Marking their territories

I was at the food court in Bayan Baru this morning. It's so interesting to see that humans can be such territorial animals. There seems to be invisible lines drawn all over the floor of the food court, ones that cannot be seen by us mere mortals who go there to eat but clearly visible to the owners of the drinks stalls and their staff who prey on the customers.

If you sit at certain tables, then only certain people who own that little invisibly-marked territory will come to ask you what you want. Others wouldn't be able to cross the dividing line. But would you, as a customer, know? Of course, not!

An extreme case: I saw a big group of people joining up three tables so that they could be seated together. Unfortunately these three tables crossed into two territories. They had to order their drinks separately from two stalls.....

Actually, this is not an uncommon phenomenon. As long as there are several similar stalls selling the same stuff within close proximity, there's bound to be such territorial claims. I've seen ugly scenes erupt at the Kampung Baru market in Bukit Mertajam too. Rival stall owners at odds with each other, not afraid to argue or quarrel over intrusions into rival territories. All for a cup of kopi-oh.

I really wonder how they marked their territories. Do they do like the dogs do, in the dead of night??