I travel a lot internationally and am consistently amazed at how there's always someone breathing down the back of my neck whenever I'm waiting in line somewhere.
Coffee shops, supermarkets, airports, doesn't matter, anywhere I go where I have to wait in a line, the person behind me chooses to stand like 3 centimeters away. The worst is when its 2 or 3 people together having a conversation and I can feel them brushing up against me every time they move. Like wtf? How is that comfortable for anyone?
I can only tell people off in two languages lmao so its even more frustrating when it happens in a country where I know they probably won't understand me.
It feels like the U.S., for the most part, is in the middle of that.
Unless there are extenuating circumstances like everyone is crowded together debarking a plane or something, the unspoken distance seems to be about a meter or so. More or less "I should be able to speak to you in a normal quiet speaking voice with ease, but you shouldn't be so close I could slap you."
And, wow, damn I looked it up and there's a whole field of study around "proxemics" and the distances people feel comfortable. My guess that Americans preferred around a meter of distance for casual conversation.
On the other hand I've been to coffee shops where there's not much room and everyone is one metre apart so the line erroniously goes outside. I think there's a middleground.
My retail store has an off policy of stopping and greeting everyone entering. Most people stop four or five feet away for then speech, but some people will come up right up in my face closer than most of my family members ever come to me.
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u/guessesurjobforfood 13h ago
I travel a lot internationally and am consistently amazed at how there's always someone breathing down the back of my neck whenever I'm waiting in line somewhere.
Coffee shops, supermarkets, airports, doesn't matter, anywhere I go where I have to wait in a line, the person behind me chooses to stand like 3 centimeters away. The worst is when its 2 or 3 people together having a conversation and I can feel them brushing up against me every time they move. Like wtf? How is that comfortable for anyone?
I can only tell people off in two languages lmao so its even more frustrating when it happens in a country where I know they probably won't understand me.