People being loud in shared spaces is the worst.

In this woman’s case, she and her family were eating at a 4-star restaurant when another woman was on speakerphone causing a disturbance.

So she asked her to stop. The woman felt offended and now she’s wondering if she was out of line.

Let’s analyze the situation.

AITA for asking a woman to turn her phone off speaker at a high end restaurant?

My (50/f), husband (52/m) took my mother and her partner out to dinner at a 4-star restaurant.

He invested money in a good moment with the family. But a loud person got in the way.

We had just finished our appetizers when the table next to us was seated, middle aged woman and a teenager.

As the woman walked by our table she had her cell phone in hand and I quickly realized she was on a phone call and it was on speaker.

The other tables around us were also occupied and people at those started turning toward her as the conversation was very loud.

The woman and the person on the call were essentially speaking to each other with raised voices.

She was the only one oblivious to her own impolite behavior.

Our entrees were brought out and despite several people around the woman just kept going with her conversation, phone propped up by her water glass while the teenager was on her phone.

A couple was seated on the other side of the woman and teenager.

They sat for a few minutes and when the server came to introduce himself they asked to be moved to a different table.

They clearly said it was because of this woman having a phone conversation.

So she decided to step in.

Here is where I may have been the *******.

We finished our entrees and were waiting to order dessert. The teen had gotten up from the table.

I leaned over and said, “Excuse me. Would you mind taking the phone off speaker?”

“It’s very disruptive to those around you. Several tables have been staring at you hoping you would do so.”

But the woman did not take it well.

She responded back that “If she were sitting here in the restaurant you would be able to hear the conversation”.

To which I replied: “I would certainly hope that you would not be speaking in raised voices if you were sitting two feet from each other at a table.”

Maybe this was a bit much…

She said “I’m turning it down.”

I said: “Thank you, because it is very disruptive.”

At this point, she says “Listen. I’m a grown woman. This is over.” I said nothing.

Now things were extra awkward.

We had our dessert and left and as we were leaving she said loudly to the person on the phone:

“Ok, they are gone. I’m turning this up so I can hear you.”

AITA?

Maybe she didn’t handle it perfectly, but that woman was definitely in the wrong.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say about this situation.

A reader shares their thoughts.

Maybe this would be a better solution.

Someone shares a similar experience and how they handled it.

Another reader chimes in.

Someone shares a funny anecdote.

That woman was very impolite, but maybe she should have asked staff to deal with her.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.