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 has now really become hilarious! Alliez that is a surreal post! I can't wait for the next installment...

Not the word police. Just think it's hilarious that the op thinks her toddler is 'mingling'. Surely mingling involves being able to read body language, know when to approach people, when to back off; and, most importantly, it's usually done at parties where people are choosing to mingle. I would not be remotely interested in talking to a random toddler. The chances are, if the guy had responded, the toddler would probably continue even more at him

And no, I;m not the child catcher either. I loved my own toddlers (enough to actually talk to them myself when I took them out) but I don't find everyone elses interesting.