# Diaper Changing on a table ... in a lunch room. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 15, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698 "2011-10-15T01:28:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/21 "2011-10-15T05:33:14Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Ew. A good parent has a diaper bag with them complete with wipes and a plastic bag they can use to store the used diaper if necessary until disposing of it. In the parking lot. 🙂 We saw a mother changing her baby on the table in the lunchroom at our local zoo a couple of years ago. The lunchroom was full of people, as it always is. It was frigging gross - I don’t need to see or smell any poopy bums or poopy diapers while I’m eating (especially since we always have chili at the zoo!). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/22 "2011-10-15T12:52:45Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:16, topic:599698”] You actually asked this question when the very text that you quoted said “…FULL OF PEOPLE HAVING LUNCH!!!” in all caps with three exclamation points? [/QUOTE] I don’t undersrtand why I missed that. I do tune out when people yell. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/23 "2011-10-15T13:12:28Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > I don’t undersrtand why I missed that. I do tune out when people yell. Even in text? That’s awesome! ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/24 "2011-10-15T13:24:38Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > I don’t undersrtand why I missed that. I do tune out when people yell. :rolleyes: WHAT DID YOU SAY? I can’t hear people when they whisper (hard of hearing and all that you know)… ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/25 "2011-10-15T13:50:26Z")
> [@Girl\_From\_Mars](#): > > I think [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=564223&highlight=Diaper) is the previous thread being referred to - from 2010. \*\*Although it wasn’t being changed, the kid was sitting on the table, \*\*which is a slightly less egregious situation. > > In this case, as a parent - yeah, yuck. [bolding added] I just think this bears repeating. Part of the reason the last thread turned into an eleven page train wreck is that one set of people were defending baby-in-diaper-and-clothes being sat briefly on a table and the other side was attacking people changing poopy diapers in the middle of a restaurant. So the pro-baby-sitters were appalled at how germophobic the anti-diaper changers were, and the anti-diaper changers were appalled that anyone could defend diaper changing, which, as I recall, not one person actually did. Other stuff may have happened later–I didn’t reread the whole thing–but that initial confusion is what raised the emotional stakes so high. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/26 "2011-10-15T14:52:15Z")
Reading the first page and a half or so, it’s pretty clear it got derailed early by certain assertions by a poster who will remain unnamed: [ul] [li]nobody ever really would change a baby on a lunch table or food counter[/li][li]if they did, the health department wouldn’t care[/li][li]nobody ever dresses their baby in a diaper and nothing else[/li][li]he never actually said any of those things he had just asserted.[/li][/ul]And as I recall, I didn’t read that far, he later asserted that diaper blowouts are rare. And that’s why that page ran to 11 pages. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/27 "2011-10-15T14:59:10Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Reading the first page and a half or so, it’s pretty clear it got derailed early by certain assertions by a poster who will remain unnamed: > > [ul] > [li]nobody ever really would change a baby on a lunch table or food counter[/li][li]if they did, the health department wouldn’t care[/li][li]nobody ever dresses their baby in a diaper and nothing else[/li][li]he never actually said any of those things he had just asserted.[/li][/ul]And as I recall, I didn’t read that far, he later asserted that diaper blowouts are rare. And that’s why that page ran to 11 pages. No. It really was because some dumbasses objected to a clothing clad baby sitting on a table. ---
**Author:** ![SweetLucy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@SweetLucy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SweetLucy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/28 "2011-10-15T23:19:40Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Was this lunch room occupied by people eating lunch at the time? If not, I don’t see a problem. Now if I caught a couple having sex on the lunch room table, I might object, cause I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be carrying the supplies to leave a clean environment. :eek: whether the lunch room was occupied at the time or not, is irrelevant! It’s disgusting to have poop touch a table, whether other diners see it or not. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/29 "2011-10-15T23:24:24Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > The OP would be better if the parent was changing one kid while breastfeeding another in public. While watching a circumcision and serving peanut butter sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/30 "2011-10-15T23:32:30Z")
> [@LurkerInNJ](#): > > While watching a circumcision and serving peanut butter sandwiches. You forgot shaking somebodies hand at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/31 "2011-10-15T23:42:17Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > No. It really was because some dumbasses objected to a clothing clad baby sitting on a table. The OP of the referenced thread clearly stated the rogue baby was diaper-clad. Baby wasn’t clothed. Baby was stewing in a loose-fitting plastic bag of urine and shit. As babies are wont to do. If baby had pants, a skirt, or some other cloth barrier between said bag of excrement and still had it’s ass on the table the parents exhibited bad manners and poor taste, but this falls shy of exposing restaurant guests to a biohazard. The CDC and health department have determined that the open air of a food service environment is no place for exposed feces. I’m inclined to agree. Ever had a good dose of rotavirus? Guess how it is transmitted, and who the likely carriers are. Babies should sit in chairs, like the rest of us. Babies should be changed in restrooms, where the rest of us go to relieve ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/32 "2011-10-15T23:44:58Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > You forgot shaking somebodies hand at the same time. While taking HCG and praying during a Reiki session. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/33 "2011-10-15T23:45:17Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > Babies should be changed in restrooms, where the rest of us go to \*\*relieve \*\*ourselves. Hey, I’m in here with Juggs Monthly. Go find some other place! ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/34 "2011-10-15T23:50:01Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Hey, I’m in here with Juggs Monthly. Go find some other place! **billfish678** , forgive me. I didn’t mean to imply that bathrooms should be limited to unpleasant tasks. By all means, do your part to keep the public restroom environment festive! ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/35 "2011-10-15T23:55:10Z")
Festivus! It shouldn’t be just one day a year! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/36 "2011-10-16T04:25:51Z")
Festive restroom? Festroom? ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/37 "2011-10-16T04:33:44Z")
> [@LurkerInNJ](#): > > While taking HCG and praying during a Reiki session. And loudly asserting her right to declaw her kitten. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/38 "2011-10-16T05:23:40Z")
> [@franmachine](#): > > Ok…I know I’ve seen something like this on here before but seriously, why would anyone with even a brain the size of a quark, think it’s ok to change a diaper on a lunch room table…FULL OF PEOPLE HAVING LUNCH!!! Here’s a bulletin. You are not the first person on earth to whelp out a kid and your’s isn’t more special than anyone else’s…so change the diaper on a bench, or in your car, or on the floor, or hey…how about at home??? NOT ON THE LUNCH ROOM TABLE!!! [QUOTE=Troppus] Babies should be changed in restrooms, where the rest of us go to relieve ourselves. [/QUOTE] I have no problem with the OP or Troppus’ post. In fact, don’t all public restrooms have changing tables installed that enable you to do just that? I know that’s the case where I live. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/39 "2011-10-16T14:16:37Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > The OP of the referenced thread clearly stated the rogue baby was diaper-clad. Baby wasn’t clothed. Baby was stewing in a loose-fitting plastic bag of urine and shit. As babies are wont to do. > > If baby had pants, a skirt, or some other cloth barrier between said bag of excrement and still had it’s ass on the table the parents exhibited bad manners and poor taste, but this falls shy of exposing restaurant guests to a biohazard. The CDC and health department have determined that the open air of a food service environment is no place for exposed feces. I’m inclined to agree. Ever had a good dose of rotavirus? Guess how it is transmitted, and who the likely carriers are. > > Babies should sit in chairs, like the rest of us. Babies should be changed in restrooms, where the rest of us go to relieve ourselves. You quoted me as if it were going to be relevant to what you had to say. It was not. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698/40 "2011-10-16T16:10:33Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > You quoted me as if it were going to be relevant to what you had to say. It was not. > [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > No. It really was because some dumbasses objected to a clothing clad baby sitting on a table. K, if by “dumbasses” you meant “persons rightfully overreacting to a perceived unhygenic act on an eating surface”, and by “clothing clad” you meant “sporting only a baggy diaper”, then you got me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diaper-changing-on-a-table-in-a-lunch-room/599698.md?page=3)