Do you think it matters where someone sits on the bus, or at a lunch table?

This will stop after you get out of middle school or high school.
Of course it’s not right. It’s immature.

Are you serious??? What kind of neighborhood do you work in?!?! First, find a different place to eat lunch. Second, take a different bus. I also take the bus to work, and I find that people mostly keep to themselves (although I’ve made a few acquaintances on the bus).

Last time I checked, bus seats did not have reserved names on them.

Tables, also, do not have reserved seats in school.

Sit where you want to and stand up for your rights.

@sydsydrox When I was in HS, this nonsense drove me nuts. I finally sat away from people on purpose.

Figure out what you want to do.
Stick to who you are.
Your true friends will remain by your side.

I would sharpen their ankles and pound them down into the ground like a wooden stake. : )

Ahh, yes, the territorial nature of people. People are actually very territorial, and I assure that you are too, simply because it is the way people work.

As an example, in my class we do not have assigned seats, yet every single person has sat in the exact same desk every single day since the absolute first day of the semester. I brought this up and they realized that they do not know why they do it, but it still continues.

This will occur every time someone follows a routine that involves them being at the same place repetitively. They pick a place and use it consistently. They assume ownership of the place because they feel like it is theirs to personally use (because that is the way they used it in the past).

So, when you sat at that table or in that bus, you probably encroached an area that the person or group had used as their own in the past. They use the place as their own, so it seems like it is their own. They felt that you were intruding on “their” space, although it is neither their space nor your space, and so they got defensive. You, feeling like you had more rights to the space (or at least enough to claim it for your use), also got defensive.

It doesn’t matter were one sits, unless someone forces one to sit somewhere for the wrong reason.

Saving a spot in the bus, next to you, for you best friend with whom you have a lot to discuss makes perfect sense.

Having to sit in the back of the bus because you are of certain… color, race, religion, gender, etceteras is beyond wrong and has no excuse.

@PhiNotPi has a good answer. Of course it does not really matter, but it’s true that repeated sitting in the same place, it begins to feel like it belongs to you. A more adult way of looking at it is to see it for what it is. Little kids say, “Mine!” when they hold a toy in nursery school. It’s for any kid to use, but possession is in their hands. The teacher says, “Learn to share.” Some older people think “Mine, mine mine!” Saving a seat for a friend on the bus is a little different. It’s more like. “I got here first and I’m saving this for someone who isn’t here yet.” It’s like saving seats in a movie theater for a group, not fair, but common. I really respect popular restaurants who won’t seat people until the whole party is there.

It doesn’t matter where you sit, but it might matter next to whom you sit. Your experience with the lousy lunch neighbors demonstrates how unpleasant certain people can be. And if it really doesn’t matter where you sit on the bus, who cares if someone else is saving a seat? You can just sit in any of the other equally good seats.

“Seat’s taken…” – school bus kid in Forrest Gump.

@PhiNotPi, the people don’t use the same seats, and that’s what makes me mad. They pick random seats (that change every day) and save them for their friend, but I understand where your coming from. Thank you all. I’m going to apply some of these ideas, maybe even @CaptainHarley‘s ;)