Posted by Karen Upright on May 15, 1997 at 15:49:07:
In Reply to: Was: Can't Get Enough; Now Children and Restaurants posted by George on May 15, 1997 at 10:50:02:
We serve one or two children per month, and they almost always are a problem. Usually they come at lunch time, which isn't quite so bad, because hardly anyone is trying to have a romantic meal with conversation then. At dinner it's more disturbing.
Older kids are almost never a problem, although I did have one who brought a video game in. I would have asked him not to use it, but the only other customer at the time was my hell-day-venting guy (see posting from a few weeks ago), so I wasn't too concerned if he was being bothered. I am offended by Mom and Dad bringing Burger King for little Johnny, however. We have fruit, we have cheese pizzas, we make peanut butter and jelly, we have plain chicken breasts with rice. Why doesn't anyone teach their children to eat anymore? And with that relatively good-sized kid menu, someone complained because I didn't have grilled cheese or hamburgers, and therefore wasn't "kid-friendly". Right. Good. We don't want to be too kid-friendly.
Why these babies and small children irritate me so much, I don't know. My parents took my older sister and me out to dine frequently as children, often to very nice, formal restaurants. I never behaved like a demonically possessed wild animal. It would never have occurred to me to be anything less than perfectly polite to the staff and other patrons of the restaurant.
I'm still toying with a no-children-under-five rule, maybe just at dinner. Did I mention that Foster's is attached to a gift shop? I cringe when I think of children running wild in Breakable Land. My poor servers are turning into the manners police.
Karen