A Georgia restaurant is gaining national attention for charging customers a fee for “bad parenting.”
The menu at Toccoa Riverside Restaurant – about two hours north of Atlanta – offers a selection of dishes like steak, trout and American fare. But look a little closer, and you’ll notice something else.
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I've got mixed feelings on this.
When I go out to eat, which is rarely, I expect a meal that can be eaten in peace without kids running rampant around the restaurant. I also understand that kids are going to be kids and sometimes they don't always behave in public despite their parent's best efforts, and this is coming from somebody that doesn't care for children.
So who's making the call on this? Is it only the manager or some waitress that's tired and cranky because she's been on her feet for the past 10 hours? Or is it a Karen customer that looks for shit to bitch about? And does it include a child that starts crying because the parents tried to make the kid finish their dinner?
Then, given the other charges further down in the article, it makes me wonder if the restaurant isn't just trying to milk you for whatever they can on top of a 20 or 25% tip, something I can guarantee they're not going to get if they hit the parents with a 50 dollar charge for misbehaving kids.
Wow wc, did ya watch it - bc it was exactly what I expected, a JOKE charge, tongue in cheek reminder to watch your brats. I've waited tables - I applaud the restaurant
ReplyDeleteThe facts - 5 families w 11 kids rolled in - and for the "first time ever" they added the charge.... but didn't actually collect said charge but suggested they should pay bc damn, those kids were not controlled
So take a pill, relax, just a joke. I especially laughed that pundits said it was "discriminatory" - bunch of fuking snowflakes everywhere
Mind yer damn kids, won't be a charge (joke or not)
ch
Trip the little commies. a couple of face plants will settle them.
DeleteYeah, this. My wife and I have nine, and the only good answer to this policy is "it depends." Frankly, some people DO need the "reminder" to keep a lid on it. And enforcing this policy on them is exactly what's needed to communicate to the parents that failure to do their duty will cost them. OTOH, this policy could also be applied in a whimsical and arbitrary manner. A $50 charge because somebody is having a bad day and decides to take it out on the parents over behavior that could and would be not even noticed on any other day? That's not cool.
DeleteSo whether this is a good policy or not all comes down to when and how it's enforced. As wirecutter pointed out, this particular restaurant has lots of "extra charge for being a f*kin ijit" policies, which leaves me thinking that this charge, like all other such charges they have, is very seldom applied and almost never enforced. Which is exactly as it should be. So I think I'd probably side with the restaurant on this one.
I've heard it said that grandkids are the reward for raising your kids right. If you don't raise your kids right, then you have to raise your grandkids. It's not universal, but there's a lot of truth in that.
John G
Dang, ch. Imma think of this everytime Kenny 'adjusts' a commenter with, Did ya read the article?
DeleteActually, I did read it, evidenced by the statement I made about the other bullshit charges at the end of the article.
DeleteKenny, just funning with ya.
DeleteSometimes the kids are 'big kids'. I live in a small college town, and college student groups eating at restaurants appear to be trying to impress each other with jokes, stories and LOUD TALKING. If the place was busy and loud, understandable but when a single table is making more noise than the rest of the occupants - time to STFU a bit. Keep it low, I don't want to hear loud talking adults any more than screaming kids.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting cranky in my old age, I know. But I'm also sure I'm not the only one feeling this way. Keep the volume down for Crissakes !
Its not only getting cranky in old age. In my 20s I stood up in the college library to shush the numerous students all talking. The reaction was complete silence, all staring at me, then resumption of talking.
DeleteThen, I stood again to shout, Shut Up!, loud enough to bring the librarians.
Its not being cranky. Its expecting a modicum of civility and respect of others.
People who are on their phone with the speaker on constantly loudly speaking bothering everyone around them pisses me off..... Go outside or stay home if you need to speak with them that bad..
DeleteJD
That shit pisses me off more than kids misbehaving does.
DeleteWhen we lived in Houston, we ate in China town. In some restaurants, the kids literally ran around the joint. The wait staff had to dodge the little hellions as they were delivering food. My wife's kids and their cousin used to try that shit until I put the kibosh on it. Its funny, when Frank (Lisa's husband) would discipline the cousin, my mother in law would jump all over his ass about it. But, I could get away with it no problem. I guess it was my nom de plume: Mr Toilet.
ReplyDeleteOh well. Should have been nom de guerre, but I am not a frog.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid my dad would take me and my brother to the same 3 and 4 star restaurant he would take his clients to. We would have to get all dressed up every month for it and go I hated it at the time. But it taught me and my brothers how to behave and act in settings like ultra fine dining. We also did know if we acted out my dad would take us outside and beat us black and blue. Then set in the car with us to our mom and brother finish dinner and then there would be a second beating again from Dad when we get home. I have been in 4 star restaurant for work and Everytime ingo I remember my dad who took the time and effort to teach us how to act
ReplyDeleteBravo! That is a loving dad.
DeleteMy wife and I used to go to a local restaurant with good food and a quiet atmosphere. The last time we went there were three tables pushed together and a group of very very loud louts who drowned out any conversation we tried to have. As we left I told the owner we really didn't appreciate the loud types and he countered with "they're very good customers" and finished with "and they're members of my church". Never went back.
ReplyDeleteWe have a high-end Italian bistro in town that proudly states on its website that "we don't have high chairs or baby seats". Problem solved.
ReplyDeleteSince the start of delivery services (Doordash, Uber Eats, etc.) I don't think I've been in a restaurant. It's been at least 3 or 4 years. A big part of the problem is severe tinnitus after 30+ years working in industrial plants, shooting guns and riding motorcycles. So any little bit of excess background noise and I cannot hear a conversation with the person across the table from me. There's been lots of times where I basically sit there and say nothing, can't participate in conversation, and generally just nod my head if I notice the other person talking. And don't even get me started on restaurants that insist on blaring music at full volume - I'd rather go hungry. Eating out is a miserable experience.
ReplyDeleteI was raised in a restaurant in the fifties and sixties. I don't remember misbehaved kids. Some adults were assholes but the kids were never running around or screaming. If a baby started crying the mother removed the child to the restroom or car. Just the way it was back then.
ReplyDeleteThe last time we went out we were sat next to a birthday party. They had 2 children that were fairly well behaved but it was the adults that was the problem. Their conversation level was at yelling level in ebonics. Because it was a larger party the waiter catered to them and ignored us after the food was delivered.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day when parents disciplined their kids instead of trying desperately to be their friends you rarely saw brats acting out lest they get taken outside, to the restroom or in a clothing store, the dressing room for that much needed attitude adjustment.
ReplyDelete- WDS
When my 4 kids were little, we would occasionally get stopped in a restaurant by other patrons and get thanked for having children with something like proper manners. But my kids were just acting like they always did at home. My mother in law always says "you raise them so you can live with them," which is mostly true until they hit the early teenage years and have to start figuring things out for themselves.
ReplyDeletePoint being, children behaving poorly in public is generally a good barometer for what kind of behavior is modeled and expected at home. But today, as there are very few parents who expect discipline out of their children (and this has been a growing problem for 50 years, now), you will see rowdy behavior in public. I suspect, as stated above, this was kind of a "joke" charge, I totally get where the restaurant is coming from. And, if it's a private business, then I'm totally cool with it.
-Just a Chemist
My parents insisted on good manners at home as far back as I can remember. We were expected to be as well behaved at a restaurant as we were at our own table.
DeleteIndeed, I had to ask and then be excused from the table. If the plate was not clean, which it always was, the answer would have been no.
DeleteEven as an adult, when I ate at my parent's table as a guest, I still found myself asking if I could be excused from the table. Old habits die hard.
DeleteStay the fuck home and spend "off screen" time with your kids. The time spent getting ready to getting back home would have been better spent giving your kids some attention.
ReplyDeleteIf'n you gonna live like the Waltons on your own mountain, fine.
DeleteBut if you live in society then learn the young'uns to live in society. Part of that is demonstrating the manners they've been taught. An outing to a nice restaurant is a test of their learning.
An eating out noise fee sounds good. I'm gonna suggest that to my girlfriend so she keeps her brat in his bedroom room quiet while I eat out her basement
ReplyDeleteBog, I think you mean root cellar. But I don't know your proclivities.
DeleteUp here in Masshole, you have to keep an eye out for extra fees placed on the check; like 'admin' fees and container fees for your doggie bag. One place had a 'social justice' fee, seriously. These are the places to which we do not return.
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly I'm a cheap fuck so I seldom eat in a " nice " restaurant, I'm more about the food than the atmosphere so....... If I'm out getting pizza or at a diner that mostly say hot dogs and hamburgers then I expect it to be noisy... if I'm at a nicer, expensive, restaurant then I expect to be able to enjoy my meal and my date... I have in the past asked to be moved to a different table and if that didn't change the situation we would leave......
ReplyDeleteJD