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?

LOL Popcornia. Sadly if the miserable were banned from coffee shops in Britain a number of chains would collapse.

Children are the most precious undamaged things in the world, I just wished the miserable sods would piss off to miserable island and stay there.

worker isnt compelled to acknowledge your son
but hes also not entitled to act as if hes in his office, so no disturbance etc
its a coffee shop not his work hub

Enough with the miserable comments.At least find a new word. Anyone for a thesaurus?

Perhaps Vulgaria missf ? Lovely and child free!

the non-miserable should be banned.

I do agree about the coffee shop not being his fucking office so he can take the pole out of his arse...for sure.

Ignoring the child seems ruder to me than what he did,Mama,but YMMV.

I already live on a miserable, rainy island.

I think whatmeworry is pointing out logical inconsistency in the encouragement of children addressing strangers, and there possible outcomes.
Taken to the extreme, of course.

Well, I thought it was funny.

Has it not occurred to people that they have no idea what is going on in someone's life - for all you know he may have been passing time waiting to visit someone seriously ill - there are all sorts of reasons why he might not have wanted to be pleasant.

god faversham,that kids are...is schmaltzy clintons cards sentiment
kids are the most precious widdle thing in world to their family. not to anyone else. in fact i ofetn look at other kids and think eugh what are you doing

Note to self - don't go into a coffee shop,unless cheerful.

Witha how about wretched?

He could have been looking for information on the cancer he has just been diagnosed with .......

but hey, he should still make time for an unwanted interruption from a small child

We obviously have a different SOH then

Maybe people who are miserable, for good reason, would like a coffee.

Oh yeah his leg could have just dropped off.

I couldn't agree more exotic, yet the concept of personal privacy in a public seems alien to some posters.

Never get bad news and have a coffee.

Maybe Cherry, I suppose I don't see what the big deal is really - there seems to be a massive assumption that this young child was being bothersome, when he just said hello.

His wife could have just ran off with the gardener

:o scottishmummy

Anything but miserable.

It is like the person saying to me 'cheer up love- it might never happen'- it had happened - which seems to beyond some people's understanding.