Am I being unreasoble in thinking this is descrimination against parents?

[CarmenJ]

Hi Mums,

Cosmo in Croydon are discriminating against people with small children and I don?t see why in 2011, England, they are being allowed to get away with it! My niece was invited to a Birthday meal with her friends. She has a toddler and has been told that she has to pay for him to have a separate meal whether he eats it or not. He is not allowed to eat from her plate, or not eat Cosmo's food at all. Well they might as well be saying to parents stay away with your children (especially those with more than one child)! My niece has been told if she doesn?t pay her group will not be seated.

In the current financial climate I think parents have enough to pay for without being forced to pay for something they don?t need. Can anyone tell me how this discrimination is possible in the UK in this day and age?

What planet are you on? They are a business and have said they don't want free-loaders. Since when is that unreasonable?

exoticshell - should I have not taken my allergic 1 year old with me (it was a big family 'do'), simply because he could not eat any of the restaurant's food? (by the way I paid up for his non-existent meal without complaining, I just thought it was a little bit mean of the restaurant to charge us for something that he couldn't eat)

YABU - most places have this rule.

It is unfortunate-you might have hoped they would be understanding- but you can't really complain if they are not. They are a business.

YABU as is an all you can eat establishment. As long as they charge according to the age of the child it is not discriminaton.

thanks, exoticfruits. I am a little sensitive about this topic. You're right, they are a business, and I do understand that businesses have policies. If I was running a restaurant, I would definitely make an exception in the case of someone who was with a big family party and genuinely could not eat the food. However, I didn't make a fuss... I just thought it was a bit rubbish.

If I was running the business I would be nice-but I'm not a good business woman

Still they weren't discriminating (which is what the whole whine was about - lay out the discrimination trump card if you don't get what you want) - they have this policy for ALL children customers. Perhaps it's not a cut of the market they particularly value, perhaps it's not their target market - not every business desperately eeks out the family trade, some do and actively target it, some don't - that's life.

empty
"I remember watching a guy carefully extend the reach of his Pizza Hut salad buffet outwards building rim on rim of sliced cucumber to feed about 6 people from it once"

OK, now that is impressive :)

Making a small plate bigger with cucumber deserves extra food!

(and it goes some way to making up for the various ways pizza hut try to manipulate you into eating less and paying for more drinks)

exotic

"It is unfortunate-you might have hoped they would be understanding- but you can't really complain if they are not. They are a business."

If a business treats you (or your small, vulnerable child with special dietary requirements) badly, then of course you can, and should, complain.

Running a business doesn't mean that people just have to take whatever shit you dish out. Forcing a mother to pay for a meal that would have killed her child is a dreadful thing to do. That's the kind of word of mouth you spreas around, because nobody wants to eat in the kind of establishment that is that high-handed with the people who are keeping it in business.

Me and my mum just sat openmouthed watching Pizza Hut salad man... it was incredible - he'd build the bowl up, then tuck another rim of cucumber in and continue filling - he got to at least three cucumber circumference extensions if I recall correctly.

Next time we went back there they'd funnily cut the cucumber slices in half to stop any more cucumber shennanigans.

SheCutOffTheirTails , bless you for putting it like that, because that was exactly how it felt to me at the time. I thought I was just being unreasonable. Obviously, my son was still taking up a high chair in the restaurant, but it didn't seem like good customer service to me.

OP, sorry to intrude, this is way off the topic of the original thread

YABU in al kinds of ways but mainly in going to Cosmo in Croydon in the first place. It is truly awful.

I don't know about the Cosmo in Croydon, but I've eaten several times in the Coventry branch. It is FAB!

And there is no way a toddler wouldn't eat anything there. The desert selection is amazing! (It is why the restaurant is my son's favourite.) So not only is the OP's niece cheap, she is also deluded.

If the place is a buffet, then no it is not discrimination.

If two adults were to go and one said he wasnt eating, but then proceeded to take bits off the others plate, he would be charged, and rightly so.

If you are paying for a plated meal, then it is a totally different matter.

YABU.....and 'in the current climate' businesses are suffering too you know.

However, I wouldn't take my children somewhere where they didn't have a children's menu. Can't you just order a starter as a meal for him?

Oops, probably should have read all the posts before posting