WWCOJD while getting this COJ?

This happened to me while I was getting my nails done at a day spa. An older lady had her phone volume up crazy high and was just angry-birding away, cutting through the "zen" of the experience like a knife. 

My nail girl and I exchanged some "WTF" looks but that was about it. I would have loved for the owner to say something to the lady... 

In situations like this I always give them the benefit of the doubt and ask nicely to stop what they are doing. Like, "Hey man would you mind toning that down a bit, thanks".  This works about 75% of the time.  Then there are the a-holes that know darn well they are crossing lines of respect and consideration of others but could care less.  At that point, some people require more of a nudge.  I just think, hmm, what would a hung over Dirty Harry say or do?

Ding. Ding. Ding.

This was a classic example of that. 

Did I mention this guy was in his mid 50s? 

I would survive about two days in China. My sister lived in Taiwan for 6 years, and I just have no desire to do crowded and dirty.  That would be really hard for me. 

 Actually, yesterday I was in a foul mood because I had been sharing a group working space with three Chinese post-docs, and the cell phone situation in there was outta control.  One of the women got maybe 20 calls over the course of the day, and she had her ringer set at top volume with a ring tone that said "Whacka Whacka" and half the time she wasn't even in the room to answer it so it would "whacka whacka" 8 times. WTF?  Vibro! Silent! Something.  I think that contributed to my zero tolerance approach with this guy yesterday.

A few of you have said, if you were getting your coffee and leaving you wouldn't say anything, but you might take some course of action if you were staying.  Again, I don't know if it's 11 years of tending bar and waiting tables, teaching, or what, but I feel like these people are aural bullies.  A lot of people don't feel comfortable addressing a stranger in this situation and they count on that.  Eff that!  I'm gonna call someone on that behavior every time, whether I'm staying or not.  I totally understand that a lot of people aren't comfortable doing that, and that's exactly why I'm happy to do it :)

Yes, I'm a bltch. Make no mistake. (I saw that before you edited;)

You can do whatever you want with your time and money, but don't do it on my pool table.

Bolded part above would actually change my answer.   In his mid-50's, my dad (and his dad as well) could not hear most electronic games or ringers.   In fact, there were "alarms" at work that my Dad could not hear, which annoyed his co-irkers to no end!

Have you ever seen those "barn ringers" that you can mount on your barn so you can hear the telephone ringing?  Like, GIANT mechanical bells?  At 80y.o., my grandfather had one of those mounted in his living room!!  The electronic ringers on modern phones just weren't audible. 

I'm doing better than both of them, but in a crowded situation like the one you described, I will have a VERY hard time following a conversation from across the table.

It's quite likely that either: 1) the guy couldn't hear these high-frequency sounds at all, or 2) he didn't have any idea how loud they REALLY were.

Completely agree. My step father has real hearing issues, and I know this can be a problem.  I should have included the part of me ruling that out first, the whole exchange went like this:

Me: "Excuse me" (regular volume from me, which he acknowledged right away by looking at me). 

Him: Hard stare with a lip curl

Me: "Your little video game is too loud and it's inappropriate to be doing that in this environment"

Him: Right back to the video game.

Me: "Wow.  That's neat.  I guess you're just an then."

Get coffee and leave.

Maybe he just happened to look up at that moment, and it was a coincidence, but based on the timing and my voice volume I don't think so.