In my nearly 3 years as a mother, little phases me when we're out to eat with our son. However, yesterday really took the cake when we went to Applebee's for Mother's Day lunch.
Connor was a little tired, so he acted up at first. But one time out in the car was all it took, and he behaved himself. The most he did was stand on the booth so he could look around, and played peek-a-boo with a lady at the table next to ours on the upper level. I let him do it for a bit, then made him stop. Even though she seemed to think it was cute, I didn't want him being a nuisance. Anyone who has kids this age knows they can get on people's nerves in no time, especially people who don't have kids. That's why we always choose a kid-friendly restaurant. If they have a kid's menu and high chairs, we assume they are kid friendly. I should have remembered the wise advice of my former journalism instructor: "When you assume, you make and ass out of u and me."
We had barely started eating our meals when our waitress came over and asked us if we wanted dessert. Now, the place was hardly busy, so I couldn't see why she'd be rushing us. So I told her no, we were still eating, we'd decide later, thanks. She came back about 4 more times asking the same question before I got a little testy and asked her what the problem was that she was rushing us like this. She said that since Connor (who was sitting eating his sandwich at the time) was so fussy, she thought we might want to have our stuff boxed up so we could leave. Even my husband, who usually is not very quick to catch on to this stuff, realized she was politely asking us to leave. I was more than a little upset. I told her no, I did not want my stuff boxed up, but I did want the check. We paid and left. And guess who didn't get a tip?
I'm not sure I'm going to let this go. I think a call to the manager is in order here, but I wanted to wait until I was a bit more calm before I did it. Had I done it yesterday, I'm afraid I might not have been able to use all my nice words when talking about it.
But just a warning: if you have kids, avoid Applebees. Apparently, they only pretend to be kid friendly.
3 comments:
What??? This is HORRIBLE. I cannot believe you were treated this way. AND IT WAS MOTHER'S DAY. Let's all boycott Applebee's!
That stinks! Especially on Mother's Day!
This goes along nicely with their policy of "offering" (i.e. forcing) a cover-up blanket for mothers who need to nurse in the restaurant; last summer in Lexington, KY was nursing her 7-month old during her meal, and was asked to stop by a server--another customer was offended by her "indecent" exposure. The manager backed the employee, and the woman ended up leaving to nurse her baby in the hot car. Applebee's resolved the matter by implementing the cover-up blanket policy!!!!! Needless to say, there was a huge outcry against this, including a protest outside the Applebee's in Lexington (which my daughter and I attended). But did Applebee's reconsider? Nope.
Your story is just one more strike against this mediocre food chain...
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