Want to take petty obnoxious revenge on child-unfriendly cafe. suggestions?

[PrincessTeacake]

Before I lay it all out, I am a person that gets frustrated when small children act up in cafes with no interference. I sympathise with the staff who clean up after messy child patrons and if my two make a mess, I usually clean most of it up myself. Today's cafe however had no recourse for their behaviour.

Myself and two mums (I'm a nanny) were at a toddler group this morning, our bunch are very good friends and wanted to play together after the playgroup was finished. We agreed to bring them to a playground nearby but since it was just about lunchtime, we wanted to feed them first an this cafe (we'll call it BC) was between both places.

There were three adults and seven children, ages between 2 and 4, and the staff firstly gave us no assistance in getting our group seated. No high chair was offered for the very small just-turned-2 year old, I found it later in the bathroom. The children's menu was farcical, everything came with chips and although mashed potato was on the menu you couldn't substitute it for the chips without paying extra. My lone vegetarian option was pretty rank too but beside the point. I ordered 3 orange juices for me and my twin mindees, we got tap water and a thimble of squash in it.

The kids were sitting nicely but got a little high spirited in each other's company, started singing. I was mid-drink and about to stop them but the waitress jumped in before them, shushed them quite aggressively and told them they'd have to leave if they didn't be quiet. The older kids clammed up but one of the younger ones got upset and started crying.

They gave us the bums rush from start to finish. My two only left the table to use the bathroom with me in attendance and we were mostly engaged in a quiet game of I spy with one of the older girls. The waitresses kept butting in to clear the kids still mostly full plates and sweeping under and around our table which, honestly, wasmessy but not that bad. Finally the two mothers got fed up and left. I stuck around to finish my crappy salad, and when they asked me if my mindee was finished, I was sufficiently curt with her that they backed off.

In the meantime, the manager had gone outside to talk to the mums, and he told them that three people had walked out and said they wouldn't be back because of the kids. Even if that was true, and I saw nobody leave except the mums, It was a gross overreaction to an admittedly large group of small kids.

To put this in perspective, I had the twins at Yo Sushi the week before (to see the 'food train') where the waitresses were so impressed by their willingness to try yakitori, edemame and eating with chopsticks that they were over every few minutes praising them and gave them free desserts. I take them to loads of eateries and I've never been treated with such contempt.

So, revenge? I'm thinking of taking the mindees there every day after playschool and only ordering tap water and tea. Which we will nurse for three hours while quietly doing a jigsaw on the table.

If you don't want to encounter children.
Stay at home.

Our town has lots of cafes. One is deliberately aimed at parents with little kids. Several are often full of parents with little kids - they have space for prams and kids meals. There are also a couple which don't have room for prams and don't offer kids meals. There is something for everyone

I don't dissaprove of people going out with their kids. I used to take mine out all the time but now I avoid the cafes with kids in. I don't tut or give snarky looks but I prefer not to be disturbed by little kids. I also don't wont to be disturbed by Muzak or groups of drunk people.

Emilythorne don't be so ridiculous. If you don't want people to get annoyed/complain about your bratty, annoying kids then stay at home with them or teach them to behave themselves.

I like children - I actually work with them. But there is no excuse for parents foisting their badly behaved children on others rather than removing them or bringing them up properly.

artemis how rude.
It's really not called for to make abusive remarks about my children, whom you have never met and I did not mention.

I stand by my point that children have as much right to be in a cafe as adults.

I was not making abusive remarks about your children whom it is patently obvious I have never met and indeed I was not assuming you even have children in RL.
I was making a rhetorical point.
I could just as easily say, emily how rude, how dare you demand that I stay at home constantly simply because I do not want to be subjected to badly behaved children.

I am sure your children are lovely. And I agree that in principle, children have as much right to be in a cafe as adults. They do not have the right to ruin that experience for other people though. The right comes with the responsibility to behave - even if the responsibility is de facto exercised by the parent on behalf of the child if the child is too young to reason for itself.

Uh, I may have already said this but only three of the seven kids were involved in the singing incident. The other four were having their food divvied up by the mums. The small toddler started it but he's a mumbler, he was pretty low on the decibel scale. Then my two joined in while I was WTF-ing about the juice. After the waitress jumped in there was no further singing, just small toddler crying far louder than he had been singing.

For more speculative revenge that I would never actually take, maybe I could round up a cabal of K-pop fans for a meet in said cafe. A few blasts of Gangam Style would make Row your boat seem a lot less annoying.

But I didn't say that ppl should stay at home to avoid badly behaved children.
I glibly pointed out that it would be a way of avoiding children because of some remarks which suggest that children are a nuisance by their very presence.
Good or bad behaviour is a separate (and subjective) issue.

And my remarks we not directed specifically to you, whereas you referred to ^my^ children in your post.

you're very petty,if I paid your wages I'd want a well mannered nanny not petty nanny
no business needs to entertain or gush about your mindees,nor should you expect it
the singing was probably a cacophony of noise,with adults presuming it beautiful

what's badly behaved though?

The comments I see on MN are about nothing, just highly entitled easily irked people wanting all Dc to be locked away so their ultra precious time is what they call teacupful.

Another poster on another thread said DC are just easy bloody pickings. They are.

they do have to come out sometime you know to know what its like in public and how to behave.

i would rather have DD banging a spoon in a caff' and be told no by me than taking her somewhere rather more upmarket and going through the rigours.

what they call peaceful

razzle agree.

There is a difference between being not particularly child friendly & actively child unfriendly. I'd go back just once, to buy a cheap snack & try hard to leave a smelly nappy somewhere obvious.

I hope this is hyperbole,and no one would enact such pettiness
else I'd hope the cafe owner returns your soiled nappy to your handbag
it all smacks of entitlement and everyone has to love the children singing

emily I really, really wasn't directing my comments specifically at your children - I didn't even know you HAD children. For all I knew, you were a teacher, a nanny or someone with beloved nieces/nephews weighing in. It was a (badly worded, obviously) piece of rhetoric.

I would never presume to know what someone's RL children are on one post online, esp. one which didn't describe their behaviour.

I agree that badly behaved is subjective, and I am (because I work with kids) probably more tolerant than many people who glare at a dropped spoon/crying newborn. However, I really do think that sometimes, even oftentimes, parents of very noisy children just don't hear the noise/crying etc anymore as they are so used to it - I have been in lots of situations where a child is screaming/running about like a wild thing/climbing on stairs in a cafe obstructing the waiters and the parents have looked on indulgently/not seemed to notice at all. Not ok. Sorry if you disagree.

Scottishmummy, it is the most outlandish hyperbole. In real life the most I'll likely do is advise fellow mums/nannies in the area that the cafe provides sub-par service.

What irks me about this is that if all the kids had been singing, if they'd been running around getting under the waitresses feet, if they'd been throwing food the treatment would have been more justified and I'd have been failing as a nanny to look after them properly. They did none of these things, the cafe staff were anticipating them and attempting to make us leave before we were ready, which is discrimination, pure and simple. Its like the cafe owner that told my epileptic friend to go have her seizure in the bathroom when she clearly couldn't move. In thisday and age, its unnaccepptable.

Now, enough of this serious business, more revenge plots!

I read about a guy that served his resignation letter as icing on a cake. I could bake a batch ofcup cakes, each iced with a complaint about the service. It would be deliciously bizarre.

if unhappy take custom elsewhere.money has more impact than indignant ire

Message with your feet (ie don't return). I was recently at outing with 6 children (ages 8-11) and 8 parents. Mortified by children's behavior. Surprised (pleasantly) by indulgence of owner/staff (it was an off-time, thankfully). I will recommend the venue wholeheartedly b/c of their accommodation of unruly children.

Speak with the feet - pro or con.

Ok atremis. I see that you didn't mean to refer to my children.
I think it's a shame that my assertion that children should not be segregated To designated crappy eateries, and not welcomed in public, leads anyone to believe that I am suggesting everyone should be happy to be surrounded by "badly behaved" marauding toddlers.

Ah, to be in Italy again..it seemed that our dc were not only welcomed at any place we stopped for a meal, but often scooped up and taken off to be fed bits of yummy food.

Oh! I think I may have guessed the cafe from your poem..... Is it on the Northside? Fairview?

Right on the nose MC. Excellent sluething.

They did none of these things, the cafe staff were anticipating them and attempting to make us leave before we were ready, which is discrimination, pure and simple

They are a private business, not a childcare centre.

And despite your protestations, I suspect most people reading this are looking at "7 toddlers singing quietly" and "3 people walking out" and, applying their own experience, strongly suspect you are under-egging their disruptiveness.

The Cafe did nothing wrong, you and they just disagree as to how delightful a set of customers you were.

Ha! Am going to change my name to Sherlock...... The food there is shite, shame they were so rude and wanky to you.

I will recommend the venue wholeheartedly b/c of their accommodation of unruly children. Quote

But others would avoid the venue like the plague for the same reason. It can be very hard for restaurant managers to make the right call. Whatever they do they're going to be criticised by one group or the other.