1. When I was an undergrad, I took a class in Sociology- one assignment was to go around trying to violate "unwritten social rules" and write a paper on the experience. Needless to say, I loved that assignment.

2. I was told today that I was the highlight of a friend's Xmas, as while we were having our annual Xmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant, the hostess ask if "anyding take home" and I asked if I could take her home. This resulted in the predicted gaggle of giggling and rapid fire Mandarin.

3. Question- I don't think this is a faux pas; but apparently my friends were shocked and highly amused. Either they have failed to understand my personality or enjoy setting up these situations. So in general, was I being socially inappropriately?

I think that "socially appropriate" can be extremely situational, and really is determined by the perception of the act.

So with your comment... eh, it's not appropriate socially in the sense that the waitress is expected to keep her demeanor even after the possibility that she felt degraded by your comment, and then that could be argued by the point that taking verbal abuse from customers is part her job and a necessary skill to complete her job effectively, so it would be more socially inappropriate in the context of how we view the importance of jobs as a determining factor in someone's life if she had retorted with something offensive to you...

But let's be real. It was a witty quip and it nobody's going to go home crying. Maybe it's a little tacky, but oversensitive people can be really annoying anyway.

One of my favorite "socially inappropriate" things to do when I was in college was to go into the lunch hall when there were only a couple of people sitting down and instead of taking one of the hundred seats nowhere near them, I would sit right across the table, look them in the face, ask them how they were doing as if I knew them, and then proceed eating. Most people are truly stunned, even if they're not working on anything important. People just don't expect anyone to want to talk to them unless that person wants something.

Interesting topic.

i did the sit with a stranger for lunch thing.
no one was ever too surprised.
they were completely fine with it,
and we talked as if we were friends.
i was the one who found it strange since i'm so used to being alone.
there was a guy in my class who peed in front of his lacrosse team.
after practice they were all just standing around,
and he just peed while wearing his shorts.
everyone was grossed out.
the professor was quite impressed.

I mean... weirdly enough, when you think about, even though it seems stranger for him to pee in his shorts, it would have been less socially acceptable for him to whip it out and pee, because that's indecent exposure on school grounds. He could be put on a sex offender's list for that.

So... peeing his pants was probably the good call.

It's actually a little unnerving how the perception of what is natural and what is acceptable don't cooperate sometimes.

Socially inappropriate? I don't think so. But, I've been know to cross social lines myself now and then. It's loads of fun and you often end up with a phone number.

Example: There was a girl talking about her lip gloss. I said I hate it when chicks were lip gloss. She asked why and I said "because it makes my c*ck shiny." Everyone laughed, she blushed and I ended up with her phone number.

if the lady was Chinese you complimented her greatly hence the giggles. If it was a family restaurant - you complimented the whole family

careful, they might be planning the wedding as we speak.....