Do you feel ill at ease going certain places yourself?

[DeltaEdge]

I pretty much hated going anywhere with people alone, but recently, I've been forcing myself to get out, so now I feel like I have managed to become more or less comfortable being in public, and no longer feel like every single person within viewing distance is staring at me and judging me/laughing at me.
Also, I wouldn't go to any of these in the first place, but things like parties, bars and clubs would be quite awkward for me to go to alone, or really, in a group as well because those kinds of places are not where I want to be, unless by party, you mean video game party/LAN party/birthday party with your friends in the basement eating junk food and playing Smash Bros. or something of that sort.

 

[Headsprouter]

Hmmm...I've always wanted to try going to the movies alone...I've been to McDonalds alone when there was a good lot of people there, that sucks, but I'm sure I'd love it if there was no prying eyes, I'd always pick the most secluded spot.

I love to walk alone, nobody I know gets that...

 

[Charli]

I'm [sub]female*[/sub] so...yeah obviously I have an entire list, pages long of places I couldn't go by myself safely. (And in sound of mind)

But the irony being I am much more comfortable by myself... So my alone time pretty much has to be confined to my room.

I'd love to be able to go out to places by myself. But I'd probably need to get some kind of hand to hand combat training and/or protection before I'd be allowed to consider it by those I hang around.


So I have a conflict of interest/ability. I personally have no problem doing the kind of stuff you say alone.

...But I can't.

The most I can do alone is go to a crowded shop. And I don't like shopping. Like...at all. If I want something bought I go there...and buy it, and come back. There is no joy in it for me, I always know my budget, I don't like overspending and window shopping is the very essence of frivolous ways to loose money.

[sub]*Start a sexism argument over this and I will find and end you.[/sub]

 

[Yopaz]

I don't get the mcdonalds one though, you just go in for a sec to get food. Do you also feel awkward grocery shopping?

I meant specifically eating there. There are usually a lot of parents and kids around together, so I just feel out of place sitting around eating my big mac or whatever.

I mean to some extent, I shouldn't. It's fucking Mcdonald's, but still XD

I'm right there with you. I just feel awkward. I don't think I have ever eaten McDonalds without being with someone, not even ordering something to go.

I don't go to the movies or any kind of restaurant alone with two exceptions. I once went to a restaurant because I had a coupon for free breakfast (I had the best BLT ever) and I did see The Dark Knight Rises alone.

I can't really explain the movies. I won't talk during it nor will my friends, but it just doesn't feel right. When it comes to restaurants it's more that you can actually be seen by people and I get the impression that I am being judged for going there alone. I bet practically no-one cares though. Still that is what keeps me from testing out the Chinese restaurant that my building shares parking lot with... well, I'm also concerned about the quality of their food...

 

[lacktheknack]

I prefer to be alone in most of my entertainment outings.

Restaurants are an exception, but I have no qualms of eating alone. Maybe a hopeless romantic will write a book about the frowny guy they saw sitting at Ricky's Bar and Restaurant all alone. That would be funny.

I will say that, as a rather tall and wide guy, I feel extremely out of place and awkward when around a large group of short people (especially kids). One time, I was waiting for a bus and there were about ten kids milling around waiting for it as well, and the bus driver asked me if I was OK because I was so red in the face.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm [sub]female*[/sub] so...yeah obviously I have an entire list, pages long of places I couldn't go by myself safely. (And in sound of mind)

But the irony being I am much more comfortable by myself... So my alone time pretty much has to be confined to my room.

I'd love to be able to go out to places by myself. But I'd probably need to get some kind of hand to hand combat training and/or protection before I'd be allowed to consider it by those I hang around.


So I have a conflict of interest/ability. I personally have no problem doing the kind of stuff you say alone.

...But I can't.

The most I can do alone is go to a crowded shop. And I don't like shopping. Like...at all. If I want something bought I go there...and buy it, and come back. There is no joy in it for me, I always know my budget, I don't like overspending and window shopping is the very essence of frivolous ways to loose money.

[sub]*Start a sexism argument over this and I will find and end you.[/sub]

Maybe you should learn the hand-to-hand combat for no other reason than the fact that it's fun.

 

[Charli]

I'm [sub]female*[/sub] so...yeah obviously I have an entire list, pages long of places I couldn't go by myself safely. (And in sound of mind)

But the irony being I am much more comfortable by myself... So my alone time pretty much has to be confined to my room.

I'd love to be able to go out to places by myself. But I'd probably need to get some kind of hand to hand combat training and/or protection before I'd be allowed to consider it by those I hang around.


So I have a conflict of interest/ability. I personally have no problem doing the kind of stuff you say alone.

...But I can't.

The most I can do alone is go to a crowded shop. And I don't like shopping. Like...at all. If I want something bought I go there...and buy it, and come back. There is no joy in it for me, I always know my budget, I don't like overspending and window shopping is the very essence of frivolous ways to loose money.

[sub]*Start a sexism argument over this and I will find and end you.[/sub]

Maybe you should learn the hand-to-hand combat for no other reason than the fact that it's fun.

Of that I've no doubt! I just have my hand's extremely full of things I need to do right now. The only reason I post with any regularity on the Escapist is because my work benefits from keeping up to date with gaming news here. And having two screens this is my little break.

If I could find classes that offered this in South East England on a Sunday evening... then I might consider it a possibility. But they're severely lacking where I live.

I keep fairly in shape and I know a few basic disarm movements, but... again being female I am always going to be at a strength disadvantage. Hell in school I was known for being stronger than average, being able to pin guys my size to the floor during some of the sessions. But I don't know the breadth of my abilities anymore, it's been quite a few years. I am very much exclusively a bedroom nerd now and my family ALWAYS get on my case for being too reclusive even when out, despite it being most comfortable for me.

 

[-Seraph-]

I'm fine going to the movies by myself, though I tend to go with my friend if they are willing. Yea we don't talk all that much during the film (will whisper a few comments from time to time), but it's always fun to discuss the film afterwards.

Most places that are more suited for a group type of thing does feel kind of awkward by myself. Eating at restaurants, bars, clubs, and just social type events/ places just feel kind of boring and awkward by myself. It just feels even more off because in the restaurant case, I am done eating and out the door in no time because I have no reason to dwell there for any reasonable amount of time as I would if I had someone there to converse with. So it comes off more like business than it does as some pleasurable outing and just makes me more inclined to just get take out instead.

I certainly don't mind being alone and venturing to places by myself, I'm a pretty big introvert anyways. But any sociable or group style setting feels lacking and a waste of my time if I'm by myself, just feel rather out of place.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I never eat at restaurants or see movies by myself. It just feels too awkward to be alone. Shopping I prefer to do alone. I know exactly what I'm there for and try get in and out as quickly as possible. The downside is I always feel like the employees are thinking I'm going to shoplift or something. I dunno what's wrong with me.

 

[Feraswondervahnn]

Pubs. I'd say clubs as well but you wouldn't find me in one. I hate the idea of going to a pub alone. I don't mind if it's the local, but any other pub, even if it's just to get there and wait for others I can't stand it. I just sit outside with a beer chain smoking until people arrive.

Hospitals. I hate hospitals. No other reason ha ha.

I'd happily go to the cinema or a restaurant alone though. In fact they are places I'd rather be on my own.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm [sub]female*[/sub] so...yeah obviously I have an entire list, pages long of places I couldn't go by myself safely. (And in sound of mind)

But the irony being I am much more comfortable by myself... So my alone time pretty much has to be confined to my room.

I'd love to be able to go out to places by myself. But I'd probably need to get some kind of hand to hand combat training and/or protection before I'd be allowed to consider it by those I hang around.


So I have a conflict of interest/ability. I personally have no problem doing the kind of stuff you say alone.

...But I can't.

The most I can do alone is go to a crowded shop. And I don't like shopping. Like...at all. If I want something bought I go there...and buy it, and come back. There is no joy in it for me, I always know my budget, I don't like overspending and window shopping is the very essence of frivolous ways to loose money.

[sub]*Start a sexism argument over this and I will find and end you.[/sub]

Maybe you should learn the hand-to-hand combat for no other reason than the fact that it's fun.

Of that I've no doubt! I just have my hand's extremely full of things I need to do right now. The only reason I post with any regularity on the Escapist is because my work benefits from keeping up to date with gaming news here. And having two screens this is my little break.

If I could find classes that offered this in South East England on a Sunday evening... then I might consider it a possibility. But they're severely lacking where I live.

I keep fairly in shape and I know a few basic disarm movements, but... again being female I am always going to be at a strength disadvantage. Hell in school I was known for being stronger than average, being able to pin guys my size to the floor during some of the sessions. But I don't know the breadth of my abilities anymore, it's been quite a few years. I am very much exclusively a bedroom nerd now and my family ALWAYS get on my case for being too reclusive even when out, despite it being most comfortable for me.

That smarts. D:

Good luck, though, maybe an insane dojo will open and you'll be the subject of a badass underdog-karate movie one day.

 

[Trivun]

Work, oddly enough. Not because I don't enjoy the job, or my colleagues, it's just that the offices we're based out of are owned by our client, and happen to be in an old factory building that looks from the outside like a Victorian school but was used as a factory back in the world wars. The offices themselves are mostly fairly modern, but the corridors and everything are pretty creepy on their own, they have a tendency to be cold (mostly because it's an old crappy building with bad heating systems), and we suspect that the building is haunted.

I don't actually believe in ghosts myself, but there have been anecdotes from some of my colleagues, and one of the rooms is usually booked once a month or so by a group of priests, who my old boss (before he left) joked looked like a bunch of exorcists. The ghost is apparently Lady Owen (the building itself is called Rubery Owen, it's actually got it's own Wikipedia page) and is the late wife of the building owner, Mr Owen, who does still work there (he has an office that is literally filled with tall stacks of decaying paper to the point he's had to make a path through it from his desk to his door). She used to make sure all the office doors were locked before she passed on, and the stories I've heard are of people hearing footsteps and the doors rattle as if someone's checking they're properly locked. The rattling and footsteps have always stopped when someone has just mentioned that it's only Lady Owen, it's alright.

I've never had an experience myself though, but even so since I first heard all this I always feel a little uneasy if I'm on my own in the office or in the corridors anywhere...

 

[Miss G.]

...Personally I find it really awkward to go to a restaurant or the movies by myself.

I'm not entirely sure why.

I tend to miss a lot of movies in the movie theaters I would otherwise have seen there instead of on DVD.

Even McDonald's I just tend to use the drive through or get things to go.

Pretty much this, in those specific places, because of that feeling of being under a microscope in a restaurant alone, and in the case of going alone to the movies, because of full-on anxiety attacks. Oddly enough these attacks are rather random (I've had a few small ones and one major one just from replying to a post or two, on this forum) as they haven't happened at the zoo or the Japanese gardens or other places with a bunch of people I have to go, like school, work, or the (grocery) store.

 

[yeti585]

I don't mind going to fast food places by myself. But, I most restaurants I wouldn't. The other place I can think of is the frozen yogurt place that opened up a month or two ago.

 

[Random Argument Man]

When I'm alone, I feel awkward at most social gathering such as clubs or bars. Bars makes me kinda sad because I don't like drinking alone in those places.

Although, even if I go to a club with a group of friends, I feel very isolated. Something about clubs makes you feel like you're alone against the world. Even if someone speaks to you, it's way too loud to feel any kind of connection or even hear basic form of communication.

Those are the two examples that I can think of on top of my head. Usually, I feel alone in social places if I feel that I'm losing my time.

 

[Strazdas]

I actually PREFER watching movies on DVD later on. i dont like theaters but i will go for the "spectacle" movies.
I NEVER go to restuarants alone. thatjust feels creepy. kinda helps that i usually just cook my own food all the time.
i do feel really uneasy going to pretty much any instituton (ospital ect) especially if i never been here before and need to ask somone something. but thats my shyness more than anythin.

I also feel awkward going to any shop but the supermariket (since you pick stuff up yourself there). it just feels wrong somehow.

Clubs i feel awkward even with a group of people.

Museums and the like i kinda never go alone too. it just feels so empty without somoen else rushing me past the thins i want to see.

 

[Sandjube]

Yes. Anywhere that isn't my house.

 

[xmbts]

I don't like going to the movies alone, I prefer a second opinion when shopping, and any drive that's over an hour I like to have someone to yell at in the passenger seat.

I'm more or less used to being by myself.

 

[Fijiman]

I do not go almost anywhere downtown without someone else with me who knows how to navigate it. There's also no way in hell I'm going anywhere out of town without someone else with me. Other than that I don't think I have any problems going anywhere. Then again I don't tend to go anywhere anyway unless I have a reason to go there, mostly due to lack of money and interest.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

I'm [sub]female*[/sub] so...yeah obviously I have an entire list, pages long of places I couldn't go by myself safely.

Sex--!

[sub]*Start a sexism argument over this and I will find and end you.[/sub]

...I have no follow up. Just sex. That's all.

On topic: I'm gonna go with clothes shopping. I've never really liked going into a store and browsing for clothes. I never know what'll look good on me, and I don't like using the changing rooms. So that's why I use Zappos--love it to death.

I generally don't go to restaurants by myself, either.