Etiquette question

[Smallpotatoes]

This afternoon, I was eating lunch in a sub shop near my home. There were only two other customers in the place, a couple that was in the middle of some sort of argument. I'm not sure what the argument was about and it's none of my business, but it was pretty heated, with lots of profanity.
I just ignored them as best I could, watched the TV, pretended there was something interesting going on outside, etc., but I felt rather uncomfortable. Was it rude of me to sit there and eat while they were having this dispute? Should I have left or asked them to save their argument for some other time or ask them if I should leave?
And frankly, though they may have thought it was something that needed to be ironed out right then and there, I see no reason why it could have waited until they got home.

 

[Moderator1]

Hey, you wanna shut the **** up with the foul ****ing language while I'm ****ing eating here?

something like that

 

[Starman]

This afternoon, I was eating lunch in a sub shop near my home. There were only two other customers in the place, a couple that was in the middle of some sort of argument. I'm not sure what the argument was about and it's none of my business, but it was pretty heated, with lots of profanity.
I just ignored them as best I could, watched the TV, pretended there was something interesting going on outside, etc., but I felt rather uncomfortable. Was it rude of me to sit there and eat while they were having this dispute? Should I have left or asked them to save their argument for some other time or ask them if I should leave?
And frankly, though they may have thought it was something that needed to be ironed out right then and there, I see no reason why it could have waited until they got home.

Let's see.

THEY are the ones disrupting the sub shop with a loud profane argument, and you're asking if YOU'RE being rude?

 

[Smallpotatoes]

This afternoon, I was eating lunch in a sub shop near my home. There were only two other customers in the place, a couple that was in the middle of some sort of argument. I'm not sure what the argument was about and it's none of my business, but it was pretty heated, with lots of profanity.
I just ignored them as best I could, watched the TV, pretended there was something interesting going on outside, etc., but I felt rather uncomfortable. Was it rude of me to sit there and eat while they were having this dispute? Should I have left or asked them to save their argument for some other time or ask them if I should leave?
And frankly, though they may have thought it was something that needed to be ironed out right then and there, I see no reason why it could have waited until they got home.

Let's see.

THEY are the ones disrupting the sub shop with a loud profane argument, and you're asking if YOU'RE being rude?

Well, they were there first.

 

[93Devil]

Was she hot?

Dude, that is free entertainment. They have made their business your business. Enjoy.

Although if I was with my kid or another child I would have shot them an "enough" look.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Was she hot?

Dude, that is free entertainment. They have made their business your business. Enjoy.

Although if I was with my kid or another child I would have shot them an "enough" look.

Sadly, she wasn't. Think Wendy in Breaking Bad.

 

[SoCalDude]

Ask politely, "Is this a private argument or can anybody join in?"

 

[Brian]

That once happened to me in a Rhode Island McDonalds.

It was like some sort of fantastic dinner theatre with two buffoons talking in annoying accents arguing about religion. I never wanted to leave. Like a Greek dialogue if Socrates was a moron and he was arguing with his moronic wife.

But being from the Midwest, I'm always entertained by people from the East Coast. Everything is so emphatic. I'm spellbound by the loud voices, hand gesturing and outright hostility.

This is why we're all tubs of lard in the flyover states. We actually eat while in restaurants.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

This afternoon, I was eating lunch in a sub shop near my home. There were only two other customers in the place, a couple that was in the middle of some sort of argument. I'm not sure what the argument was about and it's none of my business, but it was pretty heated, with lots of profanity.
I just ignored them as best I could, watched the TV, pretended there was something interesting going on outside, etc., but I felt rather uncomfortable. Was it rude of me to sit there and eat while they were having this dispute? Should I have left or asked them to save their argument for some other time or ask them if I should leave?
And frankly, though they may have thought it was something that needed to be ironed out right then and there, I see no reason why it could have waited until they got home.

Let's see.

THEY are the ones disrupting the sub shop with a loud profane argument, and you're asking if YOU'RE being rude?

Well, they were there first.

And unless they owned the sub shop, that has no bearing.

Why didn't the shop owner/manager/worker drones tell them to shut up?



And socaldude has the best answer so far.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Since I'm single I guess I just don't understand why whatever their problem was had to be settled right the and there.
There's no reason it could not have waited until they got home or someplace private.
Or is there?

 

[beanpole]

Was it rude of me to sit there and eat while they were having this dispute? Should I have left or asked them to save their argument for some other time or ask them if I should leave?

Nope, it wasn't rude of you. It was rude of them.
Leaving was probably your best option, unless you were being entertained by the fight.
Never, ever break in and ask if you should leave. They'll just both turn on you and you might find yourself with more ugliness than you can handle.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Was just trying to ignore them as best I could OK, too?
Again, there's no reason they had to iron out their dispute right then and there. No way it could have been that important.

 

[bigpern23]

That once happened to me in a Rhode Island McDonalds.

It was like some sort of fantastic dinner theatre with two buffoons talking in annoying accents arguing about religion. I never wanted to leave. Like a Greek dialogue if Socrates was a moron and he was arguing with his moronic wife.

But being from the Midwest, I'm always entertained by people from the East Coast. Everything is so emphatic. I'm spellbound by the loud voices, hand gesturing and outright hostility.

This is why we're all tubs of lard in the flyover states. We actually eat while in restaurants.

Hey, you leave Rhody and Schieza OUT of this!!!!

 

[Rosie]

Leave? Uh, no.

Here's how I think it should have been handled. You should have told one of the employees, preferably the manager, that two of their customers were being very disruptive. It is up to them to tell people being obnoxious to knock it off.

I bartended and waitressed for many years and there were times I had to tell people to either behave or leave. And I'll be honest, in this case I probably would have said something to them directly, to the effect of "Could you take the swearing and arguing outside?" But that's me, I know not everyone is comfortable doing that.

 

[slappy4428]

Hey, you wanna shut the **** up with the foul ****ing language while I'm ****ing eating here?

something like that

Nice talk. You eat with that mouth?

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Where's drip?

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Food fight!

 

[Killick]

I've found a "new media" way to quiet public arguments. Though my iPhone doesn't have video — not that they knew it — I was sitting in a coffee shop last year and a couple broke into an obscenity-laced argument. I held up my iPhone like I was recording it and when they noticed, they shut the hell up.

FEAR YOUTUBE!

 

[Smallpotatoes]

I've found a "new media" way to quiet public arguments. Though my iPhone doesn't have video — not that they knew it — I was sitting in a coffee shop last year and a couple broke into an obscenity-laced argument. I held up my iPhone like I was recording it and when they noticed, they shut the hell up.

FEAR YOUTUBE!

I have to get one of those.

 

[Huggy]

My borther and I were in Vegas for the Holyfield-Douglas fight and we were having lunch at a restaurant in the Imperial Palace the day after when a huge domestic broke out between this couple.

She was pissed that he had blown all the money in no time and he responded with "You know how many women I have ****ed since we have been married?" My brother told them to shut the **** up and it wasn't long before casino security showed up to get rid of them. We saw later that night at Bally's - clinging to different people. It was ****ed.