Workers unusual lunch spot backfires after uncomfortable confrontation: Was I being disrespectful?

The internet erupted recently when a Reddit user revealed an unusual lunch location, sparking strong reactions.The user began by noting that he or she was an introvert working in a “highly social customer service job,” the person said in a thread on the popular “Am I the A–hole” subreddit.“I often need to take my lunch hour alone to recharge,” the commenter added.“Next door to my workplace is a big, well-kept cemetery.”“On nice days, I take my lunch to one of those benches, eat my sandwich and read a book,” the Redditor wrote.

“Sometimes I walk along the paths and read the gravestones.”But recently, the lunch spot led to an uncomfortable social situation that left the person shaken up, as relayed in the post.“Last week, I had just finished my lunch and was packing things away when another visitor approached me and we began chatting,” the user said.“They said they were here to visit their parents and asked whom I had lost.”The person went on, “I had to admit that none of my loved ones were buried here, but that I was coming here because it was peaceful and I needed a place to take a break from my work.”The grieving person responded with disgust — and accused the lunch eater of “treating the cemetery like a personal park,” which took the Reddit poster aback.“I apologized and left immediately and haven’t been back since,” the user admitted.

“But I was surprised to hear this, as I had not thought I was being disrespectful.”Addressing a query to the community’s 24 million users, the person asked, “Was I being disrespectful?”In response, hundreds of Redditors overwhelmingly supported the person’s decision.“Graveyards are places of peace and reflection not only for those who have lost someone, but for everyone,” the top comment read.“Originally, cemeteries were used like this,” another user claimed.“It’s why when you go to older ones, [there are] lots of open spaces and benches.”Another...