Was I Out Of Line To Do This In A Restaurant?

Question

Me, my wife and two kids went to Burger King the other night after a hectic day for both of us.We all sat down in a booth and had dinner, not saying a whole lot and these high school kids come in. They were all boys, the plopped down on the booth behind us that was connected and I think only one of them even bought anything.
Well I just went along with things for awhile even though they were horseplaying and shaking the booths.Finally they said the "F" word one too many times. I just turned around and said, watch the language there are kids here. Well of course I got a response of "F" you... I got up, stood over their table and said are you going to shut up or leave, it's your choice. Well finally I had enough so I grabbed the mouthiest one by the scruff of his jacket and exited him out the door and his friend were quick to leave the other way. He threatened to call the cops and I was like go ahead. The manager came to see what happened and said better you than me.

BTW, the cops never came that I know of, and my wife went out to the car with our kids because she felt humiliated. I got a few claps from others that were being annoyed by them as well.

Answer 1

You were totally out of line, and if you did this to my kid you would be getting a rather nasty call from my attorney and the cops. Touching someone without their permission can be construed as assault, and that would stick rather easily in a court of law (which is why the manager gave you the "better you than me" comment).

Mind your own business from now on! As the adult, YOU should have walked away when you had enough! What you taught YOUR children was that it's OK to solve problems with anger and violence. I doubt they even remember hearing the F-word, which they will hear billions more before they die.

PS. I can't even express how shocked and saddened I am by the fact that so many people are supporting this guy's choice to rough up somebody else's kid because he can't control his temper.

Answer 2

You were totally out of line and put your family at risk. While we are all annoyed by bad behavior in public, yours was much worse than theirs, and was both dangerous and illegal. They at least had the excuse of being teenagers. What was your excuse?

The right thing to do would have been to get up and get the manager and let him handle it. You could have also moved your family to another booth and avoided the confrontation. Instead, you chose to make yourself the law and put your hands on someone, which you had NO right to do, and which could have escalated into full blown violence very easily. What if that kid had a gun in his pocket? Was it worth getting shot in front of your wife?

The strongest men are the ones who know how and when to avoid fights. And you missed a chance to show your children the right way to deal with obnoxious people. I hope you're man enough to admit you were wrong, apologize to your wife for making a bad situation worse, and explain to your children how you should have handled it in the first place.

Answer 3

Nice job. legally you should not have touched him, not even his jacket- - however that little scamp deserved it. Legally, not good, but I would be one of those clapping.

Proper legal response would have been to get the manager. The manager could ask them to leave and if they did not it would then be considered trespassing. Then anyone could have made a proper citizen arrest on them and/or called the cops.

I wish it was alright for the valiant to stand up and do as you did, but the laws are such now that you could have gotten into trouble. You deserve a lot of credit for doing the right thing so please next time no touchy! We don't want upstanding guys like you to get in trouble.

Answer 4

Good for you for asking them politely to stop their colorful language. By doing that you were standing up for what's right in a polite, discreet, non-disruptive way. However, by grabbing a teenage boy by the scruff of his neck, you were not only making him angrier and more likely to use even more colorful language yet, you were also putting yourself in danger with the police. You were probably drawing more attention to your mistake than to theirs. You have good intentions, but next time you hear some people using dirty language or practicing an other type of rude behavior in a public place like this, tell an employee or worker there and have them deal with it so you don't get yourself in trouble.

Answer 5

I do not know if I would have exercised the same high level of restraint as you did Kudos for not beating him into a bloody pulp the way I most likely would have. Then again @ 265 ibs and built like a brick sh*t house I dont often have to do more than turn around to shut little fags like that up. To answer your question NO WAY were you in any way shape or form out of line yo and everyone else whom paid for a meal there had a right to be comfortable there. You also have a right and a responsibility to protect your children from who and what ever you deem un appropriate. Who do they think they are to be able to disrupt the meals of everyone else in the restaurant? They were counting on their superior numbers being intimidating to you and everyone else there. Again Kudos for not doing even a small amount of physical damage.

Answer 6

You have a lot of guts to do that. One or more of those kids could have been carrying weapons. One never knows now-a-days.
It's too bad the boys just didn't quiet down until you left with your family.

I would have either left with my family or told the manager. He/she can call the police. Better let the police do the dirty work.
Judging by what the other customers did (clapping), they were glad to see the boys leave.

I suggest you may want to be more careful about choosing your battles next time. You never know what the "offender" will do.

Answer 7

Not in principle no. I think you were just doing the job their own parents were too lazy to do a long time ago. Plus they probably threw their kids out to unleash on the poor unsuspecting neighbourhood just to get the hyper, aggressive teens out from undrer their own noses.

But you may have been wrong to get physical with them. Although nothing shows like you mean business when you do something take-charge like that, its potentially a lawsuit waiting to happen if things go drastically wrong. Next time, take a deep breath. You've had a hard day and be sure that your aggression isnt a spillover of the residue of the day. A lot of trouble could be avoided if people werent stressed out when they reacted to situations.

Answer 8

Well I do understand how you feel. But Please be careful putting your hands on people, this is assault. Also, you just never know about people, that kid could have easily pulled out a gun. You just do not know these days. In situations like this, you could have spoke with the manager or left. These are the only options that would not have left you either getting arrested or getting shot. Pick your battles, these punk kids were not worth, esp when you are with your wife and kids, please think about their safety

Answer 9

You were wrong.

1) The job of maintaining order in the restaurant belongs to the manager. You should have directed your comments and concerns to him for resoultion. If he failed to respond you can either not eat there anyomore or escalate your complaint.

2) You accomplished nothing other than to open yourself to a lawsuit or perhaps physical violence if they had a weapon. These are imature kids. They do stupid things.

3) You did not change the kid or his friends. You simply gave them what they wanted...attention and the chance to be rebels in their own minds.

4) You set a poor example for your kids. You showed them that it is fine to assault a stranger in public and use violence to resolve a minor problem.

In the end the effect of your actions is to debase and bring shame to you. You acted like an idiot and should not do this in the future.

Answer 10

Although I am so happy you did that and the kid deserved it, I don't think you should have taken the matter into your own hands. Kids can be real jerks when there is no supervision. Perhaps one day one of your own kids would act this way in public. Even though we want to raise our kids to be polight the fact is a lot of parents don't know what their kids are up to when they are without them. Ask yourself how you would feel if someone did that to your kid. Personally I would want to put my hands on someone if they put their hands on my son no matter what he was doing. Kids will be a ssholes and that the bottom line, they are not mature enough to make the right decisions all the time.