When I enter a dining hall, I hang my coat on a hanger and leave my bag next to it. I proceed to prepare my meal then find a seat. Am I going out of order? My real question: Is it proper to reserve a seat before you sit down?
In episode #415 of Seinfeld, Kramer and Elaine arrive early to a showing of the since-forgotten film, "Checkmate." Kramer asks Elaine to save him a seat, but Elaine protests: "Don't put me through that! I once had the fleece just ripped out of my winter coat in a seat-saving incident." In proper cyclical Seinfeld fashion, Elaine is soon driven to hysterics in a similar seat-saving fiasco.
At a movie theater, you're guaranteed a choice seat if you arrive early. But even foresight can't guarantee you a corner booth at Moulton. And it shouldn't be necessary to eat the early-bird special just for the promise of a table. In general, saving seats is taboo when space is at a premium. Yet at holiday meals or during peak lunch hours, reserving seats is prevalent.
There are two kinds of Bowdoin diners: the Type A-s and Type B-s. Type-A eaters do not swipe into a dining hall if they are unsure that someone they know is inside. Such diners often meet their lunch companions in the Tower lobby to shmooze. Upon entry, Type-A eaters put their personal belongings at tables in the dining room.
Type-B eaters enter the dining hall at standard lunch times. They operate under the assumption that someone they know will be there, as usual. Before entering the dining room, Type-B eaters hang their coats and fill their trays.
As a rule, sectioning-off seats in the dining hall is frowned upon. If it weren't so common, I would recommend that the practice be done away with. Instead, I leave you with this: do not save a seat with objects smaller than a Nalgene.
I recently went to lunch with a big group of friends. There were two people we didn't know sitting next to us. When a few more of our friends walked in, we asked the two people next to us to scoot down, and they all but refused. Were we wrong to have asked them to move?
I would have. Of course, my gut response is based on context. I assume you were just asking the couple next to you to shuffle down one or two chairs. If there weren't free seats at your table, you should not have expected them to move, nor should you have asked them to. It is not right to displace people to another table.
If your request did not inconvenience the people next to you, I'm surprised they were reluctant to honor it. You are at liberty to make a polite request, as long as it does not put the person you ask in an uncomfortable situation. That is, a situation in which it would be hard for them to decline. In this case you were well within your rights to ask.