Imagine having a 1 star review you left online go viral

I think the review is fine. People just like to be scandalised but they did ask the family to sit outside so a bit rude.

A screaming baby can be annoying, but the review is fair enough, especially as the waitress admitted that's how it happened. On the whole, I think the waitress is more unreasonable than the parents, though they shouldn't inflict a crying baby on a group of strangers, if it's avoidable. It's not even a funny or extreme review; it's just negative!

I really don't get the issue here. The parents didn't find the restaurant to be family-friendly. They felt unwelcome. They posted a review about this.

Surely this is useful information for people who might want to go there? If theirs is the lone unhappy review amongst a sea of positive reviews about how helpful and welcoming the place is, then surely most people will ignore it.

OPs summary makes the waitress' actions seem worse, if you read the article it says
"I was saying to my manager that we should tell them to go into our heated terrace and calm the child down."
Which reads more like '1 person take the child outside to a still warm area for 5 minutes to try and calm them down,' rather than 'tried to get the whole family to eat their meal outside in November.'
Which I think is a reasonable suggestion, and, tbh, something most decent parents should have tried themselves anyway if they had a child howling for an extended period of time? As another client at the time I'd probably be grateful for the waitress making the suggestion!

Although the article also says that being a waitress is how she makes her living "and has been for 12 years" despite being only 24 which sounds a bit implausible, so who knows what actually happened.

I don't get being embarrassed if I was the review poster though - the "entire internet" hasn't seen it, even if they had the name has been blanked out so they aren't identifiable (assuming they even put their full name which most online reviewers don't) and the very most people could read into it is they are a bit lackadaisical/selfish with their parenting and don't have perfect grammar, it's not particularly embarrassing.

It's a heated patio. And a child screaming is going to impact other patrons. Id rather one entitled parent didn't return than lots of others who want a place where the staff deal with stuff like this.

I don't necessarily disagree with any of these statements but they are beside the point. The point is that this particular restaurant isn't good at dealing with families with young children (who do sometimes make noise and aren't always "perfect" customers) and so families with young children may be more comfortable elsewhere. If I was considering dining there with young children, I'd appreciate the heads-up so I could choose somewhere else.

The waitress sounds very rude and I wouldn’t employ her going forward. I would give the restaurant a swerve because they sound utterly ghastly. Who puts a crying child outside in November?

I work in hospitality and the entitlement of some people is off the scale.
I had a lady whose two children were running around the bar being a total bloody nuisance. When you have staff coming back and forth with plates of hot food, or empty ones with cutlery, you do not need kids running here there and everyway. Not to mention people in there for a drink.
So I asked her, twice, to please ask her children to sit down. I pointed out we had colouring pads and games available. She pretty much ignored me.

Then, one of them near on had our large and heavily decorated Christmas tree land on them. They'd been pinching decorations off it, tugged and over it all went. Even then she sat there.

So I walked over and said to the older of the two "OK can we go and sit down now please, we need you to behave or we will have to ask mummy to take you home"

She goes mental! Apparently I had no right to speak to her children!

Luckily, one of our regulars at the time, an old fella, says "well love, someone needs to talk to them, cos you're clearly incapable of it. No wonder they're little bastards who think it's fine to run round a public place with a crap parent like you".

Whole place goes silent and she flounced so quick with them, leaving a right old mess.

It's the same with dog owners, people don't want to hear your dog barking non stop.

This agreed

That picture of the waitress scared me a bit.

I can't see anything wrong with the review. I would be pissed off, too. She seems like an attention seeker.

A) it's just not funny.

B) it hasn't gone 'insanely viral'.

For anyone who is thinking of buying one, I have an alternative for £10 with my quote from upthread printed on.

I do it in any colour that eBay supplies and any size as long as eBay has it in stock

I'll add "The waitress was wrong" for a further 50p.

Any takers?

I’m another one who is with the reviewer. Noisy toddlers are really annoying and, if mine as screaming I always take them out of a restaurant until they’ve calmed down, but they are part of life and asking people to eat outside because of them (particularly because the waitress has a headache) is way over the top.

Maybe ask them to take them out until they are calmer. At most. Certainly not make the family have their entire meal outside.

Getting this printed makes the waitress look petty and silly. I’d be embarrassed to be her, not the reviewer.

Oh, and I’d not be impressed if I was a customer and my waitress was wearing that - it would make me feel like the restaurant didn’t care about customer feedback. Certainly no tip if that’s indicative of how she thinks of her customers.

I hate things like this.

There's nothing clever or witty here, and the review is barely even worthy of comment.

I wouldn't be impressed at being asked to sit outside with a baby in November.

Not sure why the waitress seems to be proud about this.

The review was fairly factual. Wasn't amusing, didn't resort to hyperbole. The reviewer isn't identified so won't be embarassed.

....it's all just a non event.

"Waitress made a slightly daft suggestion to customer. They were annoyed by it so left a negative review. Waitress printed it on tshirt"

Just WHY?

It's really not the "fuck you" the waitress seems to think it is.

I recall a miserable dining experience with DS when he was tiny. He would not calm down. We ordered our food. DH took him outside so he wouldn't spoil anyone else's dinner. I ate alone. Then we swapped while DH ate alone.

Every other lunch or dinner out he was usually fine for a short enough time for us to sit together. Not this day. But it wouldn't have been fair to expose other diners to his miserable behaviour.

It's a pity the waitress needed to make the suggestion to the parents at all.

Regardless of age it was a bad move

And you too.

Less of the ageism. If someone said she’s ‘old and clueless’ you’d be spitting tacks.

Surely not! Why would anyone buy that 🤣 I’m even more embarrassed for her now! @Probablygreen

Yep, there's a link in the bio on her Instagram.

I agree it’s not the best move

I'd be more embarrassed to be the rude waitress who thinks it's funny to put it on a t shirt. Can only assume OP is Dani the waitress trying to draw attention to her hilarious prank!

All those backing the parents, are you ignoring the fact other customers complained about the noise? I think it's a bit self centred to not move if you're disturbing other customers

It’s more embarrassing for the employer that for whatever reason, a staff member with a migraine wasn’t able to go home sick.

Why would you be embarrassed?

Are you also the type of person who won’t go to the cinema alone or eat a meal in a restaurant alone?

I never understand this point of view. Children who sit at tables to eat a meal at home learn how to sit tables anywhere.
But babies do not learn to sit in cafes. Cafes are boring for babies. Your baby might be happy in a cafe with their parent playing with them, but the baby is not learning anything.