to think if you want to work in silence, don't go to a coffee shop

[whimsicalname]

I was in a chain coffee shop this morning, across the road from our city museum, waiting with my 2 year old for it to open.

I was drinking my coffee, he sat opposite me eating raisins. Other people were working, or chatting, or reading the paper. You know, doing normal coffee shop stuff.

After a while, the boy gets up to wander around. He's not running, he's not sticky, he's just mingling. He walked towards a man with a laptop. Stood nearby him, and then said hello. Man looked up at me, and said 'do you mind, I'm concentrating here' in a really unpleasant way.

If I'd been with a couple of friends chatting we'd have made a lot more noise but I can't help but feel he probably wouldn't have told us off!

We were across the road from the university library (which has some open access areas) and all of 200m away from the city central library, so plenty of options for quiet. Blimey, he could even have sat in the cathedral for some quiet contemplation.

AIBU or was he?

This thread seems to resolve into people who think its fine to inflict their offspring on others (and then get snarked if the others don't like it), and those who are considerate.

Jus sayin.....

A 2 year old said hello, e man is being miserable.
And coffee shops are not that ' dangerous', for goodness sake, how silly. A child wandering near his mum, with his mum watching. How on earth can this be thought of as unreasonable? Madness, it's a child, part of society as much as anyone.

Saying hello is hardly inflicting your offspring on other people

I work in a coffee shop, a child walking is not dangerous

No one is snarked cos others don't like them "inflicting their offspring on others". They are snarked cos the man was rude and a miserable fucker.
I repeat, the toddler said 'hello' - the problem is?

No of course a shop full of people walking around with hot drinks poses no dangers to a child being allowed to wander away from his mum!

no, Whatme, it divides into miserable sods who thinks children should be seen and not heard in public (and that parents should be eternally vigilant against the potential 'boundary violations' of their evilly talkative offspring) and those who think this is a bit of a stupid expectation for a world which children actually live in.

At any rate, the moaners on here are not likely to get their precious peace in public so they can just carry on moaning, whining and flashing dirty looks at toddlers who dare to open their mouths. Kids who aren't yours will just insist on keeping being born and those selfish harridans who bred them just won't collaborate by gagging them in public.

Anyone who feels 'forced' into a conversation with a toddler who stands next to them and says something in a coffee shop has got massive issues imho. You clearly have no respect for either the child or the parent so why are you so bothered???

it's a child, part of society as much as anyone.

Yes, and everyone else was sitting down minding their own business so why couldnt he?!

PrincessTamTam- clearly the word 'hello' in the mouth of a toddler is a sort of deadly noise-bomb designed to destroy the concentration of innocent, vulnerable adults.... :)

duh, bogeyface. He's 2.

(Waits for bogeyface to claim SHE is such an amazing parent that all 6 of hers sat like obedient Victorian children at table from the age of 16 months...or that she would never have been so inconsiderate as to take them out to intimidate poor vulnerable adults)

whatme

I'd say there's people who don't mind being around other people and who recognise impoliteness and those who only like their own DCs, think being rude is fine.
He only said hello!

So you don't think there's any risk of someone spilling hot coffee or a tray of drinks in your coffee shop usual suspect? Is that what your risk assessments say? And there's no chance of a child being injured if they happen to be in the way of this?

oh yes and of course it is DANGEROUS for children to WALK in coffee shops. LOLOL

Forced into a conversation with a toddler!!! jesus christ, can you all hear yourselves on here. You were never once a toddler either. What the hell is happening when a person can't give a smile and a bit of a chat to a baby?

He may be 2 but that doesnt mean he can go around disrupting anyone he wants to, it is up to parents to encourage them with other activities which don't bother people who are obviously working. I don't see why people are struggling with this idea of parents keeping their own children occupied, I never realised it was so tough.

A child running would be considered dangerous, a child walking would not

There's nothing else for it, Noqontrol. All children must be banned from public space immediately. People carry hot drinks around at all times!! What if a child ran into an adult in the street and....DISASTER.

Honestly, this is becoming the funniest thread ever, in a deeply depressing sort of way

they aren't pesky flies you know to swat away. Grown ups have a lot to answer for.

I repeat, the toddler said 'hello' - the problem is?

The problem is that the kid should be sitting in his own seat not left to wander around and mingle. I don't want adults to "mingle" with me and i don't want kids to "mingle" with me either unless I choose it.

But I think what we have here is inconsiderate parents, which is why those people just cannot grasp that not everyone else is as into their PFB as they are.

Well as when working in a coffee shop I was carrying a tray full of thankfully empty cups when a child of about 3 ran straight into me sending me and the cups flying I would say it was pretty dangerous!

That snort was disdain in case you were wondering. But then some of us are a bit less precious in our everyday lives I suppose

Maybe he was having a bad day. And it sounds like he got his point across just fine.

Exactly whatmeworry

The man shouldn't have been rude, the child shouldn't have been wandering around. Seems pretty simple to me!