Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Original poster

Did I overreact to incident in restaurant?

172 replies

fatgirlonthebeach · 08/09/2019 06:35

Currently on holiday in Greece and was out last night for a meal with DP. It's quite normal here for cats to wander around the outside tables hoping to be given a bit of food. I like cats but I don't feed them as I know some taverna owners don't like it. We had finished our meal when a couple sat on the table next to us and started to feed the cats. I didn't have a problem with this until one poor cat started throwing up right underneath my chair. It really upset me and I didn't want to stay sitting where I was with cat sick on the floor so I told DP we would have to move to another table to finish our drinks.

The couple who had fed the cat saw me trying to move and heard me say (to my DP) that it was disgusting and I wasn't happy to stay sitting where I was. The couple glared at me as if I had gone mad and was making a big deal of it (whilst they happily carried on eating). I had a bit of a job getting away from our table as we were sat in a corner and the couple had put their bags on their spare chair which was blocking my exit. They made no attempt to move the chair to help me get out and carried on looking at me as if I was overreacting.

DP and I moved to another table and finished our drinks. The taverna owner came over to ask why we had moved so I explained and he apologised but I didn't blame him at all and smiled happily and said it was no problem.

DP seems to think that I overreacted and that we should have stayed at our table. He also wanted to order another round of drinks but I really wasn't happy to stay sitting where I was. The cat-feeders clearly thought I was bonkers.

Did I overreact? Would you have stayed sitting there with cat sick under your chair?

OP posts:

SocialAwks · 08/09/2019 09:25

Ah I hate this, you wouldn't feed stray cats at a restaurant at home so why do it on holiday.
I have a cat, her vomit stinks and sometimes there's a lot of it, you don't want to sit and potentially put your feet in our slip in cat puke.
I'd have probably started to move tables as soon as I heard the familiar hack of a cat being sick with a few "eugh yuck" thrown in for good measure.
I'd probably have said something to the feeders too for being rude by not moving their bag. Did they have it on a chair so as to avoid cat sick on the floor perhaps? Bet they'd have shifted it if it had been where a cat was puking

AnnaMagnani · 08/09/2019 09:35

Am reading this thread wondering if we committed a massive faux pas with all the cats we fed at tavernas in Greece. It seemed to be positively encouraged and a lot of the owners had names for the regular cat customers.

Everywhere you go most of these stray cats are being fed somewhere.

No, I wouldn't have wanted to sit over some cat sick but I have got them to clean it up, or move, or both without an announcement of it being disgusting or being bothered about glares from other tables.

Ragwort · 08/09/2019 09:44

YANBU but this thread clearly shows how many cat lovers are around .
I don’t like cats, I know that is a sin on Mumsnet, and it is one thing I don’t enjoy about holidays where there are cats wondering around.
Of course you are not unreasonable to move, you didn’t make a scene, you just moved to a more comfortable seat ... Brits are notorious for putting up with situations they don’t like for fear of being ‘difficult’.

Shmithecat2 · 08/09/2019 09:45

@AnnaMagnani

I must faux pas all over the world, I'm forever feeding strays/ferals. In Cyprus last year there was a whole colony, mainly neutered, living by the hotel we stayed at. I fed them every mealtime (we were AI). One or two were poorly, so I was straight to the chemist to get medication, kitten food from the nearest pet shop for one of the poor sods that couldn't eat properly due to an infection in its mouth. It's beyond my comprehension how anyone can lack enough empathy that they wouldn't feed a hungry stray.

vanillaicedtea · 08/09/2019 09:48

You were 'upset' by cat sick?

You're a bit precious.

RavenLG · 08/09/2019 09:49

Like anyone would be happy to sit and finish their drink plus have another drink sat with their feet in sat sick. The competitive “coolness” on MN makes me laugh. The cat feeders should have cleaned it up not the poor restaurant owner!

crosspelican · 08/09/2019 09:52

It's a bit of a non-event, really. I wouldn't have cut my evening short over it - you gave it too much head space (and are continuing to do so).

Feeding the cats at the table is a bit gross though, and just trains them to beg. They're also always dragging bits of meat around the place and leaving it, (and vomming!) which attracts other vermin and is minging for the staff. We live in Greece for part of the year and you would never see Greeks doing this.

Shmithecat2 · 08/09/2019 09:55

@crosspelican

We live in Greece for part of the year and you would never see Greeks doing this.

Maybe if there was a little more responsibility towards general animal care, TNR etc, no one would have to do it.

DadDadDad · 08/09/2019 09:56

You were 'upset' by cat sick?

You're a bit precious.

That's ridiculous. I feel slightly queasy just reading about sitting in a restaurant with cat vomit under the chair, so I certainly couldn't enjoy sitting at a table with that there. Clearly, some people are used to cats and don't feel the same, but don't dismiss others' discomfort.

It's not unreasonable to move tables for any reason if it doesn't affect anyone else - so those objecting (either on MN or that couple at the restaurant) are the ones over-reacting.

LemonScentedStickyBat · 08/09/2019 09:57

Every one of my Greek family and friends would have expected the mess to be cleaned up immediately or damn right they’d have moved. And if the cat feeding couple were British and eating in Wetherspoons I can just imagine their Daily Mail sad faces if they were expected to eat near a pile of cat vomit. Of course you were 100% reasonable.

AnnaMagnani · 08/09/2019 09:59

You wouldn't feed stray cats at a restaurant at home so why do it on holiday

I've given this some careful consideration, having never seen a stray cat in a UK restaurant but honestly, if I did, I really would feed it. before calling the Food Standards Agency

LemonScentedStickyBat · 08/09/2019 10:00

And for those upset by the idea of not feeding the cat, what my mum and aunties do is save a bit of food and feed the cats away from the tables. Like most people would do in their homes.

dollydaydream114 · 08/09/2019 10:04

I’m not particularly squeamish but I wouldn’t have wanted to sit at a table with cat sick under it either and I’d have either moved or asked the cafe staff if they’d mind mopping it up. Absolutely fine if it doesn’t bother some people - but also perfectly normal that it bothers others.

Assuming that when you used the word ‘disgusting’ it was about the cat sick and not about the people feeding the cats, YANBU.

Tellmetruth4 · 08/09/2019 10:04

YWNBU. I would not want to sit next to any type of sick in a restaurant. It’s gross and unhygienic.

ShirleyPhallus · 08/09/2019 10:11

And for those upset by the idea of not feeding the cat, what my mum and aunties do is save a bit of food and feed the cats away from the tables. Like most people would do in their homes.

I’d never feed a stray cat in my home

crosspelican · 08/09/2019 10:15

Maybe if there was a little more responsibility towards general animal care, TNR etc, no one would have to do it.

Well yes - there are too many sick feral cats in Greece, but that's a different conversation - the OP mentioned nothing about the cats in question being nigh unto death or the cat-feeding couple doing it out of compassion for the furry victims of inadequate Greek animal welfare policies

MitziK · 08/09/2019 10:20

I wouldn't have cared, as it wouldn't be on the table, but DP would have wanted to move.

He wouldn't have made a big fuss about it, though.

So I think you weren't unreasonable to want to move, but were in making a bit of a song and dance about it.

greentheme23 · 08/09/2019 10:28

I think if it affected how you enjoyed your meal then you had every right to move and it's not anyone else's business. Just like they had every right to move to another table if they wanted.

cushioncovers · 08/09/2019 10:33

Moving to a different table wasn't overreacting cat vomit stinks but if you made a big verbal fuss about it then yes that was overreacting imo.

heveranne · 08/09/2019 10:36

Mmm. I can understand why you moved. But I can't help feeling that you must have made a bit more of a drama out of it than you're owning up to.

Cheeserton · 08/09/2019 10:36

It's just not a big deal either way is it?

gingersausage · 08/09/2019 10:41

Who are all these people who give other people “dirty looks” and glare at them in public all the time? Am I lucky or just oblivious that I never see them?? I wonder if they are the same people that give themselves motion sickness “turning round” to say things 😉.

Surely the normal reaction would be to think “urgh yuk”, move tables, and then completely forget it ever happened.

JingsMahBucket · 08/09/2019 10:49

This thread is bat shit. There’s no way in heck a reasonable person would listen to a cat loudly vomit up its food under your chair then sit there politely while trying not to get your shoes or feet in it. People are either lying or being contrarian for fun and to just get a rise out of the OP.

zukiecat · 08/09/2019 11:01

That wouldn't bother me at all, I have cats so I'm used to it.

At most I would have cleaned it up myself, no big deal.

I'd be disgusted if someone "nudged a cat with my toe" as a previous poster implied

unitednations · 08/09/2019 11:03

Having read the OP post I was waiting for the punch line so to speak. Perfectly acceptable and understandable that you would want to move. Did something else happen ?

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7