"Americans find it jarring when they are sitting at a European café or restaurant and someone takes the empty seat at their table" I've experienced this and I

"Americans find it jarring when they are sitting at a European café or restaurant and someone takes the empty seat at their table" I've experienced this and I had to exert will power not to get up and move. It was very unnerving. In the US I would have thought the guy was a creeper of some sort, or needed to be shot or stabbed quickly before he got me. I also was in a hotel restaurant once and there was only one other person at a table. The hostess wanted to seat me at his table, even though there were a dozen or more empty tables. Ack.