TVs in Restaurants: Another Little Thing Which Annoys Me

Today my husband and I went out to lunch. We are reducing the number of times we go out, since we are both unemployed, but it is nice to go out for a meal out occasionally, even if to a casual place for a quick bite.

The problem is, too many places plaster themselves with televisions. Even nice places may have one or more TVs visible in their dining room. They all seem to have them in their bars and too often these are also very visible from the dining rooms.

Casual places are even more likely to have TVs on every wall. These TVs are often on sports channels, although some places do news channels as well.

I have nothing against television. I watch lots of it, too much really. When at home, we eat all of our meals in the living room (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and almost all dinners are in front of the television.

Doing this at home is one thing but when I got out to eat, I don't want these distractions nor to be forced to watch something I don't like (my husband and I don't watch sports).

We used to go to Pizzeria Unos but then they added TVs throughout and I stopped. There are several other restaurants where I've chosen to stop going because I can't enjoy a peaceful meal out if everywhere you look there is a TV turned on.

I've tried to ignore them but the movement and colors always catch my eye and I find myself noticing it. At lunch today, there was a TV just behind my head and I'd catch my husband being distracted by it when we were eating. Even a commercial can catch you eye. It's frustrating to be unable to avoid it.

Today we were at Joe's Crab Shack for fish and chips. They have two rooms, one with TVs and one without, but they were only seating in the bar room with the TVs on every wall because it was a slow day and there were only two waitresses, so we were stuck surrounded by televisions.

I know that people like to watch sports and I am sure that during the big events, like Super Bowl, having the televisions is profitable. I've also heard that restaurants and bars can't set up TVs just for the special events without paying a big fee but if the TVs are always there and set to sports then they pay nothing for showing the big games. I don't know if it is true but if it is, that would explain the growing number of places playing sports on big televisions on every wall.

I may have to eat only in really nice places from now on to avoid this annoyance.

I don't know if I am alone in this annoyance but if more people felt as I do and we all spoke out (and voted with our pocketbooks and only went to places without televisions) maybe we could have peaceful meals out again. Wouldn't that be nice? Anyone with me on this? Speak up, please!