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Who goes to places by themselves? Bars etc.

Gator24765

Gator24765

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 13, 2009
781
3
Texas
Do any of you go to places by yourself; and by places I mean like bars restaurants etc.. Not grocery stores fast food etc.


I am not the type to just go to a sports bar by myself and watch the game..
 
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I like to drink alone, at home or in a small quiet bar. But I can't say many people understand this.

I feel uncomfortable when having dinner alone in a restaurant, which I occasionally do when traveling alone for business and such. But I'm not sure if this is entirely cultural (i.e., an acquired thing) or human nature has something to do with it.
 
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I go to restaurants alone when I'm away on business, but I hate it. I don't want to get fast food though, since the hospital pays for everything and I hate the idea of doing something I hate (going away) and "rewarding" myself with free fast food. :p


Otherwise, I don't mind going to some restaurants and cafes alone. Melbourne is full of incredible cafes (which are like restaurants around here) and restaurants, and many of them are friendly places to go to alone. The ones that are OK usually have large common tables with long benches (like picnic tables) or/and bar tables and stools, and perhaps lots of magazines and newspapers. I live in a hipster neighbourhood that's also filled with old spinster. :p

However, most places would weird me out if I went alone. :eek:


EDIT: One more thing. Every Saturday at ~11 AM, I go to a cafe and eat lunch, drink fantastic coffee, and read the car section of the newspaper. Sometimes I'll read another section, but that's only if I stay for over 90 minutes. ;) Living in the city is awesome!!!
 
I go to bars and restaurants alone fairly frequently, but this because of my job more than anything else. I typically sit at the bar if I can and strike up a conversation if the nearby people are willing.
 
LumbermanSVO said:
I go to bars and restaurants alone fairly frequently, but this because of my job more than anything else. I typically sit at the bar if I can and strike up a conversation if the nearby people are willing.
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I'm in the same boat. If there's a bar, I'll eat my meal there.
 
If i'm alone I get food to go. But I would have no problem eating out alone. Although two makes it much better! :D
 
I go to movies alone quite a bit. I will usually go in the middle of the day or late afternoon. I actually find it nicer to go alone than with others.
 
It's rare for me to eat alone or go to some places by myself. However, there are times when the other person(s) weren't there yet or they weren't eating, so I'm forced to eat alone. In times like these I always have some sort of "alone companion", something I learned from Sex And The City. Haha. Basically, it can be you reading the newspaper, a book, studying, etc and making that to look first priority than eating. It kind of works, people would think, "oh he's alone coz he needs to do something important by himself, not because he's a loner."

For movies, for night time, never. If it's an early matinee prior to 12noon, then I would go and see a movie. This time there are usually a lot of single people watching and not many people are there.
 
I have more days of than I work due to only doing 3 12 hour shifts. So I find myself having much more free time than my friends. While I try to find people to go out with, sometimes I can't. Doesn't bother me in the bit. Can read a newspaper, study or do nothing.
 
I often go out alone, no problem. I think I had an issue doing this in my twenties when I was a little more concerned with how it appeared. Now that I realize most people don't really care, I can enjoy a nice quiet dinner to myself.
 
I've gone to many many concerts by myself. I've never had many friends so it was either go by myself or miss the concert. About a year and a half ago, I bought two tickets online thinking I may find someone to go to the concert with, didn't and this time, didn't feel like going alone so I didn't go.
 
Gator24765 said:
Do any of you go to places by yourself; and by places I mean like bars restaurants etc.. Not grocery stores fast food etc.


I am not the type to just go to a sports bar by myself and watch the game..
Click to expand...

I have

usually meet cool people too

I try and not let my friends' availability affect what I want to do

As far as how it feels, sometimes it's nice to be on your schedule vs others. But I will say it's nice going with buds all the time too.

I am glad I can be comfortable being by myself or with people.
 
Sports bars are easy to go alone as most people are not there to hook up but just watch the game and talk sports. Nightclubs while not really my scene are usually group activities.
 
If I didn't go out by myself, I'd rarely go out. Hence, I go by myself to bars, restaurants, concerts, the movies, etc. fairly frequently. It's nice to have friends with me on occasion, but I'm an introvert and crave an inordinate amount of alone time to recharge, so in many cases I actually prefer it.

I'm a bit of a foodie and most of my friends don't share that taste, so I try new places by myself often. I have different tastes in films than my friends, so I go to movies alone (it's to the point where I almost refuse to go with people any more...they drive me insane and I just want to concentrate; it's not a social situation to begin with). I've met some great people and have learned not to worry about how it might look.
 
I almost bought an annual ticket for a nearby cinema that I used to pass on my way home from university. Plan was to watch a film a week on my own (since I travelled home alone) but that just never materialised.

I've never gone to the cinema or a restaurant on my own, I have eaten fast food alone but I just imagine every looking at me, burning through me with their judgements. Luckily my girlfriend and I share the same hobbies, likes and dislikes. Otherwise I'd have to go on my own since my friends are mostly spoons!
 
I used to travel for work, I frequently was alone at bars and restaurants. I got used to it, but never really liked it.

Now I'm retired am I never go out alone anymore, sometimes I find myself thinking about the solo tour. :(
 
Back in Canada I'd mostly only go out with friends, but in the last 7 months of traveling through Europe and being in Melbourne, I would redefine what that means to go out solo. When I was in Italian school in Italy or staying in hostels in Europe, there were usually other students or hostelers up for going out as well. Some were friends, and many were new acquaintances. And once you're mainly hanging out with new acquaintances, it's not all that different to go out on your own, chat up others, and then hang out with them for the afternoon or evening. Its no big deal to just ask someone else eating alone if they'd like the company. It's only 15-30 minutes anyway.

I think that when you're in a new locale it's not so bad to go out solo, but when you've been in a place for quite a while, there is more expectation that you'll be accompanied. For anyone out solo, I'd recommend when people inevitably ask you if you're there alone, to cheerfully respond that you are. Whenever I wanted to go out to places that were a bit financially out of reach of my fellow backpackers, I went solo, and people generally found that fearlessness as a good quality. But I communicated it in a positive way, not as a tale of woe. And focus more on platonically chatting to both men and women. There are usually a lot of other people out solo, who'd like some stress-free conversation.
 
fun173 said:
If i'm alone I get food to go. But I would have no problem eating out alone. Although two makes it much better! :D
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I often eat out when I'm with my girlfriend, although I don't usually go to dinner... :p

But yeah I go out on my own sometimes, but usually to places like the cinema where you don't really need someone else with you to enjoy the experience anyway.
 
Of course, there's nothing wrong with going out solo. Don't let the idea hold you back.

My college apartment is above a nicer bar with an in house microbrewery, so I'll usually have a drink or two at the end of the day a few times a week. When I transferred here if I had a problem with going there alone, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to meet a lot of good people.

Not to mention that there's an enjoyable kind of vibe to going out alone in and of it self. Especially if say, you're just reading a book or newspaper and enjoying your breakfast at a favorite place to eat for example. I think there's something oddly satisfying in that experience.
 
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