For those who don’t like kids, if you are at a restaurant and see a stack of high chairs, a kids menu, crayons, and a fold down change table in the bathroom, than you are in a restaurant that has made the decision to cater to families. If you choose to dine at this restaurant, than you should expect to be exposed to standard child behavior. While parents are required to curtail inappropriate behaviour, some things simply can not be avoided. Babies will cry, toddlers will get bored, this is a part of life, and human development. It is the parents responsibility to make sure that this behaviour is at a minimum. If you want to dine without being exposed to children, than I suggest going to pub like places with age restrictions, or places with real tablecloths. Please remember that that children are people and have just as much of a right to be in a restaurant as you do.
For the servers, if you work at a place with kids menus, crayons, high chairs, and change tables than you must realize that part of your clientele will be children. Learn how to deal with them appropriately. This may mean bringing a piece of toast to prevent a toddler meltdown, or simply not placing dangerous things within the reach of a person who lacks the cognitive ability to understand it is dangerous. You will get better tips if you do this.
To managers of family restaurants, please ensure that your staff understands the above statement.
And finally, to the parents, please only bring your children to family appropriate restaurants. This will ensure that those seeking a child free evening can do so, and puts your family in a better position to enjoy your meal. Remember that you signed onto this parenting deal, and that means that you are on duty 24/7. It’s part of the package, if you want someone else to look after your children, than hire someone to do that. It is your responsibility as a parent to take measures to prevent catastrophic kid meltdowns. This includes, but is not limited to bringing things to entertain your children, removing them in the event of a meltdown, and trying your best to prevent them from grabbing dangerous things. I concede that crying will happen, but it is your job to make sure it is not to excess, and that disruption to fellow diners is at a minimum.
It all sounds like a fine and dandy solution to a non-existent dilemma. I wasn’t under the impression that the OP, myself, and other like-minded posters were begging folks for advice. I scanned the thread again, and I haven’t found a single instance where any of us have said “please help me solve this toddler/stupid waiter conundrum, because I’ve lost the capacity to move a plate myself!”
We’re venting about stupid people doing stupid shit. If you disagree that putting dangerous crap next to a baby is, in actuality, stupid, then to paraphrase my earlier comment, you are either stupid yourself, careless, or you hate babies.
My objection here is that by coddling infants in this way, we are weakening the genetic strength of the American people. Let infants die horrible deaths in the fire and ice water of dining mishaps and we will thus breed a super-race that knows from the womb when to reach for thing or knock them over and when not to. Know all you parents pleading in this thread for deferential treatment for your weak minded offspring that by refusing to allow your spawn to die their deserved deaths that it is you that are dooming our nation to slavery to those peoples of the world who are willing to bravely accept the consequences of coddle-free food service.
As an atheist, I have to admit, your Darwinistic line of reasoning had swayed me. Next time I go to a restaurant, I shall order my 1 year old the steak flambée and Bananas Foster, hand him a fork and steak knife, and order him to dig in. Whatever doesn’t horribly disfigure him shall make him stronger.
I don’t think we’re talking about a fine dining experience. We’re talking about a family restaurant. Like Denny’s, Chevy’s, that kind of thing. You can’t tell me you don’t expect kids in a place like that. And waiters there should know how to wait on tables with babies and toddlers.
I didn’t see anything offensive about your suggestion. I don’t really think it should be necessary, but it’s a hell of a lot more reasonable than a lot of suggestions that have been made in this thread.
Sorry, cochrane, I’ll admit you touched a bit of a raw nerve for me, especially after all the actual threadshitting so far (not by you, but by others) - so I’ll redirect those comments toward everyone else - especially those who were honestly trying to back the position that many waiters simply have no clue how to safely cater to children’s needs, nor any responsibility to do so. Those folks get a double dose of “feck off”.
I get that you were offering a bit of constructive criticism, and apologize if I painted with too broad a brush. But at the end of the day, if someone posts a minor gripe in MPSIMS, and doesn’t ask for advice, the implicit call to action is either to chime in with similar experiences, or, um, don’t post at all. This isn’t IMHO, and I don’t think anyone here is grasping for solutions to a problem that barely exists in the first place, at least if you’re a decent enough parent to move dangerous stuff away from your kid.
I realize I’m not the OP, and I can’t speak for him, but having started/participated in several similar derailed MPSIMS threads where folks just couldn’t butt out and let the like-minded folks commiserate, I’m a bit fed up with shit like this.
I wonder though - next time someone cuts in line at the grocery store, and I come here to bitch about it, am I going to see - interspersed with all the “I know, right?” posts - a dozen posts saying “serves you right for leaving a space in front of you - you’re a poor excuse for a shopper” and “here’s some advice - maybe you shouldn’t leave a space in front of you”?
But see, here’s the thing. And I realize you aren’t singling me out. But there are no rules, written or otherwise, that say people can’t post in whatever thread they wish. If they want to post opinions or give advice in MPSIMS, they’re free to do so, as long as they follow the rules. No matter how it irks you, you can’t prevent people from posting anything they want. Even if you’re the OP, you can’t set rules for your own thread and expect to be able to enforce them. Some forums have specific rules, such as General Questions, where you can’t make wild-ass guesses or make a humorous response until after the question has been answered. But for this forum, other than the general rules, don’t insult other posters, no NSFW links, no email campaigns, no post padding, etc., there are no specific rules distinguishing what people can or can’t post. People will post what they feel, and we’re not all trolling or threadshitting. The thing to do is either ignore posts you don’t feel belong in this forum or report them if they are breaking a rule.
And (too late to edit), thank you for your explanation of why you were upset. I did not mean to tweak or provoke you, and I was seriously gobsmacked about why you felt the need to attack me. I understand where you were coming from. Not that I necessarily agree with it, but I do realize your comments weren’t meant for me personally, but out of a general ire for the way you perceived this thread was going.
I understand that no one’s broken the rules - and that’s why I’m not in ATMB or the Pit, or reporting any posts. But just because one hasn’t broken any rules doesn’t mean they are contributing anything of value to the discussion.
I’m just doing what little I can to swing MPSIMS back around to the forum it used to be back in the day, when people could be free to bitch a little, brag a little, laugh a little or cry a little over ordinary stuff, without folks raining on the parade of mundanity. Back then, folks kept the antagonism and naysaying to the Pit, generally speaking. Nowadays, for every thread I actually enjoy, there seem to be 5 that just turn into a threadshitfest.
The board seems to have moved on - maybe I’m overly nostalgic for the good old days and should just stick to Cafe Society and The Game Room, or even just simply stick to lurking. Shit, I’ve got four kids, where I had none when I started here, and I don’t have the time, energy or patience that I used to - maybe it’s time I just pack it in altogether, and pull the Dope off my bookmarks.
Please re-read the thread, just to refresh your memory.
Then ponder on the question I posted earlier:
Once you’re done ruminating on this, to answer Acsenray’s question, FUCK YEAH I consider it threadshitting - because as I’ve said before only a fucking idiot or someone with a bone to pick would disagree with the idea that putting a hot plate, sharp knife, or other dangerous item near a toddler is anything but a Very Bad Idea, which is what this whole trainwreck fucking boils down to.
I’m giving everyone in this thread the benefit of the doubt that they are not indeed fucking idiots, so the only logical conslusion is that they have some issue unrelated to the actual OP that they wish to work out through their response, whether it be the attainment of the kind of hollow self-validation only aimless contrariness on anonymous message boards can provide, or a festering hatred of helpless little children, or something else entirely.
And then for some posters to state that by expecting the waitstaff to think critically about placement of such items vis-à-vis said toddler, we are expecting them to babysit our kids? That’s just plain insulting and implies we are bad parents. To those people who implied as such, a hale, hearty fuck you.
Goddamn - I came into this thread to share with other parents about a common annoyance, but now… shit, I’m just about fucking done with this place and you miserable lot who seem to thrive on discord and conflict.
See, I don’t get this. YOU are the one losing your shit here. You’re the one that is taking this to west hell and throwing around terms like fucking idiot and the like.
Few people here are saying that the server shouldn’t worry about putting something down in front of a toddler. Most people are pretty close to agreeing in this thread. The difference of opinion (no matter how much you seem to think people in this forum aren’t allowed to express one) seems to be on the amount of responsiblity/heads up/care the waitstaff should exhibit.
So if you’re going to flounce away due to discord and conflict you might want to consider that you’re the one who seems to be taking it the farthest in this particular thread. Most other people seem to be able to hold their shit together. Maybe this is just a thread you need to unsubscribe from and abstain from topics like this in the future if your personal feelings make discussion too tender a spot for you. Or, maybe this place really has lost its luster for you completely. Only you know which way to go, but please don’t kid yourself that it’s everyone else that has the problem here.
Everyone, calm down, please. If you have a problem with another poster, take it to the Pit. You’re allowed to disagree with each other, but please refrain from calling each other names while doing so.
Heh. That’s funny. You ask me to learn to read complicated sentences and then make wild assumptions about what I said. Go back and read my simple sentences and it will dawn on you I never said anything about any mitigation of parental responsibility whatsoever. How you made that leap is a mystery. How anyone could make that leap about the OP is one as well. I was applauding alices post as being the first thinking response to the OP. There were others after. I’ll just make a more grounded assumption you wanted to pontificate whether my post fit what you wanted to say or not. What the heck, just one more assumption to go with the whole first page of them.
Best I can tell our difference lies in your assumption everyone is an idiot except you.
Really out there aren’t you. I never said anything about you referring to mitigation of responsibility. I also never said anything about anybody but me being an idiot. I am trying to explain to you that it makes no difference how many idiot waitresses there are in the world, or any other idiots in any occupation. You cannot escape the fact that parents are ultimately responsible for the well being of their children. It doesn’t matter if a waitress is the most intelligent person on the planet. A caring, sensitive, concerned waitress could by accident drop a hot plate on a child. A parent must be the last line of defense for their child, and no parent should allow a child to be placed in danger by expecting people to use ordinary care in the execution of their jobs. Had the child burned her hand on the plate, it would have been the parents fault for failing to use extraordinary care. Suppose that the OP had left his child at a daycare center. Should he just drop the child off without investigating their practices and reputation? Daycare centers are licensed and regulated by the state. Would you expect a waitress, unlicensed and unregulated, to take greater care of a child than a daycare worker? I hope not.
