I would think they could have at least brought you a couple chunks of bread for the kids to gnaw on. Or some crackers. 
I have asked for the server to bring something for a diabetic co-diner who, like you, got into the restaurant just a little bit late and needed a little something. We were informed the bread was being baked at that moment, so it would be a few. They served soup, so I asked for a couple packets of crackers. That was sufficient to tide the person over.
What do you think s/he should have done?
It seems to me that, if you are unwilling to cut even people attempting to do their best any slack, and react with rudeness, effectively you become the problem, whoever may have “started it” by annoying you.
Hell, that’s one of the lessons I try to teach my kid - that just because you think someone else is being rude, that is not a licence to be deliberately rude yourself and make a bad situation worse.
I inadvertently scared the crap out of a 3 year old at WalMart today.
I heard the shrieking, and honestly thought someone was hurt. As I ran - literally ran - around the corner, there she is, one leg on either side of the cart, trying to climb out while screaming for her mother. Her mother? Chatting on her cell phone 20 feet down the aisle, back turned.
“NO!” (I admit I shouted.) “That’s NOT how we sit in carts!”
Did I mention I was stopping at the store between patients? I had on my scrubs and a white labcoat. So I look like (to a kid) “a doctor,” an authority figure, running around a corner yelling at her. Poor thing. Shocked into silence instantly.
But she yanked her leg back over the edge of the cart and sat her little butt down, lemme tell you what!
The mother sort of casually turned and saw me standing next to her kid, white coat and all, and stammered a few, “Bbbb…but…I was just…”
“Your choice, ma’am,” I said. “Keep an eye on her here, or I’ll see you in the ER later. Bye!”
Didn’t hear a peep from the kid for the rest of my time there. Not a peep.
(I don’t work ER. Doesn’t matter. Stupid, stupid woman.)
Being rude is *always *an option, but it’s an option polite people refuse. Always. Don’t fool yourself into thinking it’s ok to be an asshole if they started it; most people figure out that saying, “…but they started it!” isn’t a viable defense at about age 7.
I’m not saying you can’t be a bitch. Hey, I love being a bitch! But, admit that you are, in fact, being a bitch. Own it.
I think we’d all love to hear how you would have handled the situation. And, if you don’t mind saying, do you actually have children, or is this just internet posturing? Inquiring minds want to know!
I think we all need to pause to remember that Cat Whisperer’s stance on children is that they should be seen and not heard. Well, actually not seen either. In fact, I believe her preference would be that anyone under the age of about 18 be kept as far away from her as possible as just the sight of a child is enough to cause her to break out into hives.
Is that about right, CW?
does pasta cook instantly or something?
Actually, yeah. Most restaurants partially cook their pasta, shock it in cold water, and the. Give it a quick plunge in boiling water before cooking. Otherwise, people would be waiting half an hour for their spaghetti.
There’s that, but what I was really wondering reading that was why they didn’t have any fruit gels or granola or Cheerios or whatever it is people give kids that age for morning or afternoon snacks. I don’t know anyone with kids who travels without some of that sort of thing–it would have been faster and easier to pull that out of your purse or diaper bag than to flag down the server, make the request, wait for the kitchen to get the kids’ food out, and then keep track of the split-up order.
It isn’t the restaurant’s responsibility to produce something for your kids to eat ahead of your order because you waited too long to have dinner, and it kind of sounded like you think it is.
Oh, okay. I thought you meant you had done your best that day, when the whole thing could have been prevented by you bringing some snacks for your kids.
No, not really. I don’t have any problem with other people’s kids being around me as long as they don’t negatively impact me.
That’s what I was thinking, too.
Ideally, yes. I always have some sort of snack like that in my bag. But occasionally, somebody else had the diaper bag and didn’t tell me they used them up. Or I knew myself they were used up and just plain forgot to replenish. I do my best to plan ahead, but … stuff happens. I’m not perfect, and I’ll bet kbear isn’t either.
Problem is, kbear came right out and said the restaurant’s staff was “brainless” for not immediately catering to his precious spawn’s needs. Which is the most self-centered, clueless thing I’ve read today.
i’ve waited 10, 15, 20 minutes for my food at various restaurants… Your kids aren’t special, and I don’t understand why you feel entitled to be waited upon hand-and-foot. I really don’t understand why you think you should be able to be served ahead of those who ordered before you just because your kids are bitching.
you are absolutely clueless for expecting people to cater to you just because your kids are whining, and you feel like you are entitled to expect the restaurant to go out of their way to whip up something out-of-turn to quiet your kids.
Oh, come now. I find it impossible to believe that the restaurant didn’t have a few crackers or a slice or two of bread that could have headed off the kids’ crankiness at the pass. It’s not like they aren’t in the food business – and as a family-oriented restaurant, they must surely be accustomed to dealing with little customers and have quick options for keeping them distracted.
I don’t pick up on any air of entitlement from kbear’s post at all.
Are you seriously saying that if an adult had asked for something to nibble on to be brought to the table quickly that that would have been a completely unreasonable request?
It was unreasonable when he called them brainless. like it’s their job to shut his kids up.
No, I think that was a reasonable take on the server’s behavior. I worked as a waitress many a year ago in a nicer seafood restaurant. We had a procedure for the order of keying in the courses so that they would come out of the kitchen at the proper time, except where small children were concerned. We would usually place their orders right away and bring them right out as soon as they were done, because it was also in our interest to keep the kids calm and happy.
Rebuffing a customer who asks politely if the kids’ food could be expedited is foolishness. Better to prevent a problem than to have to deal with it once it blows up. What restaurant doesn’t have anything at all that can be brought right out? Not a few croutons, crackers, bread?
Wow, just wow. First off, the kitchen staff doesn’t have to whip up shit out of turn for the cranky kid. all the waittress had to do was go back there, grab a tomato wedge and mabe a cracker or two and hand it to the kid.
This is basic stuff for any waitress.
Secondly, Jesus people! WE’RE LIVING IN A SOCIETY!!
/George Costanza
You know what I hate? Old people in restaurants.
They often smell bad. They hog tables with their chit-chat. We aren’t all retired, you know, some of us have real work to do. They take too long in the toilet. And the worst is if you are behind them in line or walking through the restaurant. COME ON FOLKS, MOVE. If you are too freaking old to walk without tying up traffic, you need to deal with the fact that you are only fit for the old folk’s home, and not make decent people like us have to deal with your disabilities. And for god’s sake, stop blocking the aisles while you deal with your walkers and wheelchairs. If you can’t sit down in a booth like a grown up, you are too old to be going to restaurants. Old people have perfectly fine nursing home dining halls and can order pizza. Why do they need to go to places that are clearly for young, able folks.
I especially hate going out on Sundays and mother’s day, when everyone thinks it’s a great idea to bring their folks who are way too old to be outside of the nursing home to breakfast. These people are just not in a state to be out in public- especially if they are drooling or have dirty colonospocty bags- can you imagine, that stuff is right under the table where people eat! It’d disgusting. I’ve even seen people going out to brunch with people who clearly had Alzheimer’s. Imagine what could happen- they could run into traffic! They could mistake the waiter for their long-lost worst enemy and deck one of them. It’s a safety situation.
And then they think they can just get the waiter to bring them water right away, because they “absolutely can’t live without taking their medicine.” Why don’t they plan ahead for that? What’s someone who needs medicine all the time doing in such a dangerous situation anyway? They have hospitals for that stuff.
There are plenty of places that are appropriate for the elderly. But I don’t want to have to see one while I’m sipping my Mango-Passionfruit frozen Margarita at TGI Fridays.
We practiced restaurant table manners in places like McDonalds or Taco Bell. Also, you know, at the dinner table at home. We also had very specific rules for shopping and other public outings and my kids knew we’d be leaving immediately if they didn’t follow them. My kids did not act up in public, they were great with that kind of stuff.
And yet-one morning as we were half way through an interstate road trip/house move we found ourselves in a restaurant with a sick baby who was quite suddenly incapable of anything but loud crying. It was a diner attached to the hotel where we’d spent the night and we needed to eat and get back on the road, and she had been quiet until we were half way through our meal. I tried everything but nothing worked to calm her.
Ok yeah, there’s a choice to be made here, do we zoom out and pull off the road again in an hour because we haven’t really eaten? Or do we shovel the rest of our breakfasts fast and then just go when we’re done?
We went for the shovel plan, but the server threw us out within a few minutes. In retrospect I’m thinking that waitress did the right thing, but at the time with the move and the sick and the miles and the u-haul and everything I just wasn’t capable of putting much consideration into the needs of the two hungover businessmen sitting in a corner booth. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true.
I try to think about that hideous morning when a kid is going bonkers in public. Even really great parents have that day sometimes.
This post is pure genius.
I don’t have kids, but every family friendly place I’ve gone to brings things like grapes or crackers to families with kids when they first sit down. Hungry kids will fuss and cry, its what they do. Its how the caregivers react that makes a difference.
I let the kid drink vinegar because she was running around, getting underfoot and being a bother and her caregivers didn’t care.
Another time, we were out and the table across from us had a man with a baby and a toddler. He was doing his best to control them, but the toddler was bored and getting fussy. I like foofoo drinks, and mine came with fruit skewered on a paper umbrella. I gave that to the toddler. The man gave me a grateful look, the toddler ate the fruit and played with the umbrella and was quiet.
I guess its like dogs. I’m not a dog person. I get very upset when people bring unruly dogs into adoptions and let them bark at the cats, growl at people and pee all over the place. Now, the dogs that have good manners are given treats (after I asked the person holding the leash, of course.) If someone who is controlling their dog asks to let their dog get close to the cats because they want to know how the dog reacts, I will let them do it because I know that if the dog goes nuts, they will yank the dog away and correct it.
The main point to my rambling is that its the clueless caregivers cause the problems. Which is rude, IMO.
I do compliment caregivers who have well behaved dogs and kids. I’m a big believer in positive reinforcement, and that goes for the caregivers as well as the kids and dogs.