The person standing while others sit may be serving, waiting, or quietly excluded.

One posture can mean several very different situations. Standing at the edge of a room might mean working, arriving late, having nowhere offered, or a body for which sitting is the harder option. Whoever is comfortable rarely checks which it is, because from a seat they all look alike. Who is upright and who is settled describes a room’s arrangements more accurately than anything said aloud.

Look around the next gathering you are in and notice who is not seated. Offering a chair without ceremony, or simply asking, resolves in a second what can otherwise last an entire evening.