'AITA for asking a woman to stop humming and singing at a live classical music concert?'

A Reddit user, crossivejoker, took to the "AmItheA**hole" forum to share an uncomfortable situation he faced while attending a classical concert with his fiancee.

He spent $110 on front-row tickets for a special holiday concert, but things quickly took a turn when a woman behind him began loudly humming along to the music.

Despite his attempts to ignore it, the woman just kept going and even began singing, which frustrated him further.

OP confronts woman for disrupting classical music concert

The original poster (OP) shared that his fiancee didn’t initially notice the woman humming, so he tried to avoid confrontation. "I was becoming incredibly mad at this point. I’m not a confrontational guy, I hate confrontation!" he wrote. 

However, after 30 minutes, he felt compelled to say something to the woman. "I told my Fiancee I needed to say something. I can’t hear the music and I was frustrated. That’s when my Fiancée noticed and told me it’s okay and not to make a scene," the OP noted. 

Things just got worse, as the OP explained, "Maybe 5 minutes later, the woman behind me begins singing! Straight singing! If you’re not familiar with classical music etiquette. You don’t sing, you don’t hum, you don’t make sound, you don’t tap your feet."

He then had no choice but to confront the woman. "This is when I turned around, directly looked at the woman and said, 'Mam, please stop.' The woman looked confused, asked me to repeat, and I said, 'Mam, please stop. I’ve been listening to you the entire concert,'" the user wrote. 

After confronting the woman, the Redditor noticed that other people around them were laughing, whispering, and repeating what he had said to their own companions. Despite the attention her behavior was drawing, the woman still didn’t stop humming or singing.

About five minutes later, she tapped him on the shoulder, to apologize, but he waved her off, refusing to accept the apology. "I didn’t want to accept any apology, I was frustrated, and I didn’t want to acknowledge her," he wrote, explaining his frustration.

Later, his fiancee also asked the woman to be quiet, but it didn’t help. In the end, he expressed regret, saying, "I paid $110 to listen to a woman hum in my ear for an hour."

The user concluded his post by asking whether he was wrong for confronting the woman, "AITA for telling her to stop? Should I have escalated it to staff or handled it differently?"

Redditor stand in support of OP's decision to confront the woman

Redditors weighed in on the situation, with some standing in support of the OP, agreeing he was right to ask her to stop. Some even argued he should have confronted her sooner.

One wrote, "NTA. Let this be a lesson. Make a decision for yourself: you’re the type of person to say something, or you’re not. If you’re not, let it slide. If you are, be as direct as possible. Say something in the first 5 mins. If they don’t stop get an usher. If they still don’t stop get the usher again. After 15 the situation will be managed and you can enjoy yourself without the intrusion. No value judgement to which you should be."

Another said, "NTA but this is when you as quietly and politely as possible move to the end of the row, find an usher or other person with authority, and lodge a complaint. Especially someone drunk, they'll generally take care of it for you."

"NTA, and you’re absolutely correct about classical music etiquette. For what it’s worth, I also can’t stand this behavior at rock concerts. I know the vibe is very different, but I resent paying money to hear the show when half the audience is singing along with the vocals. Usually not very well either," an individual remarked. 

"NTA. As a classical musician I don’t practice and perfect my craft for people like this to ruin it for others," wrote one in support of the OP.

A person said, "NTA, I would have stopped the nano-second she started humming in a classical concert. Beyond the pale really."

"No, NTA! I hate when people act like this. I might have gotten an usher after she did stfu, but I also wouldn't have waited as long to say something. And $110 for front row! Great price!" read another comment. 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.