lunchroom etiquette

lunchroom etiquette, as mutually agreed upon by me and my teacher-friends:

rule #1: once you put your plate down at a table, you must eat your lunch at that table, even if it becomes populated by people you dislike or have nothing to talk to.  if you put your cup and/or keys down at a table, you are also committed to that spot, even if you return to find a table full of people you don't want to sit with.
exception to rule #1: if you make a public announcement to the table that you are leaving and give a truthful reason, you may leave.  acceptable reasons: too much sports talk, too much fantasy sports talk, too much girl talk (if you are a boy), you aren't interested in talking politics.

rule #2: once you have finished your plate, you may get up and leave the table.  if you then get dessert or another drink, you may sit down at a different table to consume this.  forrest has also patented the "soup/appetizer move," wherein one gets soup, eats it at a table, and then moves tables when one gets up to get one's main course.

rule #3: if someone joins your table mid-meal and everyone else finishes eating, after apologizing all people may depart, leaving the one person on their own.  this one person may then get up from this table and join another table.


while these rules may seem excessive, we find them necessary to maintain order and decorum in our lunchroom.  if you break these rules, i will chastise you (a bit too loudly) in conversation with my tablemates.  you won't notice, though, because you will have moved tables.