I have a friend who can’t go two minutes without glancing at his iPhone for messages. It’s particularly annoying when this happens during a meal in a restaurant. It’s rude and disrespectful, but the practice is now so commonplace it seems petty to bring it up.
Yesterday a reader contacted me after an uncomfortable situation at a restaurant. Seems she, her husband, and 11-year-old son were perusing menus when the hostess sat a large party at the adjacent table. Once the family next door was seated, all of the kids pull out their own iPads and fired up games and videos. No earbuds on any of them.
She’s asks for your opinion on what is an appropriate response to this situation:
Who should tell the iPad user that this is annoying? The annoyed diner? The wait staff? Management? I’m about to buy a bunch of ear buds to offer to people when their phones/iPads are too annoying. Good idea or bad?
It’s risky to walk up to a table full of strangers and tell them what to do. It’s also not a given that, if told of the situation, that management will do anything either. I hate to see children plugged into a movie during a public (or private) dining situation. Children need to learn how to behave in a restaurant. Would you do something if this happened to you? If so, what would you do?
