To ask a parent to move their buggy from a café so I can sit down?

[TheUmberFawn]

Went to a busy café at lunchtime. One table was occupied by a mum with a large pram taking up the space of two chairs. There were no other free tables, so I asked politely if she could move it so I could sit. She gave me a dirty look and mumbled something about needing space. I get that babies come with stuff but why should that mean no one else can sit? AIBU for asking?

Yabu

I’d have done that British thing of just waiting for a table to come free. I wouldn’t disturb someone sitting at a table already, particularly just a two-seater table.

I thought YWNBU as you were talking about a spare table, but YWBU, as it wasn't a spare table.

I did not 'rant about this one', I used my recent experience to illustrate that the OP has a point.
Did not rant, did not say anything about owning a pram, just pointed out that some with prams are selfish, some are not. Some without prams are selfish, some are not.

Presumably you saw how busy the cafe was when you walked in and you chose to stay there anyway.

You knew that there were no free tables.

You can't just expect to sit down at someone else's table, especially when there were 2 people already at a 2 person table.

There wasn’t room though? It was a 2 person table with 2 people already sitting there.

What point do you think the OP had, because 2 people were already using a 2 person table. OP is the selfish one expecting everyone to move around and take up less than a normal amount of space to accommodate her.
If it’s too busy you take away or just wait

Op You Are Being Unreasonable.

There was a Mum and Baby at the table. Where exactly were you expecting her to put the buggy?

Where exactly were you expecting her to put the baby?
Highchair would take up more space
On her knee is unsafe if she has a hot drink.
Or is trying to mix up a bottle 🍼 using a flask (edit I never bottle fed, it looks a pure faff with a zillion bits, bottles powder, flask or getting a bottle in a jug of hot water. But it needs space for all the stuff)

What about mums privacy if she wants to breastfeed?

Op you seem to have forgotten what life is like with a young baby. It's ok we all forget. Just don't be so rude again. Have a bit of empathy and remember that being a new mum can be overwhelming at the best of times

Are you in the UK OP? It's absolutely not common for two strangers to share a two person table, no matter how busy the cafe is.

A four person table, potentially, but probably still not if it's a mum with a baby- most new mums don't want strangers in their personal space when they're out with a young baby.

@Nettleteaser101buses where I live have a space for wheelchairs and opposite a space for prams. They no longer have the luggage area so we have nowhere to store folded prams 🤷🏻‍♀️

YANBU. The chair was available to sit on and you are a paying customer just as much as the mother with her baby in a pram. I’m sure she would have done the same if you had been at the table first. I would ignore the dirty look or just smile back.

Are you ‘most people’ or in fact just one person?

Judging by the responses on this thread, plenty out there agree with me.

I’d be flabbergasted if I was sitting at a small table in a cafe and some randomer thought she could just sit down and join me.

YABVU

You wanted her to fold up her large pram - that the baby was in! - and eat her lunch and drink her coffee with her baby in her arms?

Bugger that.

If she’s bought lunch in a café and been early enough to get a small table, she’s perfectly entitled to eat it in peace, not juggle her baby in her arms while she does so.

You are unreasonable. No one has ever asked to share 2 person table with me in a busy cafe when I've been on my own and I would've pulled a face at you with no pram or baby.

This is ridiculous, you asked to share her small 2 person table, despite there already being 2 people (her and baby) at that table. If there's no space go elsewhere or get takeaway.
The only tables that get shared in coffee shops near me are long trestle ones. I would have kindly said no this is my table had you asked me

You’re being unreasonable.
You had no entitlement to demand to sit at her table.

The chair might have been free but the table and space wasn’t. Perhaps OP could have moved the chair to wherever she expected the pram and baby to go?

That's so rude. Would you like to BF in front of a complete stranger?

Ultimately it's an invasion of privacy and space. Especially with a nosy baby who pulls off to look round the room leaving you exposed. And no i wouldn't eat with a cloth over my head and neither should any baby be forced to either.
Just give mum space.

Yes yes yes!

Exactly and it's so flipping unsafe to sit with a baby and hot tea or coffee.

Baby's aren't dolls they move and grab things.

Baby's and coffee don't mix

Massively unreasonable

And of course you targeted the mum with a baby alone. I highly doubt that was the only table not fully occupied.

You knew what you were doing.

Yet another reason my local coffee place has a “No under 16 allowed” rule.

Exactly. It’s not the equivalent of asking someone to move their bag on the train, the equivalent would be asking them to move their child off the seat. I’d say no to that, too.

YABVU!
I would have been annoyed too. She picked a two seater table for her & her baby and you told her to move her pram so you could sit down !
I’d have said no to you even If I didn’t have a baby with me

I initially vote YANBU but didn’t realise you wanted to share her table. She got there first and got a table so YABU.

I would have been pretty frustrated too & may have declined depending on the amount of space.