~patches~ wrote:
> Dave Smith wrote:
>
>> notbob wrote:
>>
>>
>>> While I can sympathize with your frustration, you gotta admit it's a
>>> bit silly to expect a controlled environment in a public place.
>>
>>
>>
>> Wait a sec.... a 4 star restaurant should be a controlled environment.
>> Screaming kids is what you have to tolerate when you go to family
>> restaurants and fast food joints where the low lifes cannot control their
>> brats.
>
>
> As empty nesters with adult children, I agree. OTOH, the parents
> couldn't control their child's crying anymore than the manager or owner.
> The responsible thing for the parents to do would be to leave the
> restaurant. A 4 star restaurant is not the place for a tired child that
> just won't settle and the parents should have realized that.
>
>
> IMO, I think the OP has a valid complaint but I don't think he handled
> it properly.
>
>>
>> I can understand the owner not wanting to talk to the parents. They are
>> the type of people who would bring their screaming brat into a nice
>> restaurant and probably never even consider what a pain in the ass their
>> little prince or princess is to people who do not appreciate. They
>> offered to move you to another section. You should have moved, or you
>> could have left and told the manager why. That would give him reason not
>> to admit rowdy children in the future.
>>
>>
>>> Next time you're looking for a romantic dinner, ask for some kinda
>>> assurance you'll get some peace and quiet ...that and slip the host a
>>> bigger tip.
>>
>>
>>
>> I really hate the idea that you have to bribe a host or hostess to get
>> what should be expected of a 4 star restaurant. I feel badly for the
>> waiter who got stiffed for a tip, but then I have my own thing about
>> being expected to pay a substantially higher tip for service because the
>> food is so much more expensive. When you go to a nice place one of the
>> reasons for the food being more expensive is the ambience. That ambience
>> didn't do much for the OP because it was spoiled by the brat.
>>
>
> At two years old, I hardly think the child was a spoiled brat. The
> child was simply tired and had enough of life for that day.
>

any child whose parents can afford to take them to a 4-star restaurant,
and are willing to inflict the inherent obnoxia of a preschooler on
people expecting a relatively refined dining experience is likely a
spoiled brat, yes.

> Correct me if I'm wrong but if we're paying for a romatic dinner we
> expect a certain level of ambience and that doesn't include children. If
> we wanted to be around children we would go to a fast food joint. So, I
> think the owner was wrong in this case. I also think the OP and his
> wife could have quietly told the owner they no longer desired eating
> there and went on their merry way to enjoy the evening without stiffing
> someone who had given them good service.
>
> Personally, had that happened to us, we would simply had told the owner
> that if you can't give us the level of service we expect, we will take
> our business elsewhere.

this is what i would have done as well. staying for their meal only
profited the owner. perhaps i have less tolerance for small children
where they are not welcome because i have one myself


--

saerah

"It's not a gimmick, it's an incentive."- asterbark, afca

aware of the manifold possibilities of the future

"I think there's a clause in the Shaman's and Jujumen's Local #57 Union
contract that they have to have reciprocity for each other's shop rules."
-König Prüß