The diner at table seven was captious about the cutlery, tactless about the soup and openly belligerent when the bill arrived. (captious: faultfinding, hypercritical, carping; tactless: inconsiderate, insensitive, undiplomatic; belligerent: combative, hostile, aggressive) His companion tried to mollify him. (mollify: appease, placate, soothe) The waitress knew that a flippant answer would only goad him into further argument. (flippant: facetious, frivolous, irreverent; goad: prod, spur, incite)
He wanted to know why the place called itself a quiet cafe. A fan whined, three cups rattled on a shelf and the kitchen radio was blaring. Beneath the nitpicking he had an excellent point. (nitpicking: faultfinding, quibbling, carping) She turned off the radio and slipped a cloth beneath the cups. His companion found the fan's loose screw.
The sudden quiet made the diner conscious of his own loud voice. He offered to buy them all coffee. The waitress accepted and left the bill where he could see it. Nobody found a fresh reason to object.