Progressive aspect implying "unplanned" or unexpectedness when used with "always"

Question

Consider the following two sentences.

Sentence 1: I always meet Tom at the mall.

Sentence 2: I'm always meeting Tom at the mall.

The first sentence sounds more like these regular meetings with Tom are planned whereas the latter implies the unplanned nature of such meetings.

This way of interpreting the two sentences seems rather intuitive to me, though I'm not entirely sure why. I have given this some thought, of course. The best explanation I could come up with is that progressive verb forms imply ongoing actions, so that when they're used in the context of Sentence 2, it sounds like the statement is made when the action itself is already ongoing—almost like the speaker only came to realize the action(s) they were performing when they are in the middle of performing the action (hence unplanned)

Does anyone have a better explanation?

Answer 1

Let's try some other verb phrases

• I always eat fish and chips at the mall.

• I'm always eating fish and chips at the mall.

• I always read a magazine at the mall.

• I'm always reading a magazine at the mall.

• ?He always speaks into his phone at the mall.

• He's always speaking into his phone at the mall.

I find the 5th example above quite strange, though with the appropriate intonations, it's possible to make sense of it; but the last one is unexceptionable. Of the other two pairs, each makes a distinction, but I don't think it's the same distinction in each case.

So, while those sentences may have those senses for you, rest assured there will be others who don't perceive them that way. Individual habits are formed individually.

Answer 2

"I'm always running into Tom at the mall" sounds unplanned.

Both mean the same same, to me.

The context and, if spoken, tone of voice would make it more clear what was being said/implied.