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Even if you're not going to do anything about the tantrum, you don't have the right to ruin everyone else's evening. Take the kid outside and ignore him in the parking lot.
My sister works as a server in a family-owned diner. As you can imagine, she gets ALL kinds of customers, including the ones who come in with the screaming and crying babies/toddlers. She told me one story about a family that had a baby of about 9 months old, a 2-year old, and another kid around 4 years old. Anyhow, all three of these kids were crying and acting up. The 9-month old was just screaming, the 2-year-old was screaming and crying, and the 4-year-old was crying and kicking the booth behind him. The diner was crowded that day and of course several other customers complained to my sister about the whining/screaming/crying kids and asked her to do something about them.
Unfortunately, the policy of the diner didn't really allow her to do much. She walked back over to the table of hellspawned brats and nicely asked if perhaps the children would like some toys to play with to make the visit more enjoyable. The mother said "NO!" so of course the 2-year-old and 4-year-old just started wailing even louder when they heard that. It was miserable for her, because almost every customer she waited on was grumpy and complaining about the whining. A lot of them changed their minds about eating at the diner and changed the orders to carryout so of course she didn't get any tips. The family with the screamer crew stayed for over an hour and a half (she kept track), ran up a bill of $40.00, covered the table in ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard, and changed the baby's diaper on the table--which they left. Best part of this? They left her a whole $1.00 tip!
It's fine to complain but in most cases, the restaurant is not going to be able to do much about it. They are generally not going to kick out a paying customer. I would have joined you in applauding this guy, too!
I feel your pain. I was once in a a Big Boy restaurant on a business lunch and there was a family in there with 2-year-old twins who were both screaming and crying--for the entire hour lunch. I also have a kid, and when she would start to fuss in a restaurant, I would remove her. What in the blue fudge is wrong with some parents?!
I once talked about this with a French friend commenting that I saw very few children in French restaurants. My friend commented that many French will not bring their children to a restaurant until they can behave - usually at least 9 or 10.
I think you and the guy were right. I mean, if the parent won't listen to a customer, they could more likely listen to a worker because if they didn't, they could probably get kicked out by the manager if the problem got out of hand.
QUOTE=don1945;42443964]Some parents are absolutely inconsiderate when it comes to what their kids are doing, I see it all the time. I have actually gone up to a mother at a restaurant and told her that her child was making so much noise it was impossible to eat. Her response was "He's only a baby !" And my response was, "He is acting that way because you are sitting there encouraging him to make all that noise !"
I raised twin Sons, and even at 6 months, I could take them into a restaurant, put them in their little chairs, and they would sit there and eat without making a fuss. Waitresses would come over two and three at a time and say "What have you done to these kids, we have never seen children just sit there so nice and eat quietly !"
It is all in the way you raise them, I was brought up the same way. There is nothing more unpleasant than a misbehaving child, and the parents need to hear it when they are allowing it to go on. This business of "children will be children " is just a lot of BS and an excuse for bad parenting.
It's fine to complain but in most cases, the restaurant is not going to be able to do much about it. They are generally not going to kick out a paying customer.
Smart restaurant managers do. And this earlier part of your post shows why.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marie Joseph
It was miserable for her, because almost every customer she waited on was grumpy and complaining about the whining. A lot of them changed their minds about eating at the diner and changed the orders to carryout so of course she didn't get any tips. The family with the screamer crew stayed for over an hour and a half (she kept track), ran up a bill of $40.00...
How many of those disgruntled customers do you think ever came back? How many potential customers walked in the door during that 1 1/2 hours, heard the commotion, and walked right out?
I bet that family who spent the princely sum of $40 cost that restaurant 10x that much in lost business.
Smart managers recognize that all customers are NOT equally desirable, and do what is necessary to keep the good ones - even if that means giving the boot to the poor ones.
I once talked about this with a French friend commenting that I saw very few children in French restaurants. My friend commented that many French will not bring their children to a restaurant until they can behave - usually at least 9 or 10.
I was surprised to hear of this.
To tell you the truth, that's about the age when kids can be expected to behave fairly consistently in a restaurant. Years ago, about 29 years now, my friend and I took our almost 3 year olds to a production of "Disney on Ice". It was about an hour's drive down to Denver, and the show was about 2 hours. When the show was over, we went to a McDonald's for lunch and sat way in the back of the restaurant, near the restrooms. The girls had a lot of pent-up energy and were running back and forth there in the back, and laughing. Two quite elderly women were sitting near us (but not in the line of "fire" so to speak), and commented on their awful behavior; one predicted a life of crime for them! I told my mom about this incident, and she told me that kids didn't behave any better when these women had their kids than they did now (1986), but people didn't take their kids out back then!
Is say my kids were behaving in restaurants consistently by age five or so. I'm pretty sure I'm not just looking back with rose-colored glasses... I have photos of us in nice restaurants in Germany, and I'm sure there were no incidents during that trip, except for one dropped (and broken) glass (yes, I still remember that!). They were 4 and 6 years old. I can't imagine not taking them out for ten years! Teach them when they are babies/toddlers and he prepared to hustle them out the door if (when) they get restless or loud, but don't let the sourpusses who don't want to see a kid out in public make you stay home all the time!
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