I hate eating with people

Eating with people watching me is the worst. Even if they are good friends. I always feel very uncomfortable.

It was so bad that in my freshman year of high school I never ate lunch at school. I'd go hungry the whole day but I still wouldn't eat in front of my friends.

Voting Results
79% Normal
Based on 39 votes (31 yes)
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Comments ( 27 )
  • BURN!

    You shouldn’t let stuff like that bother you, the world gets so much better when you stop giving a shit.

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  • Hmmm, this specific fear is actually quite a common symptom related to social anxiety disorder. Have you ever been diagnosed with anxiety?

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  • DeathXN

    Normal, just don't eat with them looking.

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  • McBean

    Relax. It takes a long time to feel comfortable enough to go to a naked spaghetti party where everyone eats with their bare hands.

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  • Grunewald

    I don't know what else to say but I'm really sorry for you.

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  • raisinbran

    I used to eat in a clean, barely used toilet stall in college because the only other place to eat lunch was in the building courtyard with 8 stories on all sides with big windows.

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  • evasion1998

    i went through the same and developed anorexia nervosa. have it for years now. better seek help before it gets harder to fix it

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  • bbrown95

    I am kind of like that. If it's close friends, I'm fine, but if it's people I don't know too well, I feel very uncomfortable. I can't imagine what it would be like on a date with someone I am just getting to know or in another situation in which I'm nervous.

    I was a chubby (and relentlessly bullied) adolescent and was very self conscious about it, so I was always afraid to be seen eating or to talk about food in fear that I'd get teased about it.

    I also skipped lunch in school, but in part due to a lost appetite because the place always stunk (our cafeteria food was disgusting and smelled as bad as it tasted) and the kids ate like pigs and loved to be extra disgusting because they knew it bothered me.

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  • Hermit010

    I can't stand the noises people make when people eat as well all the sensory stimuli I occasionally have full-blown panic attacks if someone eats string cheese next to me.

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  • chuy

    Join the dog then

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  • notsaying4life

    I always try to get the seat that gives a bit of privacy because I feel they’re watching me too

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  • GaelicPotato

    Then don't.

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  • leggs91200

    I think most people are too focused on their own meal to watch someone else eat. I have been around a while and I know people talk all kinds of shit buy I do not recall ever once hearing someone gossip or talk about what someone else was eating.

    There are only three times when someone notices someone else eating -

    1) If it is some food mooch that wants others to share. Like some retarded guy I used to work with who would stare at peoples' plates in the lunch room. It is like "Andy, go whack off or something."

    2) If the person eating has exceptionally bad or strange table manners. Like one time I went to a chinese hole-in-the-wall place and some guy had soup and was slurping it!

    And finally - if you have cats or dogs who are interested in what you are TRYING to eat. When my mom was still here, one time all three of her cats and her dog were just sitting there staring at her. She finally yelled at them, "I am not eating to entertain you!"

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    • raisinbran

      It's normal and expected to slurp noodles and soup in Chinese culture.

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      • leggs91200

        Yeah but in America, we are not real used to it. To us it is gross.

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  • I don't like eating with others, its mainly cause I don't want to give em any

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  • EuSouNormal

    I do not like to eat close to people because I feel a strange sensation that she is watching me, and that if I do something strange with the mouth this person will not like me

    sorry for my bad english if i get some mistakes in my English, i'm Brazilian ;-;

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  • Garthh

    Do you hate eating at a friend's house and it's super awkward because you don't finish the food, or you just don't like people watching you because you are afraid they will judge you because of how you think, or do you just not like it

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    • I think I'm afraid of being judged. I've been overweight most of my life and I always feel self-conscious when eating in front of others. I'm worried about them thinking that I'm fat and eat a lot

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      • Invisible-Airwaves

        No offense intended but if you are overweight they know you are eating something at sometime.

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      • GaelicPotato

        Then don't be fat and eat less.

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        • I've never been overweight, but I still think the same thing sometimes as OP. The problem is more than actually just being fat, though losing weight would likely help with the anxiety.

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          • GaelicPotato

            Body dismorphia maybe.

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      • SwickDinging

        I don't have much advice but what I do know is that this is very common for overweight people. So you are normal.

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      • RoseIsabella

        You know that you can't really do much about what other people think. I see what you are saying though, and can respect your point of view. I think you should take the initiative to pack yourself a healthy lunch at least, and try to eat that.

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      • Garthh

        People aren't as mean as we see them. I am also terrified of being judged and it helps if there is something to keep your mind off judgement, like conversation. But remember that real friends don't judge, only your mind does

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    • Doesnormalmatter

      I love eating at a friends house as long as its a girl friend. *Wink wink

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