Okay, so I'm standing in line and, wow, boobies!

Okay. Here’s the story. I was standing in a long line in a hotel lobby waiting to check in. My wife, son, and dogs were waiting outside in the car. Normally, they would have come and waited in the lobby, but we have three dogs and we wanted to go straight from the car to the room without their having to wait in the lobby and potentially get into trouble.

Anyway, the line was long and moving slowly. Whiling away my time, I looked around the lobby. There were lots of people and much activity. I observed that there was an attractive woman waiting in line behind me. The cut of her dress revealed a very nice bit of cleavage and about the top half of her breasts. I did not stop, stare, or go :eek:. I just minded my own business and waited more-or-less patiently in line.

So, a little while later, boyfriend (I guess) showed up and joined attractive lady behind me. While waiting, I again scanned around the crowded lobby looking at the various people and things going on. Again, my gaze passed over the lovely lady with the low-cut dress. Again, my expression did not change, nor did I stare or otherwise make an ass of myself.

However, I overhear boyfriend say, “Could he be more obvious?” and girlfriend responds with, “Just calm down and don’t worry about it.” I have no idea if they were talking about me. They were not talking *to *me and I did not overhear their entire conversation. I really wasn’t paying attention to them. Not wanting to provoke some sort of confrontation, I decided to make sure not to turn behind me and make any further observation of the couple behind me. No further interaction with the couple occurred.

I did get to wondering, though, what I would have done if Mr. Boyfriend decided to accuse me of ogling his girlfriend. After all, I did notice her and her, um, attributes. He would be right about that. However, I did not, in my estimation, do anything to make the woman or her friend uncomfortable. I was also in no way responsible for her choice of outfit that day.
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[li]If you were in my position and boyfriend said something to you about looking at his lovely girlfriend, what would you have said?[/li][li]Did I do anything wrong?[/li][/ol]

“Next girlfriend, make sure she wears a burqa”

Perhaps, but she didn’t think so.

I don’t know what you could have said if he would have persued it (other then sorry), but I have to say that in my experience, some guys look right at your boobs and don’t even seem to notice. Maybe you did that and the boyfriend happened to be looking at you when you did it? He just said what he said to try and get a rise out of you and also possibly warn you to knock it off.

First, they might’ve been talking about someone else, maybe something that happened before they were even in the lobby.

Second, if the woman doesn’t want men staring at her chest, she should wear more on top.

And I say this as a proud feminist. Women, show 'em off, if you like. But don’t get cranky if men watch the show.

Give him $5, and tell her “Thanks.”

and then duck

I dunno on the etiquette question. But I can tell you, they may well not have been talking about you, but you were obvious, however casual you think you may have been being. I discovered this some years ago, when a young female co-worker of mine was walking across the call center I worked at. She was wearing hear normal skin-tight jeans, which highlighted her absolutely flawless derriere … Just for a change, I was able to tear my eyes from appreciating her perambulation and instead look around at the rest of the call center floor. Suffice to say, I immediately discovered which of my male co-workers were straight. Many of them no doubt thought their glances were subtle; but it is, in fact, always apparent what a person is looking at, and over a short period of time, it becomes perfectly clear what items in the vicinity have their attention.

The boyfriend may have just discovered that fact, as I did that day so many years ago. The young lady was undoubtedly very aware of it, and had come to terms with it long ago.

Lots of possible scenarios here.

  1. You were a lot more obvious than you thought, and came across (heh) as openly staring at her breasts.

  2. They weren’t talking about you.

  3. You weren’t obvious at all, but her boyfriend is the jealous type and is always seeing perceived issues where none really exist, and she is well-practiced at shutting him down quickly.

  4. Other.

To answer your questions: 1. “Oh sorry, I was just staring off into space, no harm meant.” 2. No, I don’t think you did anything wrong.

“If you were in my position and boyfriend said something to you about looking at his lovely girlfriend, what would you have said?
Did I do anything wrong?”

1: Nothing.
2: No.

Lastly, a philosophical question: If boobs are uncovered in a forest and no one is around to see them, were they really shown?

  1. “Excuse me?” (In a WTF are you talking about tone).

  2. No, assuming you described the incident accurately.

Hell, I’m a boringly hetero female and even I look when a woman <or man> shows off his or her stuff. Why not? That’s what it’s out there for, right?

BTW, instead of an ‘Excuse me?’ in a wtf tone, just a simple ‘Excuse me?’ in a genuinely puzzled way would work better.

“Get a good look, Costanza?”

“Looking at cleavage is like looking at the sun. You can’t stare at it long, it’s too risky. You get a sense of it then you look away." [/Seinfeld]

I would have asked if he was speaking to or about me; further action would depend on his answer.

I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Comic Book Guy wouldn’t be much good in a fight anyway.

Could be they dragged you into their drama. They’re young, sexy, in love, and assholes.

I wouldn’t. That makes it sound like I have a guilty conscience, and it removes the option of denying that I had any idea what he was talking about.

In most cases, the polite thing to do when overhearing someone else’s conversation is to pretend you didn’t.

The boyfriend did not talk to you and you are not positive what he was talking about. You’re paying way too much attention to others and assuming they are noticing you. If I were in your situation, I’d be observing as much as possible. I would show no reaction to what the man said to his girlfriend nor to me.

Hey, she put 'em out there to be appreciated. So, appreciate them.

If you put it on display, of course people are going to look. Like Taomist says, even I have caught myself looking at it.