The thing I like about selfish stupid morons is that they are completely oblivious as to just how horrible they are. Unfortunately, Congress has rejected my proposal to have such people branded for life, but then that's about what I could expect from that brood.
The latest is a restaurant in Pennsylvania that is instituting a ban on kids under age 6. Makes sense, right? The owner says he'd gotten too many complaints from other diners who were trying to have a nice meal, and uncontrollable toddlers just screeched and screeched. Of course, the selfish stupid moron parents complained, opening their idiot mouths long enough to say "what about loud people at the bar?" and "this is discrimination!" and "food goes in here".
Let's gloss over whether this is a good business decision--some restaurants benefit from allowing young children, such as Dennys or Chuck E Cheese, because the parents don't feel like cooking or they think their four year old can appreciate really awful pizza or scrambled eggs that were prepared by an ex-con. And, screaming kids are sort of part of that atmosphere. The owner in this article clearly wants to appeal to a different crowd--the childless, or those who aren't too cheap to spring for a babysitter and want a calm evening out. (And don't get me started on parents who can't keep their kids in their seats, letting them instead run around the restaurant, tripping up a waitress who then spills hot soup on herself and has to then walk over to the parents and beat them to death with a plate, and the poor cop who has to fill out the awkward police report after that mess)
This is the owner's right. Just like an owner can say "you have to wear shoes in this restaurant, Skeeter". Wanna go out in flip flops? Then go somewhere where they don't care.
And don't compare this to a civil rights struggle. Last I checked, the Freedom Riders weren't doing sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in order to secure the right to bring screaming rug rats out with them. Take your shameful comparisons and go hide in a corner for the rest of your empty existence.
Kudos to restaurant owners willing to stand up against self absorbed parents!
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7 years ago
As a parent of two small children I both agree and disagree. My kids are very well behaved (mostly) when we go out. But when they are being punks I remove them from the restaurant and wait in the truck, while the food is put in styrofoam to be eaten cold at home soaked in their tears.
ReplyDeleteBut I also know that there are many punkass kids out there with parents who don't give a crap when they misbehave. It totally sucks if you are out with your sweety for some pre-coital munchables.
But this is yet another example of our society dealing with bad behaviors by trying to remove them from our presence.
Why not just ban that particular family from ever returning?
My kids love to go to a fine dining restaurant and eat with fancy silver stabbing and scooping devices. And I do not want to be told that I can not because some other parents out there suck and ruined it for me.
Jim, you're obviously one of the better parents who takes consideration of other diners when you go out to eat--sadly more parents don't do this. But ultimately, it's up to the owner to set rules (provided it's not discriminatory towards a protected class, such as race, etc.). They'd be losing the business of parents who want to eat out with their kids, but that business would go to other restaruants.
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