She might very well do it on her own. There was a case in the early 90’s in Berkeley where a patron at Bette’s Diner was asked to leave because he was reading a Playboy (reading a political interview, not looking at the pics) and it offended the waitress serving him. I don’t have a cite and don’t recall the details about whether he was refused service or just asked to put it away. In any case, it was interesting because it pitted the politically correct against free-speech/free-press advocates. Half the town was worried that if this became typical, bankers and businessmen would be kicked to the curb for reading the Wall Street Journal, that oppressive capitalist rag.
This doesn’t help the OP because it was definitely not a law enforcement issue, just an issue of a place refusing service, and I bring it up only to point out that a waitress is just as likely to file a complaint on her own behalf as on the request of another patron.
This reminds me of another point I’m always wondering about, and that is why do they sell some of the raunchiest porn mags at those stores in all the airports. I’ve seen that all over the country, and there must be demand for them or they’d stop selling them. Granted, you could buy one on your way out, but it seems to me that most people shop at those stores while waiting to get on a flight (before or between flight(s)), not on their way out.
I love porn, but that would be a little uncomfortable given the close quarters. I’m usually making an effort to ignore the other people, but even then it’s hard to miss what they’re doing.
Having reached a certain level of boredom during the 2 hour train journey to my boyfriend’s place just before Christmas, I remembered I had bought him a copy of FHM - the “Special Christmas Edition” no less! I pulled it out of my bag and started to read and flick through it when I discovered Christmas goodies - girlie fold-outs! … so I unfolded them and it was just basically calendar shots of topless girls - you know the kind. I took my time looking, I didn’t get any complaints, just bulging eyes and craning necks. The carriage was all guys in business suits. Maybe That was why! t’was funny though… so yeah, go for it!
I figure if you can buy it right out in public, why wouldn’t you be able to read it right out in public? I sat on a plane once next to a guy reading Playboy and he was very discreet about folding it so only the articles showed while he read them. (Classy!) The only problem I would have if you couldn’t read it without shouting “Holy &@&#! Would you look at the gazongas on her?!?! WHOO-HOO! I gotta get me summa dat. Hummina-hummina-hummina-hummina!!” Followed by thrusting your hips at the centerfold.
And to be perfectly honest even that wouldn’t bother me that much, as it would at least make me chuckle. Many people on public transit even do it without the benefit of a magazine, heh.
When I was a kid I discovered to my delight that the periodicals section in the local public library had copies of Playboy available. I took them and “read” them wide-eyed right there. The people accross the reading table from me probably wondered why I was so fascinating by Newsweek or Yarn Review or something.
Yeah, I know she might, but (and maybe it’s more an opinion than a cut-and-dry thing) I don’t think it’s her place to do so. I can see her asking her manager and then acting on his or her orders, but it just seems so out of place. Ah, maybe it’s just me.
voguevixen… I was soooooo gonna do that, too! heh.
Hey, Metalhead…can you imagine if you were on the redeye and someone (pardon the word) whipped one of those bad boys out? After all, everyone’s asleep, and they can enjoy it somewhat privately…
A friend of mine was on a train and the guy who sat next to him read some sort of porn magazine. At first my friend didn’t say anything, but when a bunch of kids entered the train, he complained and asked the guy to put the magazine away. That’s probably the only reason why someone could legitimately complain about you reading the playboy on a train.
I think they are trying to catch the bored business commuter going to stay in another lonely hotel the other side of the world market
signed been there done that
On the topic of the waitress asking the patron to put it away: I’m assuming that she was told (or perhaps it was just implied) by the other patron that she would get no tip if she didn’t do as he/she said. So now she runs the risk of getting no tip from him if she doesn’t ask the patron to put it away, and the risk of getting no tip from the other patron for doing so. Though under no legal obligation to do so, I think the considerate thing (for the sake of the presumably hard-working waitress, not the easily-offended prude at the other table) would have been to just put it away and resume the conversation later.
Personally, I see nothing at all with that publication. My wife disagrees, so I canceled my subscription years ago. Oh well.
I don’t know about trains, but I almost always take an issue of Playboy with me to read on the airlines. I have never been challenged for doing so. The only time anybody has said anything to me was the time a guy across the aisle asked to borrow it.
I am discrete about it. I wouldn’t open it up with youngsters nearby. And if there’s a YOWZA photo on the page I’m reading I usually find a way to cover it up, or move on to another article.
Voguevixen, the guy you mention could have been me.
Was it the issue with the Steve Martin interview? I was torn between reading it over his shoulder and just asking if I could have it when he was done. How does a woman tastefully ask for a man’s Playboy anyway?
I will admit to this: I did buy a Playboy when I heard there was a scantily clad pic of Matthew MacConaughey in it. And I will confess: the articles were really, really good! I’d actually buy it regular-like but I think my husband would actually freak out over it.
(I’m surprised to hear that it was carried in some libraries. I’ve known libraries that would “misplace” the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.)
Scenario for a Playboy ad: good-looking dude in a new suit, with an impeccable haricut, reading Playboy, with a modestly-dressed but incredibly hot chick nearby looking admiringly at him. Ad line: “How does a woman ask for a man’s Playboy?”
Why not suprise him with a gift subscription? You could enjoy the articles, and he could enjoy the, uh…articles, too. Nothing like marital togetherness.
Voguevixen, I think it’s highly likely that I read that interview on an airplane, although I can’t remember the specific trip (that must have been several months ago). It would narrow the odds a bit more if the flight was into or out of Atlanta, as most of my travel seems to involve that stop.
And, I would have been happy to share if you’d asked. It would probably be best to lead in with a comment or question about the subject matter, then demurely remark that you didn’t notice that it was Playboy.
To address AHunter3’s comment, I recall reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich on an airliner. The dust cover had a huge swastika that I did not feel comfortable flashing around, so I removed and discarded it.
It depends on how the train is set up, too. Commuter rail, with two seats across and high seat backs, OK. Subway situation, not so much. I commute on the IRT and there’s always a couple of kids being taken to their schools in Manhattan and/or old folks and on Sunday, church ladies. I wouldn’t open a mag like that until I was sure random folks weren’t looking over my shoulder. I never forgot sitting next to a guy reading a book (no pictures) called–I kid you not–“Horny Sucking Babysitter”. I was nine and didn’t know how to tell my mom I wanted to move.
While I myself have been known to read a Maxim or two, which has gotten almost as explicit as Playboy, in public, I doubt if my doing so would creep anyone out. If I were a teenage girl alone on a train and an older man was openly reading some Barely Legal type shit right next to me, lordy, that would rank a few spaces below having him expose himself to me.
t’was funny though… so yeah, go for it!
