A Dinner with Strangers

It was a dinner I will never forget and I would love to have again.

I had just finished my last class and had to get some shopping done so I went to a nearby mall. After I finished shopping, it was around 5 p.m. I decided to have an early dinner before I head back to my apartment which was a bus journey away. So I had McDonald's.

The McDonald's I went to was packed. I was lucky enough to find myself a seat. I saw the most strangest thing ever to me when I was having my dinner. A man with a luggage was eating his meal while standing. I thought to myself, "How odd..." I looked around and found that every table was occupied with at least one person. Now, I had some free seats, but I didn't approach him immediately. I was thinking of how funny it was to see the man eat like that. "Why don't you just ask for a seat?" I thought to myself. I was fascinated by his hesitance to ask for a seat. I stared at him and when we made eye contact, I stood up and gestured to the empty seats with a smile.

The man was shy. He thanked me and sat down. I gave him a smile. I was thinking about his behavior earlier and I just couldn't help myself but to smile. He found it odd for me to be smiling, it was written on his face. I didn't know what he was thinking, but he seemed to be enjoying his meal. 

We didn't exchanged a single word after he thanked me for the seat. But I had enjoyed that dinner. I found that encounter sort of strange, but it did leave me in a good mood, and I do crazy things when I'm in a good mood. I decided not to go home just yet. I wanted to stay a bit longer at that McDonald's. So, I stared at everyone that seemed to have trouble finding a seat. I found their reactions funny. I smiled and giggled the entire evening. They would notice me staring, for some reason, and when we made eye contact, I would gesture to the empty seats on my table. It didn't take long to fill up the empty seats. What happens next was even more interesting.

I had just gathered a bunch of strangers to seat with me at a McDonald's. They all noticed that I had finished my meal, but neither anyone of them said a thing. They simply smiled, nodding their heads. The only words we exchanged that evening were "Thank you" and "Your welcome". The people I sat with were not students. I could tell they were either retired, tourists, or they had just finished work. But they seem to be hesitant to ask for a place to seat from a fellow human being. 

Do we have a law that will punish us if we approach strangers or do we have an unwritten rule that prevents us from approaching strangers? Whatever the case, here is what I think. I would definitely want to do that again.

I would have never thought that dining with strangers would bring me so much joy and a sense of contribution and fulfillment. I guessed we don't need a lot to help others. Sometimes we just need to give seats to strangers in an overcrowded McDonald's.