A Bizarre Incident

A bizarre incident happened to my friend and I as we were dining at a packed pizza restaurant in DUMBO. Our table was so close to the ones next to ours that it felt like we were all dining at the same table. I could hear every conversation they were having, and they could hear ours too. Once we placed our order, my friend struck up an interesting conversation, which carried on till our order arrived. The restaurant was boisterous making it impossible to carry on a conversation without speaking louder than usual–unless you lean in closer towards the middle of the table, which we were doing. About 20 minutes later, our pizza finally arrived. We were starving, and as soon as we grabbed our slices, we became quiet. The comfortable silence that only exists between close friends allowed us to enjoy our pizza in peace. Also, the last thing we wanted was to be blaring at each other with a decent size pizza in front of us. We asked each other if the pizza was great, which it was, and that was it.

While I was enjoying my second slice, my friend had a quick chat with the person sitting next to our table, which was followed by a confused look on her face. I couldn’t heat their conversation, but as soon as they left, my friend told me the person had asked her if we liked our pizza? To which she replied “yes it’s great”, and he replied, “you guys are quiet so I thought maybe you don’t like the pizza.”

I wasn’t sure how to react to it because I felt it was strange to ask strangers why they are not talking. I don’t think I would point it out, it’s simply not my business. My friend replied to him saying “oh okay” because she didn't know what else to say. “It was very awkward,” she told me later. I have my own opinion on conversing in a restaurant, and talking loudly in a restaurant is impolite and disrupts the dining experience for people sitting close to you.

The New York Times, for an article, measured noise levels at 37 restaurants, bars, stores and gyms across the city and found levels that experts said bordered on dangerous at one-third of them. WHO warns that “repeated exposure to loud noise often damages hearing and has been linked to higher levels of stress, hypertension and heart disease.”

What are your thoughts? How would you have responded to that question?

Do you find it distracting to dine in a restaurant that is too noisy? I also dislike shopping in stores where the music is too loud. Things we spend time, money and effort should, likely, calm us, which, sadly, is contrary nowadays.