Preferred Seating

I find that your seat at the dinner table has a big influence on what happens that night. If you're at a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people, you're usually seated at those big round tables. At those big round tables, two people always have to suffer. Those sufferers are those that sit in between where the waiter/waitress fits in and serves the dishes and tea. Man... at those family dinners, there's at least 10 dishes. Those people get interrupted at least 20 times when they bring the dishes, remove the dishes, hand out the towels for crabs and refill the tea. It can be quite a nuisance. After so many family dinners at Chinese restaurants, I have come to realize this fact and now I try to sit away from the kitchen. This can be annoying at times, when you're eating and you hear your Uncle say "siu sum", when the waitress brings the fish over. But what I find to have an even bigger influence on how you interact with the people at the table is how well you know those who sit beside you. If you're invited to a dinner and you only know a few people, it's probably best you sit with those people. You're gonna be pretty quiet sitting alone with a bunch of strangers on one side and all your friends on the other. To be honest, I've been in this situation a few times and I've hated it. Sometimes it's fine, but with people that you don't really know or don't feel comfortable with, it can be a problem.