Eating in restaurants

[Luv2Roam]

We were eating lunch at a fast food taco joint last weekend. (Taco Johns)
I just happened to be facing the condiment/soft drink area. (Wish I hadn't! )
A small boy was fooling around with fingers from mouth to whatever he could reach. He finally got a hold of a few plastic drink cup lids and was sucking on them.
This was bad enough. BUT....
his father came over to get him and took the cup lids from the boy. I expected the father to throw them away.
He put them back in the dispenser!
Looking back, I should have gone over and tossed them and the others they were touching. But I think I was so shocked.
Doesn't make you wonder why we sometimes get sick and can't figure out how. Really makes you think about where something has been.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

EEEWWW

 

[HunnyPots]

of a visit to our local McDonalds, where an employee dropped a huge stack of cones while trying to put them in the holder by the ice cream machine. The manager noticed us watching and quietly told the employee to place them under the counter. As soon as she thought we weren't looking (ha!), she went ahead and filled the cone dispenser with those cones from the floor! Have you ever seen the floor of a fast-food kitchen?! ICK!

 

[dandave]

I don't even like to touch the serving utensils at buffet places. Most people do not wash their hands before they proceed to fill their plates. Ick, ick, ick!

 

[epcotfan]

I won't go to buffets anymore after reading horror stories on the DIS. BLECH.

 

[nativetxn]

YIKES. I don't like to even <b>think</b> about what all could be wrong with my food in places like that, it's too upsetting.

Seriously. I know for sure that employees even do disgusting stuff to food intentionally. I just can't think about it.

Lucky for me, I don't eat at places like that much. But we do when we travel. Oh yuck. Off to think happy thoughts now

 

[Chattyaholic]

Some people say they avoid buffets because people "don't wash their hands" before touching the utensils to get their food. I just find that funny, because if you want to go that far then you better not touch the doorknobs of the restaurant, the back of the chair as you pull it out to sit down, YOUR spoon/knife/fork because "someone else" touched them to put them on your table, the money in your wallet because someone else touched it first, and on and on and on. There are germs everywhere, not just the buffet line.

There, having said that...this thread reminded me of the time I waited on a family and they allowed their youngest child to actually suck on the honeybear on the table. I just looked at the mother, practically with my mouth gaping open, and she didn't do a thing about it. I made a mental note to dispose of the contents of the bear and thoroughly wash it before refilling it to put it back on the table. It's hard to understand why some parents allow their children to do things like that in a restaurant.

 

[cgcw]

Originally posted by Chattyaholic
It's hard to understand why some parents allow their children to do things like that in a restaurant.

Awww, we wouldn't want little Johnny to cry now, would we??
I see it all of the time with kids pushing the buttons on the parents. Its amazing to me. I have 2 of my own who have tried at times and don't usually succeed. I don't have time for that!!

Back to this thread, I'm so glad we planned to go out to dinner last night (to a buffet no less) than tonight. There are some really disgusting thought here. I hope I forget about them before we eat out again. I'm cooking tonight -- if it hits the floor, it's going in the garbage!

 

[Poohbear123]

A LOT of Parents bringing children from the age of 1-10 to resteraunts.....I guess they cannot afford a babysitter? I am talking NICE resteraunts, like Olive Garden and Outback...I felt like I was in WDW! At Olive Garden the other night, we were seated near a table that was next to the window...well, the sun was shining in and we had asked the waiter to close the blinds, as there was a glare. Low, and Behold, a Couple came in with there 5-6 year old was seated there, and the child proceded to PLAY WITH THE BLINDS! Needless to say, the looks did NOT work, so we asked the waiter AGAIN to close the blinds! YOU think the Parents/kid would get the hint? NO! So, my DH said very nicely: "Um, the Sun is too brite over here, could you Shut the blinds like we asked the waiter too?" The Father answered: "I will tell my Son to close them!" HELLO??? They told the "child" and he did as he was told, thank Goodness!

 

[Jenn Lynn]

We bring our DD with us to Restaurants like The Olive Garden all of the time. And yes we can afford a baby-sitter, but we prefer to do things as a family most times. I consider those places family friendly. How else is she going to learn the appropriate way to behave in a restaurant?

I will say that we left The Olive Garden once because DD was too tired to sit in a restaurant. Bad call on our part to go there in the first place. We had already ordered and just asked our waitress to make our food to go.

The family letting their child play with the blinds was inconsiderate and rude.

 

[Poohbear123]

Resteraunt Manners need to be taught at HOME! Not on my time at a meal I have paid 10-15 bucks for and having to put up with Un-ruly children of parents who could care Less! Now FLAME AWAY!!!!

 

[browneyes]

LOL, Faith, I took my 6 yo ds and my 10 yo dd to Olive Garden for lunch yesterday. I pay just as much for my meal as you do for yours. And my kids love that restaurant.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Poohbear123 -- No flames from me.
We are kidless. I learned long ago, it's the kids I usually like. The parents I sometimes have problems with! Like the little boy I saw last weekend. Most likely he had more sense than his dad!
Not being around kids, we aren't use to the shrieks, crying (whining -- yes -- adults do that a lot too! )
We have sometimes asked to be re-seated in restaurants. And sometimes I have found gentle words from a stranger settles a kid down. There for awhile I use to carry something around in my purse just to give to a kid to quiet them. (Store check out lanes, etc)
I am surprised even talking to people at work how there is screaming and yelling etc in homes. Guess we are just a few old fogies and use to peace and quiet. I didn't realize how quiet our house was until hearing familes together!

 

[gina2000]

Well, we don't take our son to Olive Garden. We take him to CALIFORNIA GRILL.

Kids learn manners at restaurants as well as home. There are many tricks to making a child's restaurant experience a positive one without disturbing other patrons. Skip appetizers. Have your drinks with dinner and make it ONLY one. Kids can sit through one course usually....if they are well behaved, then order dessert. Go to restaurants close to the time when your child usually eats. Walk the child outside if he/she becomes rambunctious. And pack your food to go if things aren't going well.

No one expects you to suffer through my child's restaurant experience. We take him everywhere, however, and will continue to do so. He sits through 4 course meals without a hitch. But it had to start somewhere. If it starts with positive reinforcement and guidelines, it works. JMHO

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

Originally posted by Poohbear123
Resteraunt Manners need to be taught at HOME! Not on my time at a meal I have paid 10-15 bucks for and having to put up with Un-ruly children of parents who could care Less! Now FLAME AWAY!!!!

I dare say that my now 12 1/2 and 10 1/2 year old dds, who have been going to much finer restaurants than family-friendly chains like the Olive Garden since they were little more than toddlers, are better behaved than a lot of adults I've seen in expensive restaurants.

 

[Poohbear123]

Yes, I guess I am Spoiled now that the Kids are out of the HOUSE!!

 

[Luv2Roam]

We do notice though in restaurants that for the most part kids are very good.
For every obnoxious table, there are four tables with kids that you wouldn't even know are there.
I always have the tendency to blame the parents, rather than the kids. Some people are just too inconsiderate to care about anyone but themselves. (They should buy the Tink pins that read, "It's All About Me.")

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

lots of adults are like that --- with or without their kids.

 

[Kitty 34]

All I can say is YUCK!!!!!!!!

 

[MerryPoppins]

I watched a woman fill some of those little salsa cups at a Mexican fast-food restaurant this week. She made no attempt to pour directly into the cup, but just let it run over her fingers and pour back into the big container. EWWWW! After 3 dips she wiped her fingers on a napkin and I was almost sick. I wanted to go dump the salsa in the trash. I've always liked the fresh salsa bar, but now the little packets from Taco Bell sound better.

By the way, my kids are now teens, but they have been going to nice restaurants with us since they were babies. We have always been considerate of other patrons and have left if there was a problem. I think the key is that the parents have to be in control of the situation. It's usually it is the parent's problem and not the kids. I feel sorry for the child when a parent lets them act up like that. My kids have even complained about other kids that are acting up.