‘Who is wrong?’: Sydney worker’s insane interaction at busy food court

A Sydney worker has revealed the bizarre interaction she had with a man who approached her while she was eating at a food court in the CBD.

A worker was left stunned when she found herself in a bizarre interaction while trying to enjoy her lunch at a Sydney food court.

Chloe, 29, works in the city’s CBD and often heads down to a popular nearby food court to grab lunch.

But a recent interaction with a “rude” man resulted in her taking to TikTok to ask her followers about etiquette during the weekday lunchtime rush.

“Guys, who is in the wrong here? It is peak lunch time at the food court, no tables free, absolutely packed,” Chloe said in the video.

She explained that she found an empty seat but realised there was a notepad sitting on the table.

Thinking someone had accidentally left it behind, Chloe left it where it was and went about eating her lunch.

About 15 minutes later a man in his 50s approached her table and claimed he had “reserved” the spot she was sitting in.

“I said ‘I am sorry you can’t reserve tables’. And he said, ‘Well I put my notepad here to go and order my food and I have come back and now you are sitting here’,” she said.

“And I go, ‘Yeah it's a food court’.”

Chloe said when she offered for him to sit at the table with her, he reportedly responded: “I don’t want to sit with you”.

Since sharing the video online, the clip has gained more than 700 comments and, while most people agreed that the man was in the wrong, there were some taking his side.

However, Chloe believes anyone who thinks the man was justified obviously does not work in the CBD and go to the food court at peak lunch hour.

“There’s people arguing in the comments between themselves or between each other, which I think is quite entertaining. I’ve kind of kept out of that. I’ve already placed my opinion,” she told news.com.au.

Chloe took to TikTok to ask her followers who was ‘in the wrong’. Picture: @chloebaradinsky/TikTok

She said the man was ‘rude’ and ‘condescending’. Picture: @chloebaradinsky/TikTok

The 29-year-old said she was “pretty shocked” when the man approached her, claiming that right off the bat he was “very rude and very condescending”.

“So I think straightaway, I found that whole situation quite laughable because he was taking it so seriously. I think that’s why I probably went on the defence pretty early, just by the way he was speaking to me,” she said.

She eventually told the man that if he didn’t want to sit with her then he would need to go and find a different seat.

“I don’t think he expected anyone to push back to be honest. I think he just a thought I would just comply,” Chloe said.

So, is there ever a situation where “reserving” a seat at a busy food court is acceptable?

Chloe thinks that the only way to do it would be if you had a friend minding the table while you went to get food.

However, while most agreed that a notepad wasn’t an appropriate way to reserve a seat, leaving a jacket or a bag on the chair was an acceptable way to claim a spot.

There were others who claimed that leaving a small item like a notepad was a common way of claiming seats in Asian countries such as Japan and Singapore.

“In Japan, a notepad totally would’ve counted as a way to ‘keep’ your table. In fact, sometimes when forgotten items/trash are accidentally left on tables, no one sits there just in case,” one person said.

Despite hundreds of comments agreeing that Chloe was in the right and she couldn’t be expected to know someone was planning on sitting in the spot, there were still some people who thought she should have found a different seat.

“I get you thinking it was a forgotten item, but once he said he put it there to reserve then I would have apologised and not realised. If you offered to share the table and he declined, that’s on him,” one person said.

“Sorry but you are in the wrong. It’s basic common courtesy that if someone leaves their things on a table, you don’t just sit down and claim it as your own,” another said.

Originally published as ‘Who is wrong?’: Sydney worker’s insane interaction at busy food court