This 21-year-old guy is currently in college, and recently, he went out to eat with some friends. They decided to dine at a restaurant that’s close to campus. And apparently, the joint wasn’t exactly the nicest place ever.
But, according to him, the food is better than fast food, and he and his friends used to eat there whenever they wanted to celebrate a sort-of special occasion.
“This time, the occasion was that the four of us had passed our exams,” he said.
Anyway, they wound up getting lunch at the restaurant– which wasn’t totally packed but still pretty full.
There was bad weather in his area that day, too, so all of the patrons– who were mostly adults– wound up dining inside.
Anyway, they wound up getting lunch at the restaurant– which wasn’t totally packed but still pretty full.
There was bad weather in his area that day, too, so all of the patrons– who were mostly adults– wound up dining inside.
After they sat down, though, one older woman and one middle-aged woman wound up showing up at the restaurant with a baby and a kid between the ages of 7 and 10-years-old.
Now, he was seated facing the front door and saw the group walk into the restaurant. At the time, though, he claimed that he didn’t think anything of it– because he isn’t someone who easily gets annoyed by kids.
So, he watched as the women and their kids sat at a table in the corner of the dining room. Then, he and his friends just kept chatting while they waited for their food.
Eventually, he did notice that the kid started playing with the baby and making a little bit of noise.
“But then again, we all were making noise, as most of us were accompanied and chatting,” he reasoned.
Once his food arrived, though, he noticed that the older child started to wander around the dining room. First, the kid wanted to read a sign located near the front door. Afterward, he read a sign in the back.
Finally, the child needed to go to the bathroom before they wanted to go outside
At that point, he admitted to finding the child’s behavior a bit annoying– even though it was easy to just ignore the kid.
“I should say that neither of the women that were with him did anything to stop him, not at any time,” he explained.
But, later on, the kid’s behavior reportedly escalated. The child began yelling while running around the restaurant, and neither of the women stepped in. At one point, the kid also accidentally knocked into his friend’s chair, and he saw as other customers appeared annoyed by the kid’s behavior, too.
Then, since he and his friends were eating at a table in the middle of the room, the child started running in circles around their table. By the third time the kid tried to circle them, though, he was sick of it and put his arm out to stop the child.
Afterward, he told the kid to stop doing that and to go sit down– because it was inappropriate to bother other people in public spaces. He also told the child to wait until they got home to run around and claimed that if the kid didn’t behave, he would make the kid wait outside alone.
Now, he knows he obviously could not have done that. But he thought saying that would be enough to just scare the kid off
And I honestly don’t know how it came out,” he revealed.
“In my mind, I was quite calm. But apparently, I was screaming at the kid.
So, the kid started crying, and the child’s mother wound up coming over and telling him off for screaming. The mother claimed her son was just a kid who was playing– as children do.
But, he stood his ground and told the woman that he wouldn’t have had to step in if she controlled her kid and told him to quiet down beforehand.
At that point, a staff member entered the situation, too, and asked what all the commotion was about. So, the woman detailed how he had screamed at her kid, and he admitted to that as well. But he also recalled how he tried to “calmly explain” what pushed him to start yelling in the first place.
The staff member wound up just saying that he and the woman should both let the situation go. Plus, the next time an incident like that happens, the staff will manage it– not other customers.
The woman was still furious about what he did, though, so she ended up leaving. And even though his friends later agreed that they were annoyed, too, and even planned to complain to the restaurant staff, he did really yell at the child..
So, in hindsight, he realizes that he could have just approached the restaurant management and asked for their help.
And now, he’s been left wondering whether screaming at the kid and making him cry in the restaurant was the wrong way to handle the situation..
Can you understand why he got frustrated by the kid’s behavior? At the same time, was it okay for him to scream and threaten to leave the child outside alone? Wouldn’t it have been much better for him to just complain to the restaurant staff instead of pushing the kid to tears? How would you have handled this situation?
