Stupid parent at Pizza Hut

[JustAGirl]

That's when an evil thought hits me.

I wander a few aisles over, and get down an item. I say "Here, tell your mommy you need this." and hand him a muzzle. He takes it and leaves me alone.

I then purchase my toy and exit stage right as quickly as I can... though not before I can hear sputtered vocalizations of outrage coming from deeper in...

Totally evil

so evil I laughed my butt off

**goes to find fat butt**

[Becks]

I really do wonder, though - don't these people watch the news? Or are they trying to lose their little demons?

They probably belong to the "It won't happen to ME/US!!" school of thought.

[stormtreader]

A collar and lead would also have been good there

Totally OT, I used to know someone from Timbuktu - I never realised it was a real place til then I still giggle when i see it on a map.

[LdyJedi]

I wander a few aisles over, and get down an item. I say "Here, tell your mommy you need this." and hand him a muzzle. He takes it and leaves me alone.

I then purchase my toy and exit stage right as quickly as I can... though not before I can hear sputtered vocalizations of outrage coming from deeper in...

That's positively inspirational evil!

I really do wonder, though - don't these people watch the news? Or are they trying to lose their little demons?

[Drakstern]

I'm terrible with kids... the only younger ones I get along with are my niece and nephews, and even they get to be a trial sometimes...

I have more trouble dealing with the parents though. Especially the ones like those that're the subject of this thread...

I think the defining moment of my 'dealing with kids at stores' moments comes from when I was at Petmart once, looking for a toy for our new, gargantuan German Shepherd puppy. There was a child in the store just running wild, bothering people. He's being loud and obnoxious, as only a five or six year old can be. Now, this is a big store, and it's fairly easy to get lost in for a kid, so I just assumed he was lost, took him to the service desk. They called his mom up, I head back to the dog toy section.

Not five minutes later, some woman is yelling at me! It turns out that she was 'completely offended' that I dared take her child up and say he was lost. That I was saying she was a horrible parent! I did what I normally do in such situations. I ignored her.

After a moment, she realized I wasn't going to react and stormed off, little one in tow. He's back a moment later, and this time focusing his powers of annoyance on me. This time, I just plain ignore him, and finish picking out the toy for the puppy. That's when an evil thought hits me.

I wander a few aisles over, and get down an item. I say "Here, tell your mommy you need this." and hand him a muzzle. He takes it and leaves me alone.

I then purchase my toy and exit stage right as quickly as I can... though not before I can hear sputtered vocalizations of outrage coming from deeper in...

[Lace Neil Singer]

All they need is the magical "customer complaint", then they can boot out with confidence. At least, that's how it is at every food place I've been to... and it's just so, so sweet when you complain and watch a family of brats getting booted out the door.

[FloridaLizardQueen]

. The Pizza Hut staff was probably too worried about getting in trouble if they'd have kicked them out

If I had been working there, I wouldn't have worried about getting in trouble for kicking them out. Isn't that what the staff is supposed to do with rowdy and unruly customers? If every food service employee was afraid to throw someone or a group of people out, the civil members of society would have no place to eat!!

[thegiraffe]

It's sad, but people deem shops like these necessary to have simply because lazy parenting = misbehaving children. Parents don't want to discipline their children, and no one else is going to do it, so they become hellions. People don't want to deal with them, so they make their shops no-kids-allowed. It's sad, but I don't want to deal with hellish children that aren't mine and that I have no authority over if I don't have to...even if I do love children! Now...well-behaved children are a dream. Sure, toddlers have their moments, but that's when they step outside or into the bathroom until their moment passes. It's a little tricker with infants, but taking them outside sometimes helps also. With older children, however, they should be taught good behavior from the beginning. They'll still make mistakes, but it's obvious when they're trying.

[LdyJedi]

Actually I think they do have these. I think I heard on the news or something that one restaurant owner was getting sued over it.

A few years ago, the Five Twins restaurant at the Atlantis in the Bahamas made me a very happy woman... ages 12 and over only, please. We had planned an adult night (though I had no qualms about my daughter, it's other people's children I can't handle sometimes!) and got it.

It was heavenly.

[ArenaBoy]

You let him run around an international airport terminal? What's wrong with you? Do you have ANY idea how fast he could disappear onto a flight to who-knows-where and wind up halfway across the country before you even knew he was missing? We're trying to simply relax here before the plane gets here. He's almost knocked my $1000 computer off my lap twice now. I doubt that's something you'd want to replace." At which point she responds "it's YOUR computer, it's YOUR responsibitlity". I fire back "not if YOUR child destroys it. .

Letting that kid run around the terminal especially being an international one is the stupidest thing one can do as a parent. What bugs me is that parents think that because they have a child that they can get off scot free and cause trouble. I hate those types of parents because it proves that they can't take responsibility for their actions at all.

[Ringtail Z28]

I'm sorry, but I despise children, and while I understand that we can't make "no children allowed" restaurants, no paying customer should have to deal with someone else's poorly behaved children and even worse non-existent parenting skills.

Actually I think they do have these. I think I heard on the news or something that one restaurant owner was getting sued over it.

[MadMike]

Depends on the place, for me. Were I to take an evening meal at Chuck E Cheese, I'd be rather expecting young roister doisters roaming the place.

Maybe this is just from being a parent, but I seem to be able to tune it out, at least in that type of setting, and if it's constant. I used to have my son's birthday parties there, and didn't really think anything of it until we left. Once we got outside and it was quiet, I'd realize, "Damn it was noisy in there!"

[Rapatwork]

Depends on the place, for me. Were I to take an evening meal at Chuck E Cheese, I'd be rather expecting young roister doisters roaming the place. A more upmarket place would lead me to expect parents educating their children on decent behaviour and 'inside' volume levels.

Rapscallion

[Sunsetsky]

I don't blame you for doing that. It's nice to go into a place to eat without having to listen to screaming kids. As for you laughing at bouncing kids...I probably would've laughed too.

[MadMike]

At which point she responds "it's YOUR computer, it's YOUR responsibitlity".

So she expected you to take responsibility for your computer, but didn't want to take responsibility for her child? You could have pointed out the irony to her, but it sounds like it would have gone right over her head.