Yes, because providing childcare and water are analogous when discussing the duties of a waiter/waitress.
Ah so that’s what I’ve been missing, that these servers are actually looking out for my child’s long term interest. :rolleyes:
Please tell me how not putting something that could burn someone else that doesn’t know any better in front of them is childcare?
I’m pretty sure your friends who own restaurants don’t go around firing people who simply were not aware of the reach or tendencies of your child, that simply being unaware of this shows an inexcusable “lack of regard.” I have a feeling that your friends’ side of this conversation is going to show a fairly different point of view than your characterization.
The Whole of the Western World doesn’t necessarily have experience with small children. And it’s not reasonable for you to expect that they behave as if they did.
And of course, many restaurants have gone out of business due to the toddler/hot plate dilemma. Good lookin’ out.
But if 10% or more of your customers are small children, then you should become aware. That’s not unreasonable.
I didn’t even say that servers were fired because of mishandling of hot plates with small children, I said that they were fired because of poor customer service. And many restuarants have gone out of business because the customer service sucked.
Soooo…placing a hot plate near a toddler is not a firable offense? Glad to see that we agree on something.
Where we disagree (and most others here are disagreeing with you) is that I don’t believe that placing a hot plate near a toddler who is being wholly supervised by her parents shows a significant lack of regard. I also think, based on your responses, that you are not going to be convinced of this viewpoint.
Textbook agree to disagree situation. Just know that most people disagree with you and, as such, you should expect servers to continue this behavior (because they are part of “most people”).
Oh yeah?!? Well my good friend, Jesus Christ Himself, told me that He agrees with me.
I’d get Him to post it Himself, but Heaven blocks this site at work. (Who knew!)
I’m not the one that said it was childcare. It’s not - not even close.
I have friends who are hot plates and they told me they resent being touched by screaming toddlers all the time. And resentful plates are bad for business.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
“Ow! Daddy, I burned my hand! Owie!”
“Not now honey, I’m lecturing the manager!”
FWIW, I’m not sure that I would consider the dope representative of most people in the world.
If the restaurant has high chairs, the wait staff should be able to competently serve a table that includes someone sitting in a high chair.
If a plate is dangerously hot to the touch, they should at least ask the parent where to place it down. If water is ordered, and they have child cups/paper/plastic cups, the toddler shouldn’t get a tall glass water goblet. If a single malt scotch is ordered, it shouldn’t be placed in the toddler’s hands without the consent of the parent. “It’s OK, it helps him sleep.”
Of course, if you’re at a restaurant with a toddler, when your food comes out you need to be quick on the draw with controlling the kid. No complaints that he grabbed something “too fast” no bitching that he sipped your Pina Colada before you realized the waitresses mistake, then needed to have his stomach pumped.
We don’t go out often with our 3 year old. When we do, I spend most of the time trying to corral his ass while choking down my meal, it’s not fun. Restaurants are for nights that Grammie comes over to watch him.
The server is watching over an entire section of tables with diners, for spilled drinks, sudden needs, last minute requests, etc.
You, and you alone, as parents are in the best position to supervise the needs of your child.
Some servers will know this thing intuitively, as you readily admit, some may not see it as ‘their job’ as they cannot possibly be expected to watch a whole section and supervise your child in any way.
Besides which this seems a tiny petty thing, to be honest. You’re an adult, speak up, for goodness sake. “Sorry, could you put that over here, so it’s out of tykes reach? Thanks!” Next time she’ll know. It’s possible she’s busy, this is not in the forefront of her mind, she’s already thinking about what’s coming up in the kitchen next.
It’s not a high crime, a simple oversight. One easily attended to by any adult at the table, simply by speaking up.
The server is not a mind reader, if you have an issue, say so. She is mostly likely to comply to please you. But you should be willing to speak up, before slamming her for not ‘just knowing’.
What the fuck are you doing bringing a toddler to a restaurant?
Ex-restaurant manager, quoting for great justice.
As I now work in a grocery store, my dealings with small children are now of an entirely different nature. I don’t know how many times i’ve had to make a split-second reaction because someone’s toddler tried to run right in front of me while I was carrying several boxes of eggs, or pulling a 3,000-lb pallet down an aisle on a manual jack with no brakes, or driving a forklift that weighs as much as three cars. Parents in general need to be aware of their surroundings and their kids’ behavior, because the kids themselves sure don’t have any awareness of their environment.
As the parent of a toddler let me tell you that despite all efforts they do get away from you, it happens. Aside from living on a mountaintop until they grow up there is no way to have quiet motionless kids in public.
I totally agree that as her parent I am her first advocate. Did some of you not read the OP? I do watch out. I do grab things from the servers before they get to her, I do speak up and ask that they watch out for things they put in front of her. But it’s also the responsibility of the server to watch out for their customers. This is not some sort of binary decision, where parents go into a restaurant and look at each other and say “honey, I’m glad Martha, our server, will be watching Baby Susie, so we can enjoy our meal.” All I ask is is that they don’t make my job of watching out for my child any harder than it already is.
I was at Boston Pizza on the weekend with my son and the waitress brought his meal ahead of the others. Yay! Good waitress! 
However, she brought it on a plate that was so hot, she needed a double folded cloth napkin to carry it. Boo. Bad waitress! 
She then proceeded to put it right in front of Junior while saying ‘This plate is like, super hot!’ as I was diving to retrieve it before Junior wound up with a burn on his hand. Boo! Hiss! Grrrr! Very bad waitress! :mad:
No, but I can expect the server not to be a stunned bint, and put a red hot plate in front of a toddler while saying ‘This plate is hot!’ AT THE SAME TIME. For fucks sake - if it’s too hot for you to carry and you just mustsetitdownrightthissecond, then it’s too fucking hot to put in front of my kid. Or me, for that matter, because I don’t want to accidentally brush the thing with my arm and wind up with a burn either.
And before anyone jumps in, I was a server for years and:
- if a plate was too hot for me to pick up in the kitchen, I would have the cooks move it to a cooler plate, particularly if it was a child’s meal.
- if a plate was warmish, or I was refilling coffee, I would let the people at the table adjust their child out of harm’s way before plopping stuff in front of them - sometimes this took a bit of time, and I would have to say ‘These items are hot - could you please move Junior out of the way so s/he doesn’t get a burn.’ more than once.
And you know what? I was happy to do those things because I was a good waitress, and also not an asshole.
Because frankly, not giving a shit about a small child getting burnt when you put something hot in front of them, because their parent is a bit clueless, makes you a big, fat asshole.