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AITA for asking a stranger to tone down her conversation in front of my kid?
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For context we live in the Southeastern US. Today my son (8) asked to go to Waffle House for lunch to celebrate an achievement. We (my husband, son, and I) sat in a booth adjacent to three late 20s/ early 30s women who had just sat down before us, with my back to their booth and my son and husband across from me.

We ordered and are enjoying our food, and they are having an energetic conversation behind us. Not crazy loud, but loud enough for the three of us to hear them, and for me to cringe every time the woman facing our table dropped the F bomb. After a while, I became uncomfortable with my kiddo hearing this conversation. I turned around in my seat and quietly asked them to please stop saying F*** in front of my son. The woman facing our table leaned forward and asked me to repeat myself. I did. She then responds that we are in a public place and that she has kids, too. Then as this was happening, the waitress serving both our tables came by to check on them, and she complained to the waitress that I was being rude. I turned back to my table, requested to go boxes from the waitress, and didn't say anything further to the party behind me. I could certainly hear them talking about how offended they were, and commenting that next time we should go to IHOP. (I guess because it's more family friendly?)

I was flabbergasted. I was expecting them to laugh it off, not get prickly that I had the audacity to make such a request. AITA?

Comments
[not loaded or deleted]

Have you accepted that the majority of people here think YTA though? It’s extremely rude of you to police other people’s conversation, and how hard is it not to eavesdrop? Your son or husband didn’t seem to care

[not loaded or deleted]

Obviously! And that's not what I said. I was talking about volume, and not being aware of their surroundings. It's rarely malicious. Just people not paying attention. So I don't see a reason to get pissy in the first place. I honestly think people that get worked up about those things are people who would themselves do something similar with malicious intent. Most people can only see from their own perspective.

I guess look at it this way...how would you feel if a random stranger in a restaurant asked you to kindly stop your child from babbling so much? Talking in an animated fashion, or any of a hundred other ways that 8-year-olds behave, that could be considered a nuisance to those who are not dining with children/childless?

If you can say you're 100% okay with adults asking you to limit your 8-year-old's behavior, then by all means, ask adults to modify theirs.

If you aren't OK with it, and get on the bandwagon of "kids are people too, they are allowed to be here, blah blah blah" then you have no right to ask others to modify their mannerisms.

You're all equally allowed to be there, it's on you to decide what your child is exposed to and where you bring them as a result. 🤷‍♀️

YTA

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Posted
1 year ago