To arrange to descend on my local Starbucks with an army of toddlers after being told to keep my one year old laughing child quiet in there today by miserable manager?

[Elsmom]

I would understand if I was letting him run riot but he was sitting lovely (for once!) and laughing!

He might be my son and I obviously think he is the best thing to have graced the planet but believe me I do not find his shrieking, screaming or tantrums endearing in any way shape or form! I'm not so blinded by love that I cannot tell the difference between a normal baby laugh and an ear splitting shriek! I promise you, he was chuckling away and I cannot fathom how that could offend this woman! My sister was with me and she's also completly baffled!

My local starbuck os a bugaboo,and huge pram compound.you know that going there
I wouldnt bother with manager,send a measured email to hq though

Perhaps the manager is a secret baby kidnapper with a magic flute and its been some years since he kidnapped a whole football teams worth of kiddies and he's been attended pied piper anonymous groups and the laugh nearly tipped him over the edge?

My Starbucks is rammed with babies, kids everywhere.

It's so hot and your making me really want a chai frappuchino :(

Your baby sounds very cute, I love a good belly laugh

Poor woman must have just been having a moment!
Yanbu.

I would feel like that if I worked there! Hate the place. Cannot see the fuss. Ditto MacD's.

I think the heat is making sane people crazy

I could understand it if it was prolonged and the laughing was actually more like shrieking, as some babies do, or if it was a whole group of loud babies...... But this doesn't seem like that.

It has got to the stage, though, where it is almost impossible to get into our Starbucks as it seems to be the meeting place of nannies and au pairs with prams and loud babies from first thing after school drop off til pick up time after school. And when you are in there, there's no way to hear your own conversation.

But that's irrelevant to you OP - it doesn't sound like that at all.....

You do realise you need to obtain approval from a stringent panel of cats -bum -mouthed individuals to take a small child out in public.
I hope he was holding his pastry fork in the correct hand (the right btw)
And really, you shouldn't have him laughing, becaus either people might be feeling miserable, and while it's fine for their space to be invaded by adults with nose-bleed inducing BO, or the boorish noise of ppl holding very important conversations among their grown up peers, the sound of a toddler laughing might be a tiny weeny bit too high pitched.
YAbu
And you need to move to turkey or Portugal or Greece or Spain or cyprus where your laughing toddler will have his cheeks squeezed affectionately.

The staff in the 3 starbucks local to me are all lovely to children, they even have toys and books for them to play with. Definitely complain as from my experience it is the staff member and not the chain.

Yanbu. Some people are so fucking miserable it's unreal. It's a baby laughing fgs.

I still think you are not telling us the whole truth OP - I'm guessing there was a lot of loud parenting and child noise.

I love a baby/toddler giggling, coming up to say hello, singing etc. Makes me all misty eyes for when my three horrendous hormonal monsters were little.

But when a parent doesn't get that a couple of minutes of this is lovely but 10 minutes begins to seriously grate given that most people in Starbucks are after the bliss of coffee/paper/peace and quiet for a little slither of their day...it's very annoying.

Vote with your feet and don't go back there if you feel you were treated unfairly. Or yes have a quick word with the manager. Your baby sounds gorgeously happy btw!

Starbucks is not a private members club for newspaper reading adults.
It's a public place.
Full of ppl slurping, rustling, talking, laughing, clattering spoons etc.
I find that children are no more noisy (and certainly a lot less smelly) than most adults.

:o TheReal - I think that a lot reading MN.

I think the manager sounds totally unreasonable BUT probably was having a shitty day/ week/ hates her job ... I suppose even a manager in Starbucks isn't paid well enough to be expected to be saintly and smiling and reasonable all day everyday...

She was in the wrong but I don't think I'd make a big deal following up on it if it were me.

I'd be complaining to head office in very stern words and assuring them the only possible recompense is free coffee for life. And a play area for your son. In my opinion we need way more laughing babies in starbucks.

Sad to say I have had similar experience. We went to Lake District on holiday in winter. After walking around for a bit, we entered a coffee shop to 'defrost' our toes and have a cup of coffee, pushing my 8 month old in the buggy. After settling down at a table I went up to the till to ask for 2 cups of coffee, to be asked "So that's all you're buying?", to which I responded with a slightly bewildered "yes". She then told me "Don't you dare go changing your baby in my bathroom". Wimp that I am, I walked back to my table without responding. After coffee, I mustered up courage to walk up to her and ask her what that was all about. She said "Women of your type

I'd not be complaining because anyone can have a bad day.
It is bloody hot.

Which is why more ppl should be washing themselves and wearing deodorant.

Amanda - agree. Of course you have to accept there will be chatters and children otherwise don't go into a coffee house.

But parents should know that not everyone wants extended laughter/ chattering from a child.

When my three were little i was very aware (too aware?) of this and for eg wouldn't let them cry or bang or make any kind of loud noise for more than a few seconds.

Nor would I let them go and say hello to someone more than once, no matter how well that person reacted. I understood people were being polite but weren't as enchanted by my own dc as I was. I still think this was likely to be shouting/shrieking too.

Eurgh Shoutymom, what a vile woman you encountered! There really are some nasty miserable people out there, they can't be happy if they think it's ok to speak to people like that! Very sad.

shoutymom that is just awful. Really disgusting. I'd still be seething about it too, no matter how many years later. I assume too many years have passed for you to be able to put up an online review on tripadvisor or similar? The miserable old cow sounds like she deserves a comeuppance.

She sounds as though she was having a bad day, but like backbystealth I'm wondering how long it went on for and if there was loud parenting going on.

Just don't go to Starbucks. They were dodging UK corporation tax for years and years.

Just to clarify.... My child was LAUGHING. In between eating his sandwich. Therefore had nothing in his hands to bang, was not shrieking, it was intermittent, basically a nice happy sound in an already noisy bustling environment. A noise which most people would enjoy, not just me as his parent! I have walked out of a pub restaurant before mid meal when he was being loud and disturbing others, and stopped going out for meals altogether while he was going through a phase where he would not sit and eat in a way that would not disturb others. I am aware of people around us and would not have allowed him to be loud enough to ruin other peoples coffee/meals etc. this is why it's annoyed me so much, I haven't just gone all defensive, if she had a point I would have happily apologised and tried to keep the noise down. However that wasn't the case.

Honestly, if my child had been shouting/ shrieking this post would not even exist. I don't know why some of you find it so hard to believe that this woman was plain rude without reason, and prefer to assume that I can't tell the difference between my child being excessively loud and disruptive or sitting calmly and having a normal giggle. There are plenty of other examples on here from other peoples experiences so I'm pretty sure these type of miserable sods exist and are out to take their misery on their paying customers.

Elsmum, I'd drop Starbucks a little tweet. And I'd certainly go back with my happy baby to piss the manager for a latte.