"I would like to be seated at another table, please."

[Jimbo S]

It was my birthday yesterday, so my wife and went out to have a nice meal at an Italian place. We were seated at a table next to the bar with two televisions sets on. One broadcast comes back from commercial break and it's Sean Hannity. What part of "Happy Birthday" don't you understand? I'm not there to have a "Sucky Birthday". I requested from the server a table in the adjacent dining room. Peace of mind, and the food was good.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

1. Bravo to you!

....We all should demand "no Faux News in my space".

I couldn't imagine trying to eat a meal with that garbage within earshot.

[davekriss]

2. Ive asked restaurants to change the channel

And they have. I did nt always get Free Speech TV, or even MSNBC, but the worst alternative was CNBC.

[yellowdogintexas]

4. around here, many places are broadcasting Food Network or HGTV instead of news

it is so peaceful.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

5. If you have an IR blaster on your phone like I do, I just change the channel myself

with my handy-dandy TV remote control phone app... works like a charm!

[lastlib]

8. Dayum! may have to get that!!

I'm fanatical about asking businesses & restaurants showing Fox Nooze to change the channel--and if they don't, I tell them I won't eat there any more. If I had that, I'd just stop asking and change it myself!

[carpediem]

23. Whats the name of the app?

I’d like to download it. Thanks!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

25. Peel Remote... great app, but, you must have an IR blaster on your phone to use it.

[carpediem]

30. Thank you. :)

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

32. YVW... you'll LOVE it!!

[PatrickforO]

3. No doubt. Sean Hannity is an odious man with an odious message.

I saw him interview Jorge Ramos and twist everything he said - what a jerk!

[Binkie The Clown]

6. Depending on the sylte of restaurant, I see mainly sports, or Hallmark Channel around here. nt

[brewens]

7. Not quite like a dinner/comedy show deal, but not exactly not either. I'd still move. n/t

[Dream Girl]

9. I hate restaurants with TVs

If I want to watch tv I’ll stay home

[Egnever]

10. Did you tell them why?

Just curious.

If so what was their response?

[Jimbo S]

18. I only said

"I don't want to watch that" and pointed to the TV on the left.

She said "OK" and accommodated us.

[Ferrets are Cool]

11. I've done that more than once. nt

[TeamPooka]

12. There must be another, possibly better, Italian place in town to go to that doesn't run Fox News

That don't deserve your money if they run that channel.
And maybe go to a restaurant that doesn't have a TV at all.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (belated)

[Cha]

13. I agree.. but, I'm funny that way.

[Jimbo S]

19. I live in

arguably America's most conservative suburb. Doing restaurant crawl wouldn't accomplish much and it was getting a bit late.

[marybourg]

28. My senior community might give your suburb a run

for its money, but even here, one of our several gyms, the one that has "only" 2 TVs, has gone to ESPN and a local channel instead of F** and MSNBC, due to many complaints about both.

[Cha]

14. Happy Birthday, Jimbo!

[Jimbo S]

20. Thank you! eom

[George II]

15. I used to go to a sports bar at least once a week for 10+ years....

...then they started having "Fox News" on a few of their televisions. I haven't been back in almost two years.

[AZ8theist]

16. I once took my car to a Jiffy Lube in Mesa, AZ

a few years ago. Maybe MANY years ago......
Anyway, in the small waiting room were the typical chairs and tables with magazines. There was also a small color TV in the corner.
On it, of course, was Fox so-called news. Seeing the remote nearby, I got up and started to change the channel. Believe it or not, YOU COULDN'T. Every other channel was disabled. THE ONLY CHANNEL YOU COULD WATCH was Repuke propaganda.

So I got up, walked over and turned the fucker OFF.

I have never visited a Jiffy Lube since and never will.

Good on you, Jimbo, for making your feelings known to these morans. Maybe if enough of us do the same, they will eventually cease their lying bullshit.

[rpannier]

17. Whatever happened to background music at restaurants?

Bars, especially sports bars, or kiddie restaurants showing cartoons, I can understand the TV

[Jimbo S]

21. The area we were re-seated

had Sinatra et al in the background.

[Ron Obvious]

22. Let me echo others who said they hated TVs in restaurants

Since I don't watch TV at home as such, I don't have the resistance that most people have and my eyes are automatically drawn to it rather than my dinner companion.

[marybourg]

29. Yes, I have the same problem. I also get much more irritated at commercials than

other people, who regularly watch TV, do.

[eleny]

24. Happy Birthday!

..... .....

[John Fante]

26. Restaurants shouldn't have politics on TV period.

It's bad business.

[calimary]

27. Ask them to change the channel!

You’re a paying customer. You have that right.

I’ve done it myself and it always ends well, except at a restaurant at the Camarillo airport. Only once did I fail in this mission. Everywhere else, I’ve achieved channel change. In my neighborhood bank branch it was a permanent change. I asked about that after I noticed, and the branch manager told me that they’d done so because they’d had complaints. But in this case, I was told that the owner had decreed that the big screen in the front of the place must NEVER be tuned away from Pox Noise. I surmised that they must have had complaints before, and it all got to the owner and he decided to be an asshole about it.

In a case like that, you don’t forget it. Seems to me the logical response then is: you just don’t go back there and patronize such an establishment again. You are under NO obligation to reward or reinforce anyone’s bad behavior! You don’t have to give them your money. You don’t have to vote “for” them with your pocketbook. You don’t have to endorse or support them with your patronage. You get the best revenge that way. They’ve lost you (and your money) as a customer. And you can tell other people about it. Or post about it somewhere. Like Facebook or Yelp or something.

If I heard about some business whose management was pig-headed like that, I wouldn’t bring them my business anymore. Besides, how can you be sure that YOUR hard-earned money didn’t eventually go into a campaign donation to some republi-CON?

[mountain grammy]

31. Happy Birthday!