Why do people think them/their children are the exception to rules?!

[lastqueenofscotland]

My friend runs a pub, I usually help out a few hours on a Saturday as it gets busy. Due to its location and not having a garden a condition on the licence is not allowing under 18s on the premises, the vast majority of people there are sports fans as it shows virtually everything and anything.

There is an ENORMOUS sign on the door saying no under 18s.

Despite this EVERY Saturday without fail about 10 parents will come in with their kids, excuses today were “oh but they’re 17,” “they are well behaved” “they’ll just be having a Coke.”
When you put your foot down they all without fail get huffy.
Where do these weirdly entitled people even come from?

Where is this adult only pub? where I live we are often subjected to toddlers running around into late evening! Drives me nuts.

There’s a beautiful garden in my town with lots of wonderfully scented flowers. It was left to the town by a lady who wanted the town to have a peaceful garden for the blind. Part of the conditions of it being left to the town was that it’s child free. There are signs stating this clearly at all entrances and an amazing kids playground about 200m away. People take their kids in there constantly as ‘their kids are well behaved and love the flowers’ and then proceed to walk all over/ pick all of the flowers. It drives me nuts, the level of entitlement is just mind blowing.

Given the number of people who push doors that are clearly marked pull, I would suggest they aren’t reading the sign on the door...

I know someone who always thinks them/their family is an exception. They'll always phrase it as though they're doing you a favour by doing as they please. They're always better/bigger/more exciting/just stopping briefly... If they'd been one of your families they'd be very vocal about how unfair as they were just....

I think the problem dates from childhood. Their family roll their eyes when they come across this behaviour and say "oh it's only Pete." "It's just the way he has"...
If they'd told him aged 8 that he was wrong he'd probably have realised and stopped this behaviour.
The sad thing is that they'll talk as though the whole world thinks they're special and is on tenderhooks awaiting that insignificant word from them, when actual fact a lot of people think they're a pain in the neck and totally up themselves.

I can see why someone would try to bring a 17 year old, thinking they look and act the same, and you meant no young children.

But the sign doesn't say 'no children' it says 'no under 18s'. That's pretty clear! Whatever the reason for it, the pub doesn't want under 18s there. That is their right.

People mentally filter out anything that looks like an advert or otherwise superfluous. Inattentional blindness is a well documented phenomenon. I doubt they’re ignoring the sign as much as not noticing it.

" It’s also perfectly legal to wear trainers and tracksuits in a pub - many pubs will still say you can’t. "

Yes, but I've gone into places that have that as a sign on the door and been let in. It's not really the same as something being a condition of the licence.

"Where is this adult only pub? where I live we are often subjected to toddlers running around into late evening!"

Where I live, hardly any allow children after 7pm.

If a pub has a license which says no under 18s then it is reasonable to enforce this and expect all customers to respect this.

When I was a child, all the pubs in our part of the world were adult only. The reality meant that not only were they child free, but mostly free of women as well. These days many pub/restaurants want as much trade as they can get and licensing laws have changed.

We rarely took our children into licensed premises, they were simply not well enough behaved and it was hard for us to enjoy being there. Once they became adults, they certainly made up for their earlier loss.

Not reading a sign is odd.

Not uncommon unfortunately. We have a huge 'Entrance' sign at my work. We have people park in front of it and still use the door at the opposite end of the premises. Others then follow and queue the wrong way blocking the whole damm place up.

We also have a huge sign above the counter saying 'Counter service' . If we are really busy and there is a queue we get some person who thinks this doesn't apply to them and will approach a staff member clearing tables and ask if it's table service? Yep the people are all standing in a line over there just for fun.
We also.have opening times on the door...we still get idiots coming in 3 mins before closing while we are finishing cleaning the place from one end to another (or when we are closed, trying the damm door) whinging they were looking forward to a meal with a sad face as if we should be gagging to fire up the kitchen again and all stay back for an hour just for them!

The stupidity and selfishness of some people never ceases to amaze me.

Many many many many people are either a) entitled b) stupid c) can't be bothered to read things d) belligerent e) whatever else. The number of people left, who are rational and reasonable and can see that rules apply to them too, is probably quite small. Hence you will continue to encounter this. Best to get used to it.

It's not some parents, it's some people. They'll be massively entitled in all other parts of their life too, the rules just don't apply to them and/or they're so fucking special that everyone should make an exception for them. When they become parents, this extends to their incredibly special children. They will also monopolise the slide at soft play and try to insist your child gives their screaming brat the toy they're playing with, because Little Johnny is so special and must have the toy immediately because that's what he wants.

Quite a few pubs in my city have no under 18s as a condition of their licence, it's quite common. And guess what? I don't try and take my child into them!! I do make a mental note for child free nights though Many pubs in my local area are v family friendly but also have no children after 8pm as a licence condition too.

There’s a beautiful garden in my town with lots of wonderfully scented flowers. It was left to the town by a lady who wanted the town to have a peaceful garden for the blind. Part of the conditions of it being left to the town was that it’s child free. There are signs stating this clearly at all entrances and an amazing kids playground about 200m away. People take their kids in there constantly as ‘their kids are well behaved and love the flowers’ and then proceed to walk all over/ pick all of the flowers. It drives me nuts, the level of entitlement is just mind blowing.

There’s a park like that in Torquay. There was a bit of an upset a couple of years ago as a wedding party wanted to have photos there but there was a girl already sunbathing and wouldn’t move for them. They got even less sympathy when people realised there were kids in this wedding party even though the garden was child free.

robin that’s exactly the one I meant

People like this huff because quite often huffing gets them what they want, and people are less likely to stand up to them. So it's learned behaviour which is constantly reinforced each time they manage to huff their way into getting what they want. Why would they bother changing??!

Some people definitely think they are the exception to the rule. Unfortunately you seem to encounter them in all walks of life!

Not reading a sign is odd.

Having worked in restaurants and other establishments that use signs to share information with clients, I assure you that not reading signs is a regular occurrence.

@Inkstainedmags

Not reading a sign is odd.

Having worked in restaurants and other establishments that use signs to share information with clients, I assure you that not reading signs is a regular occurrence.

The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Women voting for men who take away their rights is odd but unfortunately happens every day.

Maybe your ENORMOUS sign should explain why?

It says they're not allowed, why does it need to say more because the entitled idiots think it doesn't apply to them?
A friend sent their sons to an expensive boarding school because they worked abroad. One of the boys was grounded in the Sixth Form for smoking and she was furious, how dare the rule which they accepted when they signed up to the school apply to their dear son! Moi? Non!

@JingsMahBucket

I didn't say they were mutually exclusive. I just said it happens all the time.