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Wednesday, November 09, 2005

And While I'm Complaining...

This article showed up in the New York Times today about restaurants setting limits on kids' bad behavior and parental boycotts, in which the dander is up and so thick you can barely read the words on the page.

Everyone has a point, and everyone interviewed is so obnoxious that I can't imagine wanting to eat in any of these places or socialize with any of these people. What is my beef? As always, excessive self-righteousness and poor etiquette on all parts.

Seriously, the whole article begins and ends with a cafe owner who, in addition to posting snarky signs in his establishment, won't hire people who don't live within walking distance of the cafe because he wants to decrease pollution. The mind reels, but I don't know Chicago so well. Maybe his cafe is located in a part of town where people who really need jobs are fighting hand over fist to become baristas and pastry types. But somehow, in a neighborhood where an ice cream cone is $3.75, I don't think so.

And if he seems misguided and nuts, so do some of the mothers who seem to think they deserve a break for having wailing children.

posted by Elise at 11:16 AM

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7 Comments:

Sugarmama said...

You're right, I found it tough to choose a side, too. I will haul my misbehaving child out the door of anyplace we happen to be, but I certainly wouldn't want the business owner putting up signs insisting that I do it. You'd find me at the $1.50 ice cream cone place instead.

11/10/2005 9:58 AM

Elise said...

Of course that is the answer and I suppose I'm a little astonished that the general unspoken rules of comportment have gone out the window here. Everyone is so self-righteous and so sensitive that the simple solution can't exist.

If I feel there's resistance to me, or to my kid anywhere I tend to leave. There's just no pleasure for me in being uncomfortable, though I certainly haven't had any of these Chicago experiences.

11/10/2005 10:44 AM

Anonymous said...

I don't even think those signs are snarky. They're at kid eye-level. I think it's great to be able to tell my child: "See that sign? It says 'Inside Voices Only' are allowed here."

I don't see it as a parent vs. childless adult issue. If I pay for a babysitter so that I can go out to dinner with my husband, I don't want to spend my night out next to someone else's screaming kid.

11/10/2005 2:19 PM

Elise said...

Oh completely. I completely agree about restaurants at night. But this article seemed to muck up the issue by introducing this as a daytime issue at a cafe. Does this guy also have signs up telling customers not to shout on mobile phones? And what about the curious hiring practices?

I wish there were more a sense of general generosity. If the kid is screaming, then the parents should take it out. If they don't, then what is wrong with the management gently asking if the parents could take the child out for a breather? Why does there have to be "policy" or humiliation? I just wish there were less anger and more politeness generally on all parts.

11/10/2005 2:43 PM

Chloe said...

Etiquette? Manners? Must have gone into hiding with proper grammer day Bush opened his mouth. So many problems could be easily solved with good manners.

11/10/2005 11:29 PM

Anonymous said...

I think most still do have manners, but as usual, it's just the rude few that have ruined it for everyone else. ;)

11/15/2005 9:59 AM

Anonymous said...

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

2/10/2007 9:10 PM

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