party of one" question by cowering and meekly saying "It's just me."
Not sure self esteem is the real issue. For example, in the case of your co-worker, I can pretty much guarantee that when she was growing up, she was told "nice girls don't eat alone in public" or something similar. There used to be a stigma attached to women dining alone (in some areas/communities) because it suggested that you were a "working girl" and looking for company. I know some of my friends heard that at home, and I'm not
that old.
I, on the other hand, grew up with a dad who said "Your money is as good as anybody else's; if you don't get good service, speak up!"
FWIW I have maybe twice in my life encountered attitude for being a "party of one" and I chose not to let their attitude problem become my problem.