



Breaking up is hard to do. It’s even harder when you discover that, unbeknownst to you, your emotional moment was broadcast live across Twitter, for all the world to see.

That’s the lesson learned by two now-former lovers who had the unfortunate luck of sitting next to prolific Twitter user Andy Boyle at a Burger King in their hometown of Boston.

As the young couple’s argument last Monday over ending their marriage became heated enough to catch the attention of their fellow restaurant patrons, Boyle, a Web developer for the Boston Globe, took to Twitter.

“I am listening to a marriage disintegrate at a table next to me in this restaurant. Aaron Sorkin couldn’t write this any better,” he tweeted.

Boyle broadcast photos, videos and even a description of the background music playing in the fast food chain where the relationship’s demise played out on the micro-blogging site. His live-tweets documented the couple’s tearful exchange about cleaning responsibilities, lying and cheating.

“These kids must be 21, tops. His main complaint? She doesn’t clean the dishes when his mom asks her to,” Boyle tweeted.

His account of the drama was limited to 140 characters or less, but still, like any good Shakespearean story of love, took viewers on an emotional roller coaster.

Boyle’s retelling included a beginning: “She is sobbing quite loud. He gets up and walks out. She stays. We all feel quite awkward. Do we console her? No one does anything.”

A dramatic peak: “I don’t want to hear it!” she shouts. The tables are turned: She is now accusing him of lying, of what we do not know.”

And a passionate end: “Why did you even marry me?” he asks. “Because I loved you,” she responds.

Lest Boston-area restaurant goers be concerned that they too could fall victim to Boyle’s affinity to tweet, this instance, he vowed via Twitter, of course, was a one-time affair.

“I want my 75 new followers to understand that I don’t regularly live tweet failing marriages at Burger King,” he wrote.