How to Deal With a Loud Person in a Restaurant

A loud person in a restaurant can ruin your night out, but you can’t chuck your bread roll at the loudmouth to shut them up. Well, you could but throwing bread is considered uncouth, plus you would be out of a perfectly good roll. Here is how to politely deal with a loud person in a restaurant.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Inform the Waitstaff

1. Get the attention of the waitstaff.

2. Tell them about the problem. Chances are they all ready know about the noisy guest.

3. Wait for the problem to be settled.

No Waitstaff in Sight, Now What?

4. Approach the loudmouth. At this point, you can’t think of them as a loudmouth; you have to remember that they are paying guests just like you.

5. Describe their behavior. Be polite, but leave no room for the person to guess what you are talking about.

6. Present a solution that you consider reasonable. A good test for this is to ask if you would comply with the request yourself.

7. Use humor wisely. You are calling out someone on their home turf, which makes some people react in a manner similar to a performer being heckled. Sarcasm on your part just throws more gasoline on the fire.

Tips & Warnings

• Stay calm. People feed off of emotions during a confrontation. Getting upset gives the loudmouth fuel to use against you.
• Don’t crowd into the loud person’s personal space.
• Don’t overreact.
• Seriously, don’t crowd into their personal space. If you accidentally touch them you might get charged with assault. It’s happened before, no kidding.
• Persons under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol generally don’t react well to calm and reasoned discourse.

[tickleberries]

on 4/5/2007 I say to try and be polite, they may leave soon. Sometimes, I would rather move to another table. Anyway, people who talk loud are often hard of hearing and don't realize it. My husband is like this and I have to ask him to talk quietly to me. He doesn't even know how over powering it can be.

[angry_man06]

on 12/27/2006 If someones being loud in a restaurant you have the right to chuck items of food at them. In the end you're a paying guest as much as the loudmouth is.