Restaurant bans children...

Lollipops23 · 18-01-2013 08:49PM

Much as I hate loud kids in restaurants (and the parents who often don't seem to care), I don't think it's right to ban them. Personally I find a lot of grown ups more irritating than kids....

Feathers · 18-01-2013 08:53PM

jmayo wrote: »

Well unless you work with children I wouldn't be going round boasting about that.

Really?! They couldn't be a scout-leader, or run a youth club or a football team, or do first-aid training, or be in a community band or just even have nephews & nieces…?

The irony of asking someone to be more tolerant of kids, but implying if they've spent any time with kids & aren't a teacher or a parent they must be a paedophile… :rolleyes:

StinkyMunkey wrote: »

Great way to make more money in this economic climate - alienate half the population.

Unless im mistaken, we where all children once, im sure your parents would have been delighted to be told "hit the road".

So being a parent means you should be seen as some type of leper when it comes to eating in resturants. Why not ban all children from public view, so those poor people who dont have or dont want kids have to suffer them.

Get a grip, everyone was a child once, you dont like kids, then go to the drive-thru.

I own a restaurant & I decide that I'll get more business if I don't allow kids.
Some single people are happy and book a table.
Some parents who want a break from kids for a night out are happy and book a table.
Some parents going out with kids go somewhere else.
Some parents/single people going out without kids are outraged & never come again.

Surely as a business owner, I know this scenario is going to happen. So if I'm the only restaurant for ten miles around, I'm unlikely to do this. More likely, I own a restaurant surrounded by lots of others & I'm struggling to survive — if people are being more careful with their money & what they spend it on when they treat themselves, guaranteeing them a relaxing quiet atmosphere might give me the edge in a crowded market.

At the end of the day though, I'm in business to make a profit not as a public service & it's my gamble to make. Why shouldn't I be allowed to do this? Because I might offend a few people? I think the people who think it should be illegal are the ones who need to get a grip.

super_furry · 18-01-2013 08:54PM

It's simple economics. Adults without children have the most money to spend and are the target audience for many restaurants. Those restaurants are going to do whatever they can to appeal to this market and if banning children from their premises is something that will increase their popularity, they'll do it.

Lapin · 18-01-2013 08:55PM

Robbie Fox is one of the most obnoxious arrogant people I have ever had the misfortune to meet.

But, I agree with him 100% in this instance.

Geri Male · 18-01-2013 09:08PM

Robbie Pox.

UCDVet · 18-01-2013 09:13PM

If you don't like his policy, don't go to his restaurant.
If you do like his policy, go.

If there is demand for restaurants without children, more restaurants will follow suit. If there isn't, this one will go out of business.

No need for laws.

Lollipops23 · 18-01-2013 09:29PM

UCDVet wrote: »

If you don't like his policy, don't go to his restaurant.
If you do like his policy, go.

I think the issue here is if it's discrimination.

He's willfully banning citizens of this country from his restaurant.

If he decided to ban black people/travellers there'd be uproar. Same diff.

Feathers · 18-01-2013 09:32PM

Lollipops23 wrote: »

I think the issue here is if it's discrimination.

He's willfully banning citizens of this country from his restaurant.

If he decided to ban black people/travellers there'd be uproar. Same diff.

Equality legislation relating to agism doesn't apply to minors (& in some other cases, doesn't even extend to all adults — e.g. buying alcohol, running for election, etc.)

Jarrod · 18-01-2013 09:41PM

I remember getting booted out of an eaterie one time for being 'too damn old, man'. To my disgust none of my fellow patrons came to my defence, I warned them, I said ''If you tolerate this, then your children will be next''. Did they listen? My ars€ they did.

Lumen · 18-01-2013 09:49PM

I don't mind the discrimination, it's the "health and safety" excuse that boils my piss.

People who use H&S as a false shield deserve to have copies of the relevant legislation rolled up and shoved down their throat, Alien-style, by a vengeful robot, until they choke.

Morph the Cat · 18-01-2013 09:58PM

xLexie wrote: »

Have no idea why parents bring small kids to restaurants for anyway.

Food?

The Th!ng · 18-01-2013 10:01PM

I wish there was a restaurant where children were actually on the menu.

Morph the Cat · 18-01-2013 10:06PM

true-or-false wrote: »

I'm only 22.....

You're 22 - you know nothing about anything. Move along.

MagicSean · 18-01-2013 10:07PM

Where are some of the parents here getting the idea that expecting children to behave at mealtime is somehow unusual, or that telling them to behave is somehow cruel? How exactly do these people think their children will survive as adults if they won't teach them how to act like one.

MagicSean · 18-01-2013 10:10PM

Lumen wrote: »

I don't mind the discrimination, it's the "health and safety" excuse that boils my piss.

People who use H&S as a false shield deserve to have copies of the relevant legislation rolled up and shoved down their throat, Alien-style, by a vengeful robot, until they choke.

What has legislation got to do with it anything? Health and safety is a concept. Kids running around is not against the law but it poses a risk to the safety of people if waiters are trying to carry trays full of hot food around them.

Zebra3 · 18-01-2013 10:16PM

Lollipops23 wrote: »

I think the issue here is if it's discrimination.

He's willfully banning citizens of this country from his restaurant.

If he decided to ban black people/travellers there'd be uproar. Same diff.

So you think kids should be allowed into nightclubs?

18 rated movies?

:rolleyes:

Onthe3rdDay · 18-01-2013 10:19PM

Grayson wrote: »

If I'm on a long train journey I'll avoid seats near children. If some sit near me, I'll move. The last thing I want when I'm reading my book is to have kids screaming next to me. I even walked out of a Captain Americas recently because well over 50% of the people in there were kids and it sounded like a school yard.

It's simple economics. A lot of kids misbehave, so when you see one in a restaurant you're less likely to go in. I've seen this for myself from my student days working in a coffee shop. The coffee shop would be half fun and then quickly emptied when a particular person came in with a particular child. He was playing up and you could see this before you came into the cafe. This person came in a few more times before the no Children sign went up. As soon as the sign went up all the regular customers returned.

It was a health and safety issue because the child had a habit of going everywhere, but you wouldn't dare say a word.

oldyouth · 18-01-2013 10:42PM

Sprogs in restaurants at night are NOT acceptable. I know you work as hard as me, babysitters are expensive and you deserve your night out just as much as I do. Can we agree that you leave the rugrats at home and I won't spit on your steak?

And yes, I know that your darling Tarquin, Natasha or whatever is not like other kids and their manners are impeccable (yeah sure)

mariano rivera · 18-01-2013 10:54PM

He should ban the Nigerians too

Some of them are huge and would take up too much room

Also, like babies they can be terrible loud

awec · 18-01-2013 11:19PM

Kids misbehave, that's a fact of life. The problem is with the piss poor wishy washy parents who suck at disciplining their child after they misbehave. This leads to kids who have no fear of disobeying their parents because they know nothing is really going to happen. It leads to unruly little sh!tes who'll run about in public being a nuisance to everyone around them because they know mummy and daddy are of the "ah sure they're only kids" variety.

When I was younger if we went to a restaurant and I ran about the place making a nuisance of myself I would never have done it a second time. When I got home I'd have been left with no doubts that what I did was wrong and completely unacceptable.

This crap like "shouting at your kids is cruel" etc is total rubbish. Kids are very impressionable, so when they do something wrong they need to know that they are not supposed to do it.

Failure on the part of parents has led to things like this ban.

dan1895 · 18-01-2013 11:20PM

Jarrod wrote: »

I remember getting booted out of an eaterie one time for being 'too damn old, man'. To my disgust none of my fellow patrons came to my defence, I warned them, I said ''If you tolerate this, then your children will be next''. Did they listen? My ars€ they did.

Ah go write a song about it.

squod · 18-01-2013 11:26PM

Restaurants should ban unattractive people. They put me off my food life.

RH149 · 18-01-2013 11:30PM

My kids behave in a restaurant better than they would at home

.....precisely because we've always brought them to restaurants and they've learnt what is acceptable. Obviously we've brought them to family friendly restaurants....doesn't have to be McDs when it comes to kids, most pizzerias, TGI Fridays, other chain restaurants etc. are great for families. I wouldn't take them to a fancy restaurant, even though I know they'd behave because I don't think they're suitable for kids and I lke to go to those places on a night out without my kids or for a relaxing lunch. On holidays abroad they've been to nicer restaurants but only when I see they cater for kids and there are other families there....if they started to misbehave we'd just leave-there's nothing worse than kids running wild in a restaurant....even in McDs. Same when they were babies...if they were crying I'd take them outside and if they didn't settle we'd go home, nobody else had to suffer if my baby had wind!

My friend never brings her kids out to eat because they go wild in restaurants (would not go for lunch with her if I thought they were coming- if we want to chat I go to her house where they can go wild and not disturb anyone else!) but that is also the reason why they misbehave when eating out, they just aren't used to it. I think the 'yummy mummy' brigade who bring the massive buggies and drink their lattes and chat and ignore the restless kids are the ones this owner is trying to avoid and I don't blame him.

the groutch · 18-01-2013 11:35PM

Feathers wrote: »

I own a restaurant & I decide that I'll get more business if I don't allow kids.

Some single people are happy and book a table.

Some parents who want a break from kids for a night out are happy and book a table.

Some parents going out with kids go somewhere else.

Some parents/single people going out without kids are outraged & never come again.

Surely as a business owner, I know this scenario is going to happen. So if I'm the only restaurant for ten miles around, I'm unlikely to do this. More likely, I own a restaurant surrounded by lots of others & I'm struggling to survive — if people are being more careful with their money & what they spend it on when they treat themselves, guaranteeing them a relaxing quiet atmosphere might give me the edge in a crowded market.

At the end of the day though, I'm in business to make a profit not as a public service & it's my gamble to make. Why shouldn't I be allowed to do this? Because I might offend a few people? I think the people who think it should be illegal are the ones who need to get a grip.

totally agree with this, the owner was stuck between a rock and a hard place, either lose some parents as customers or lose the single people who had made the complaints as customers.
he probably weighed up which group of customers were most likely to make him money in the long term.

Frank Black · 18-01-2013 11:58PM

MagicSean wrote: »

What has legislation got to do with it anything?

The 1995 Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act has got everything to do with it.

MagicSean wrote: »

Health and safety is a concept. K

Not really for a business, see above.

gingernut125 · 19-01-2013 12:10AM

I'd like to add the restaurant in question is very busy at lunch times, and if people aren't in and out promptly then they lose a lot of business. Id think it's more much to do with space => speed of service, than noise.

lounakin · 19-01-2013 12:48AM

I don't know what kind of restaurant that is but if it's not totally awkward (small place/big buggies or inappropriate pubs) they shouldn't be allowed to do this. It's stressful enough being a parent and if you have the courage to go out with your newborn to enjoy some food then you should be applauded not sent packing. A restaurant should have the right to approach loud and obnoxious people bothering everyone else, they should also be able to approach parents and say: "if your kids don't stop screaming and throwing pie at the patrons we will have to ask you to leave" but should never assume a baby will make a fuss.

end of the road · 19-01-2013 01:12AM

awec wrote: »

Kids misbehave, that's a fact of life. The problem is with the piss poor wishy washy mushy parents who suck at disciplining their child after they misbehave. This leads to kids who have no fear of disobeying their parents because they know nothing is really going to happen. It leads to unruly little sh!tes who'll run about in public being a nuisance to everyone around them because they know mummy and daddy are of the "ah sure they're only kids" variety.

When I was younger if we went to a restaurant and I ran about the place making a nuisance of myself I would never have done it a second time. When I got home I'd have been left with no doubts that what I did was wrong and completely unacceptable.

This crap like "shouting at your kids is cruel" etc is total rubbish. Kids are very impressionable, so when they do something wrong they need to know that they are not supposed to do it.

Failure on the part of parents has led to things like this ban.

completely agree with you, some people these days even get angry and cry when they see pearents disciplining their children and go over and shout at them, yet said people shouting at those disciplining their children most likely have the most annoying little rug rats possible

Grayson · 19-01-2013 01:29AM

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

It's simple economics. A lot of kids misbehave, so when you see one in a restaurant you're less likely to go in. I've seen this for myself from my student days working in a coffee shop. The coffee shop would be half fun and then quickly emptied when a particular person came in with a particular child. He was playing up and you could see this before you came into the cafe. This person came in a few more times before the no Children sign went up. As soon as the sign went up all the regular customers returned.

It was a health and safety issue because the child had a habit of going everywhere, but you wouldn't dare say a word.

You reminded me of this article I read ages ago written by someone who used to work in a coffee shop. It details why she hated women with children. Well, some of them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/19/yummy-mummies-rude-demanding-cafes

lounakin · 19-01-2013 01:35AM

We wouldn't have problems like these if social life wasn't so kid-unfriendly. We all do what we can just because we have a child doesn't mean we suddenly have to abandon any chance of getting a coffee somewhere nice and opt for macdonalds or nasty shopping centre foodhalls. And before you judge someone's parenting, consider they might be doing their best and just looking to relax somewhere, hoping their kids will behave just enough not to be kicked out.

edit: I hate that article just above, most place I've been kids were fine, as for buggies, you wouldn't kick out someone in a wheelchair even if it meant a little help and a little extra room. It's just so callous! Little cafés with perfectly thin and proper people to please the uptight staff who complains about having to welcome different kinds of customers... I mean come on!

Restaurant bans children...

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