Personal space

My ethnographic researcher side coming out again....

While in NYC, and Boston, I noticed that the concept of personal space, in comparison to that of LA, or the whole of California, was so much smaller.  Strangers shared tables at coffee shops, squeezed into corners, and actually sat next to each other on the public transportation. In Cali, I was taught to keep a much wider radius around me, and find whole tables that were free, and rows in buses and such that were completely empty.  I am not sure why people insist on keeping so separate here... 

So I do my homework in Starbucks often, and while I am sitting at a table, I often notice that other students come in looking for a spot, only to have to turn around and go home.  Many times that has been me.  I am a bit more persistent, though,  and will wait for an opening... and at times I have been tempted to ask for a spot at a table.  So I thought to myself, that if I ever get the opportunity to offer a spot at my table to someone, I would do.

Today, I got my chance.  It is a Sunday afternoon, and the tables are full of students, workers, and laptops.  One man came in with a laptop in his hand, and some books... There were no seats, and so I offered him a seat at my table (its actually Starbucks' table really), and he took it.  So I scooted my stuff over, he sat down... and that's it really.  Not a big deal, for me, but he got a spot, in the AC, and with a coffee.  

Maybe I am starting a sharing revolution here in Cali, one coffee shop seat at a time... probably not.