This. Or maybe he was just a little boy who valued a tradition with his mom. Kids aren’t flexible about random stuff, that’s why we call obstinate adults “childish.”
I’d have moved. The table obviously meant something to the kid, otherwise I can’t imagine him approaching a couple of strangers with a request. And the table was evidently not as important to you as continuing the elegant meal you had started. If the person I was sitting with had refused the request I’d have presented my “grow up” look and packed up to move. It’s a crummy table at a crummy fast food restaurant–who cares? Apart from some kid. If mom really was looking daggers at you (and not just your guilty conscience messing with you), I imagine it was more from a place of, “really? it’s that big a deal?”
Bad idea. First you give in and move, then the kid’s hovering over your table saying “you gonna eat that?” and jamming his finger into your Quarter Pounder. Before you know it, you’re being shaken down for hot apple pie money and getting wedgies in the PlayPlace.
I’d agree with you, except that the OP was already in the process of eating his meal. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to avoid packing up your items and moving, mid-bite. (Granted, this is McDonald’s, so it’s far from a Herculean task, but still…)
I agree with everyone who said that it wasn’t rude of the kid to ask, but it wasn’t rude to stay put. If anything, yeah, the mom seems to come off as the worst in this situation.
Why are we assuming it is the kid who has issues about getting that particular table? Maybe the mom is a little OCD and he was just trying to prevent her getting irrationally upset. He may already have a long history of running interference for her to keep her calm… my daughter had a friend in junior high who’s OCD mom had her well-trained in that respect.
The boy seemed normal, just disappointed that I said No. If he had asked before we started eating it would have been no problem.
It may have only taken a few seconds for us to pack up and move, then again it’s fast food. They could have waited another 5-10 minutes and we would have been gone.
No guilty conscience here, the mother really was staring daggers at me. Every time I looked up there she was, staring right into my eyes.
Ok, I would move but I would also tell the kid that it is very inappropriate to ask people to move and he shouldn’t ever do it again.
Personally, I think it was the mom who had the issues and uses her innocent sweet little boy to get her way. I’m seeing a team of con artists in the making.
I disagree with those who think the kid wasn’t rude for asking. You don’t interrupt strangers while they’re eating, even at McDonald’s. You especially don’t interrupt strangers while they’re eating to ask them to find another place to sit because you prefer to sit at the table they’re already eating at.
If there were extenuating circumstances, the request should have been preceded by an apology for interrupting and accompanied by an explanation of the circumstances, even from a 10 year old kid. And fuck the mom for giving you the hairy eyeball.
I think you did very well to not reciprocate the rudeness, especially from the mother. I don’t know whether I would have shown the same restraint.
Neither you nor the kid were rude – (the kid does sound a little pushy, however, and that kind of request, depending on where he makes it could be rude). Mom, however, needs to fucking chill and get over it.