Today M & I went out to lunch with a good friend after we all went to music class. We were dining in a South End Bistro, the kids were being VERY good, we were all enjoying our food quietly in a corner booth. It is a popular swanky spot, so it was filling up quickly around noon (as we were finishing up).
The hostess goes to sit a party of two not directly next to us, but one table away. Now, this place is not a large establishment, but there is still a decent amount of room between tables, and he would have been one table away. She gestures towards the table, but the middle aged, fat, balding slob (who looks like an alcoholic George Costanza, sans glasses) decides to sit wherever he wants, which is across the aisle at another two top. And why may you ask? Well he told us all!
"I don't do kids."
After he said it, I thought, "did I hear that right? He doesn't 'do' kids?" I played the scene back in my head and it made complete sense to me. He didn't want to sit NEAR our lovely, extremely well-behaved kids, so he sat about an additional 5 feet away from us, right in my line of sight.
I totally understand people wanting to go out for adult meals, with adults and have adult conversations. But this man came to a restaurant in the South End (for those of you not familiar, it is not a business district at all, but a trendy-hipster-family friendly neighborhood that is primarily gay, and fabulous, and known for its quaint restaurants) where we were not the only women with children there - there were two other tables with babies, all of whom were quiet as can be! It wasn't like we were in some fancy shmancy restaurant where kids should never go - this place is very kid accommodating! They have children's menus that you can color in for the love of Elmo!
What did this ass hat think was going to happen if he sat near us? Would we allow our kids to throw food at him? Would we allow them to knock over glasses on his table and ruin his cheap polyester pants? And how did this extra 5 feet make a difference!!!
I was so offended that I actually wanted to get the kids riled up and cause a scene, just to ruin his lunch, but no, our kids were little angels.
I told my friend what I had just heard and she had the best comeback - "Oh! Well we don't do assholes, so it works for both of us that you don't sit there!"
Why was I so offended by this???
Not sure why you were offended. I don't expect anyone to welcome me and my 3 kids, it's just nice when they do. We are in the thick of the "tough" years and if he decided not to have kids and wants a quite lunch that's fine, he can ask to sit somewhere else. And if there had been no other table? No one was asking you to to leave, he would have left I suppose.
ReplyDeleteI think I just took it personally - like my kid was going to cause chaos because she was a brat. I totally don't mind that he chose not to sit next to kids, as everyone has the freedom to do that, but he didn't have to vocalize it so that we could hear him.
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