Sharing a meal with someone creates great opportunities for discussion. Whether it’s a date night at a fancy restaurant, a hangout with friendsat an underappreciated pub, or just a quick stop at a fast food place, having something to do with your eyes and hands lets the dialogue run free.

Unfortunately, sometimes the conversation gets steered off course. Unexpected news, tough questions, long-running disputes, awkward truths… Not every detail shared over a meal is pleasant. Especially if you start counting the people that might’ve heard your gossip.

Someone asked, “What’s the juiciest thing you’ve overheard from another table?” and a heap of responses flooded in. From messy breakups and clumsy proposals to lifelong resentment laid over the table for everyone to see. Read through some of the spiciest tales that, perhaps, should’ve stayed behind closed doors.A town I used to live in had an Applebee’s style restaurant called Garfield’s that had random stuff on the walls, a bar, etc. What made it unique was each table had a giant roll of paper on it that wait staff would roll out and then use to write their names on for the customers. The customers were then encouraged to draw/ write whatever they wanted on the paper and it might be chosen to get hung up near the entrance. So one day I’m eating lunch with a girl I was at the time dating and seated behind us was a mother and her daughter that ordered pretty much the whole menu, at least $100 worth of food. Then they left without paying. Their waitress, who was ours too, was upset but then pointed out that the idiots had spent the whole meal writing out their names on the paper, practicing their signatures. The next time I went back I noticed the paper was framed and hanging near the entrance.