Draw your own conclusions about tribal dynamics here:
My husband and I are taking the same session of the same class. The classroom has a center aisle, flanked on either side by four rows of three seats each. From the perspective of someone standing at the very back of the aisle looking at the front, my husband took up residence in the middle of the right-hand second row. I sit immediately to his left. One of his co-workers sits directly in front of me. Another of his co-workers sits in front of my husband. The house-mate / landlord of the latter sits to the right of the second co-worker, i.e. the upper right-most seat. The guy who likes to set up basecamp at his computer sits to my husband's right. The light-haired guy who doesn't say much is directly behind me. The dark-haired guy who also doesn't say much is directly across the aisle from him, although he's been known to sit directly across the aisle from me.
Got all that?
Good.
But we're closing in on the end of the semester, and someone (not enrolled in the class) needed something that only that classroom/lab could provide. She sat where my husband usually sits. My dearest relocated to the seat closest to the aisle in the right half of the front row. Preferring to sit next to my husband, I took up position at his left. But here's where it becomes strange--at least for someone as human-clueless as I. The co-worker who normally sits in front of me sat behind me instead. The basecamp guy took his usual seat. The other co-worker and his roommate took their posts on either side of the "interloper." Only the two guys who normally don't say much stayed in their typical seats.
I'm sure that the number of sociology/psychology professors or consultants could explain the mass-shuffling triggered by one person's seating choice. But I have to confess myself baffled by the social feng shui that happened tonight. I just know that I'm less discomfited by my own relocation than I was by the others.
As any LOLCat could tell you, hoomins r so weerd.
