Camping Chairs and other people

This situation happens to me all too often and I am starting to wonder how other people handle it.  I am looking for proactive approaches vs avoiding it/ not saying anything about it.  Your suggestions are welcomed ❤

The situation: You have set up your camping chair where you plan to sit and whenever you go to sit in it , someone else is already there. Maybe you know them, maybe you don’t 🙂

I find the psychology of it all fascinating.  Clearly not every person brought a chair for themselves ( which is fine ) but how is it that those people aren’t the ones sitting on the ground?  More often than not they are sitting in someone else’s chair….

If confrontation wasn’t challenging enough there is an extra layer of difficulty in realizing that the group of people you are surrounded by are your friends or they are friends of your friends. Either way, it is a friendly gathering. 

Yet somehow the fact that I care about being able to use the chair I  brought for myself makes me not as “cool”, not as “friendly” and potentially “mean” to some people. Someone did not bring a chair for themselves.  There aren’t enough extras and it just never fails that someone is always sitting in mine.

What am I supposed to say, especially if they have been there for awhile and now I need it?  What if it is dinner time and we are settling into our spots and the person in my chair has already started eating?

What if there are other chairs open to sit and yet I still want mine?  I care about my comfort. I bought a nice chair. I made sure to bring a chair.  I have lower back issues and sometimes my knee hurts from an old injury. Not any ole chair will do which is why I took care of my needs by bringing an awesome chair.

Why is this even a battle?  Shouldn’t the people who came without a chair realize they don’t have one and automatically take a different spot?

So here I am left with deciding how to get to use the chair I brought. { Once I made sure to bring an extra chair and it just got sat in as well.} Please don’t suggest that lol .

Will getting my chair require banishing someone to the ground? Will it require me looking mean when I politely say I would like to sit in my chair? Should I lead with fake gushing apologies to look nicer while doing it?

What would you do?  Thanks in advance for your time and sharing your thoughts on this tiny matter that ends up meaning so much more than about a chair.