To the lovely lady with the shrieking infant.

[Nile]

Shut the hell up. If your daughter is screaming loud enough that I'm getting complaints on the clear other side of the restaurant, and she can even be heard in the manager's office, she IS being too loud. I am aware she's a child, but if you can't control her to at the least a dull roar at the bare minimum AFTER I GIVE YOU ALMOST $5 of free food to shut her up, you should not come out to eat with her.

Oh, and trying to be clever and telling me I should be more careful about where I talk about customers, when I was talking to my manager about you because she was getting complaints about you... Just shut up. Just because you're an unfit parent who should be spayed and your daughter should be put with someone competent, doesn't mean the rest of the world should have to suffer.

Sincerely,
Nile.


(And no, I wouldn't've posted this if the parents were at least TRYING to control their daughter. I understand, sometimes they're just loud. But when you ignore her, talk with your friends, and eat your food whilst ignoring her, you've crossed the line from parent to sucky parent.)

[portia911]

OMG you mean my beautiful treasure of a child's screaming is not total delight to others? How can that be? But he's so cute and he was spawned by me so how can if we anything less than amusing? I don't understand!

[Nile]

Another one I had today. Not necessarily stupid, but definitely creepy.

I was walking back after taking care of a table, when another table (not mine) waves me down. Some old guy and his wife, so I go over, and ask how I can help.

Old guy: What size shoes do you wear?

Me: O_O Uh... What?

Old guy: What size shoes do you wear? About 11?

Me: Uh... 10 and a half.

Old guy: I was close! Hahaha.

Me: ... Hehe? -runs-

That's not just me, is it? That that's creepy to?

[tropicsgoddess]

Another one I had today. Not necessarily stupid, but definitely creepy.

I was walking back after taking care of a table, when another table (not mine) waves me down. Some old guy and his wife, so I go over, and ask how I can help.

Old guy: What size shoes do you wear?

Me: O_O Uh... What?

Old guy: What size shoes do you wear? About 11?

Me: Uh... 10 and a half.

Old guy: I was close! Hahaha.

sounds a little creepy to me....maybe the old dude has a foot fetish or something...

As far as screaming babies go, I can understand when parents are doing what they can to stop the baby's crying and nothing works (some babies are fussy), versus the ones that just outright ignore their crying baby.

[Snowbird]

Another one I had today. Not necessarily stupid, but definitely creepy.

I was walking back after taking care of a table, when another table (not mine) waves me down. Some old guy and his wife, so I go over, and ask how I can help.

Old guy: What size shoes do you wear?

Me: O_O Uh... What?

Old guy: What size shoes do you wear? About 11?

Me: Uh... 10 and a half.

Old guy: I was close! Hahaha.

Me: ... Hehe? -runs-

That's not just me, is it? That that's creepy to?

It does sound a little creepy but to put the shoe on the other foot... I do love puns... maybe he is a retired shoe salesman? You mentioned his wife was there as well, that doesn't seem to be a prime time to go delving into fetishes with younger women. Unless they both swing that way. Who knows!

(I once had an older gentleman strike up a half hour conversation with me because of the color and brand of car I drove, after I walked up on him inspecting my vehicle as if something was wrong with it. Turned out he was retired from the company that manufactured the dyes and other components for that car brand and it made him nostalgic. )

The mother was definitely sucky but that will likely bounce right back on her when little poopsie poo grows up into a fine headache for her because she'll never be told no either. Unfortunately for us, that's one more SC in the making.

[Reyneth]

(I once had an older gentleman strike up a half hour conversation with me because of the color and brand of car I drove, after I walked up on him inspecting my vehicle as if something was wrong with it. Turned out he was retired from the company that manufactured the dyes and other components for that car brand and it made him nostalgic. )

It's amazing the stories and histories some people have, isn't it?

That mom should have been kicked out. Her inability or unwillingness to do anything to console her child should not force all of the other innocent bystanders to suffer.

[Lace Neil Singer]

To my mind, babies and toddlers do NOT belong in restaurants. Til your offspring are of an age where they can sit down and shut up; ie, school age, you leave them at home with a sitter or you go to McDonalds. The child is not to be fitted around your life; your life is going to change when you have kids, like it or not. If you don't want to give up on going out etc, then don't spawn. It's not rocket science.

[crazylegs]

The child is not to be fitted around your life; your life is going to change when you have kids, like it or not.

Marry me?

[blas]

Now now, patiokitty, that's just expecting too much! We need to cater to the parents, because they spawned! You know how hard THAT is to do, right? And it's just so DARN cute to listen to a baby or small child scream bloody murder and rattle the windows and ruin everyone else's experience....cuz it's Pwecious' screams, and they are spezzial!

[Geek King]

Old guy: What size shoes do you wear?

Me: O_O Uh... What?

Old guy: What size shoes do you wear? About 11?

Me: Uh... 10 and a half.

Old guy: I was close! Hahaha.

Me: ... Hehe? -runs-

I get this all the time, but it usually starts with, "Holy S#!%! How big are your feet?!"

I wear size 16, and if I'm wearing my workboots, they look like you'd need a mop to shine them.

[Javarod]

Another one I had today. Not necessarily stupid, but definitely creepy.

I was walking back after taking care of a table, when another table (not mine) waves me down. Some old guy and his wife, so I go over, and ask how I can help.

Old guy: What size shoes do you wear?

Me: O_O Uh... What?

Old guy: What size shoes do you wear? About 11?

Me: Uh... 10 and a half.

Old guy: I was close! Hahaha.

Me: ... Hehe? -runs-

That's not just me, is it? That that's creepy to?

Without knowing why, only weird, if we knew why, it might be creepy and even... EWWWWW. While its not something I'd ask, I do tend to look at things and wonder why, or what it was, buildings, signs, streets, etc, so I sometimes ask weird things or make odd comments along those lines. Not sure what would lead to asking about a person's shoe size, but I can definitely imagine it happening.

[taxguykarl]

As for kids anywhere, it varies. I have seen teenagers get squirrley after 10 minutes and, in one exceptional case, a six-y.o. boy sat in the waiting area for (no I'm not exaggerating) 3 HOURS (his 'rents didn't file the last year and for both last year and this itemized like crazy).

In the later case he played on a hand-held electronic game. I saw him change cartridges a couple of times--he obviously brought enough for this session.

Back on topic, a crying infant with the parents doing nothing is unacceptably annoying.

[Peppergirl]

Wow. All those years I spent hauling mine out to the restroom or car or boxing up my food and taking it home...was wrong??

According to this new breed of 'parents' I should have just let them sit and scream, because everyone enjoys the sound of that shreiking, right?

[Nile]

Indeed.

According to her, they were just 4 isolated cases, all coincidentally in the same restaurant, of people who just hated everything to do with babies.

[KnitShoni]

To my mind, babies and toddlers do NOT belong in restaurants. Til your offspring are of an age where they can sit down and shut up; ie, school age, you leave them at home with a sitter or you go to McDonalds. The child is not to be fitted around your life; your life is going to change when you have kids, like it or not. If you don't want to give up on going out etc, then don't spawn. It's not rocket science.

Well, now, wait just a minute. Who decides the age when a child can "sit down and shut up?" Because, my 2-year-old does just that, while I see 10 and 11-year-olds who are incapable of doing so. I made a point of teaching my child to behave in public, so, no, I'm not going to just leave her home or go to McDonald's just because someone takes one look at her and assumes she's going to be a nuisance.