Parent sparks debate after refusing to confront entitled diner: 'How is that normal behavior?'

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  via Yunus Tuğ

  Woman smiles as she holds the phone so her partner can see it in restaurant.

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• The thing is, on it's face, there's not much difference between having a conversation with someone on FaceTime, and chatting with them IRL. The main difference is often the volume. Facetime calls might be way louder than the rest of the people in the public space. Everyone is talking at regular volume, so that call cuts right through the noise, making everyone turn their heads. 

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  via Yunus Tuğ

  Woman holds up phone to her partner so he can say hello to the family member on FaceTime. 

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• A lot of these calls also have a tinny, poor-audio quality to them. The audio stops and starts as Grandma cuts in and out. We all know that people don't use their headphones when they should, so there's a good chance this convo is happening out loud. 

  And because this is a call, there's less of a way to moderate the volume. Like, we all know that feeling of being at a venue that is quite loud, and then there's a conversational lull, and the room gets quiet for a minute. Well, on a FaceTime call, that won't happen. Your Dad will carry on ranting about his lawn mower breaking, hollering at full volume, while everyone else glares at you/him for intruding. In real life, that person and their dad could read the room and quiet down. But on Facetime, the 2 of them are going to be the loudest people in the room no matter what. 

  It's a pretty modern inconvenience, isn't it? 

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  via Getty Images

  Diners pick at their food while appearing irritated that a nearby diner is Facetiming someone loudly.

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• This parent shared what happened when they took their daughter out to eat. They just wanted to spend some time together before a trip. And yet…

  I was at a restaurant with my daughter since we don’t go out much, and she wanted one last meal out before I leave for a trip. Nothing fancy, just some nice time together.

  The entire time, the table next to us was on a phone call… on speaker… at full volume. Not a quick thing either, the whole time we were there. I imagine they were bothering other tables as well because the restaurant was packed.

  That sounds super annoying! 

  What can even be done about something like that? Because if you ask the person to stop their conversation, they'll probably retaliate by saying that everyone in the room is having a conversation. 

  In fact, this person had staff members try to stop, and here's how that went

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  via Negley Stockman

  Waitress walks through crowded restaurant. 

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• I mentioned it to staff, they did go over and say something, but it changed absolutely nothing. Call stayed on, volume stayed maxed, like the rest of the restaurant didn’t exist.

  It’s just mildly infuriating how some people can sit in a shared space and have zero awareness or consideration for anyone around them. Like… how is that normal behavior?

  Totally agree with this! 

  Staff members can only do so much, at the end of the day. Short of kicking this person out of the restaurant, what's a waiter to do? Not to mention that the second they inform their table that they can't have a phone call, their tip is gone. Done. Zero dollar tip, because they're upsetting the customer they're waiting on. 

  It's kind of a lose-lose-lose situation for everyone involved. The customers are frustrated, but probably won't intervene by themselves. The staff will intervene, at personal cost, and it won't make a difference. And the Facetiming customer is going to be equal parts embarrassed and annoyed with everyone else for not respecting her desire to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants. 

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  via Negley Stockman

  Restaurant full of patrons.

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• People had a lot to say about this!

  
  drop_bears_unite

  It's at that point you join the conversation. The person on the other end likely doesn't know they're on speaker. This will let them know and they'll likely end the call on their end  because of it. 

  Reasonable_Cap_7225

  Brother speak up for yourself. “Excuse me I’m trying to have a nice dinner with my family and your call at max volume is interrupting that please take it off of speaker and speak at a normal indoor volume” if they spzz out who cares

  Defiant-Gur999

  It becomes normal behaviour when everybody else just accepts it, i call everyone out who does this

  
  Antikatastaseis

  The worst part is these people will never se the issue or the problem. The same thing will be replicated by someone else and they’ll b-tch about it and go do the same thing the next day. I stopped trying to figure out people like this, they’ll never get it.

  What do you think? Have you tried to stop someone from having a loud Facetime conversation, and if so, did you live to tell the tale? Feel free to join in the conversation, since it's certainly not stopping any time soon… At least not not until Apple starts including headphone jacks on their phones again. Until then, we're all stuck with the scourge of loud, public conversations that no one else wants to hear. 

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