Family kicked out of Applebee's due to unruly kids

[LilyWDW]

You're entitled to your opinion. The posted receipt didn't show a credit card number, so I don't have a problem with it.

I also think she should have been fired. Yes, the CC number was not there, but information that identified the person WAS. It is not the waitresses right to post that information and cause harassment to anyone. It was not her right to identify anyone.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I was just about the say this. We have taken our kids out to restaurants since they were in their infant carriers. They have been expected to sit still and behave, and on those occasions when they could not, we removed the child to the car while the other parent had the food boxed up and paid the bill. I do not believe in inflicting my caterwauling, rambunctious young'uns on other people. My youngest son, Christian, is very mentally handicapped and autistic. He's much like a 1yr old in his manner. When we take him out, we always get a booth so can corral him in his seat. If he can no longer remain seated and calm, one of us gets up and takes him outside for a few laps around the parking lot. That's usually enough to change his mind and he's ready to sit down and resume his meal. Now...if an 18 year old with an IQ of 20 can learn to behave in a restaurant, SURELY those parents can figure out how to teach their boys some restaurant manners.

Bingo! Most behavior problems are because the parents do not follow through. My child is on the spectrum, but knows the rules. Children with autism & aspergers can manipulate like no others. As a parent I have friends with children on the spectrum who can not take their kids out to eat. Why? Because they threaten but never follow up. These kids learn quickly that there are no consequences & it escalates. Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[MSSANDRA]

We started restaurant rules when our boys were each very little, less than two. We ate out at lot, and at nicer places, and it was important that they learn to function in those places. We started with small things like stay in your chair, and use inside voices and worked up to how to order your own food and to learning how to tip and address issues with the wait staff as the older one grew. They were a joy to take out because we put the work into teaching them to learn how to behave in the setting.

I do disagree that all special needs children can be taught to control their behavior in all restaurant settings as we have dear friends whom are wonderful parents to all their boys, including one with some pretty major needs. They however, know his limits and do not put him in situations where they know he can not be successful. He is 10 and as a toddlers, applebees would not have been an option for them, BUT they knew that and did not subject others to their child's inability to control himself.

 

[mrsklamc]

I also think she should have been fired. Yes, the CC number was not there, but information that identified the person WAS. It is not the waitresses right to post that information and cause harassment to anyone. It was not her right to identify anyone.

She didn't know it was going to cause anyone harassment, and I don't buy the 'privacy' argument. It's not some big secret that she ate at Applebees, and if she didn't want to be embarrassed by her behavior, IMO she shouldn't have acted in an embarrassing manner.

People treat service people, who make like $2-3 dollars an hour, like dirt, because they can, and there's no repercussions for it.

 

[Planogirl]

She didn't know it was going to cause anyone harassment, and I don't buy the 'privacy' argument. It's not some big secret that she ate at Applebees, and if she didn't want to be embarrassed by her behavior, IMO she shouldn't have acted in an embarrassing manner.

People treat service people, who make like $2-3 dollars an hour, like dirt, because they can, and there's no repercussions for it.

I think that if someone feels like they are doing the right thing then they shouldn't be afraid to own it. At least other servers know what this person is like and can make it a point to only give the bare minimum of service.

I was all behind Applebees for kicking these people out but then the corporate office had to ruin it. Too bad.

 

[ChrisFL]

The parents said they were "disrespected." I think that is code for, "Someone DARED criticize how I parent my snowflakes."

I am dead certain those kids were acting like hellions and that the other patrons were being made miserable. We saw the story and I said to DH, "How many times were WE asked to leave a restaurant because of DD? None. Not once." He replied, "What I remember is people coming to our table to compliment us on how well behaved she was." True.

I am not saying this to say we were perfect parents or had the perfect child. (Although she was close. ) We fully expected her to behave herself, just as our parents expected us to behave ourselves. We taught her what was/was not acceptable. Had she ever acted up, we would have left so as to not inconvenience others. That's what good parents and good people do.

You do not let your children act like heathens and then get offended when management makes you leave.

 

[Debbie7452]

Everyone's instincts that the couple are not telling the whole story is correct. It turns out that while Applebee's called the police when the couple wouldn't leave, the mother also called the police as well saying she felt "threatened" by the Manager. She was not given a warning or citation by the sheriff as she claimed either.

Obviously, a lot of this little drama is self-manufactured by the family.

 

[momrek06]

When his three-year-old wandered off, Gau went to get him.

Hmmm, wandered off????

So I am going to add my 2cents. I am not here to offend anyone at all.

As someone that lives very close to Disneyland, my DH and I are there often. We love being there. BUT what we are noticing more and more is that parents are not using strollers for their toddlers. Yes, parents are pushing the stroller but the toddlers are not IN the stroller. The parents are allowing their toddlers to toddle throughout the Parks where most guests are walking at a very good clip to get to the next ride. GUESTS are running, most walking very fast and NOW we find we are dodging these little ones more and more.

The parents are all SMILES as their little one toddles off towards any direction at all. Guests are literally dodging around these children and it is not SAFE for anyone. The child then generally will topple over or stand still.

Disneyland is NOT the place to allow your toddler that type of freedom and expect all the rest of the guests at the PARKS to understand.

As far as the restaurant, ^^^^ this is the FIRST thing that entered my mind when I read in the article that the 'child wandered off"!!!

Parents think they have a TROPHY in their child and want them on DISPLAY.

(Again I am not saying there is anything wrong with it BUT not in busy public places like RESTAURANTS and THEME PARKS).

 

[LSmith]

.

 

[worm761]

Hmmm, wandered off????

So I am going to add my 2cents. I am not here to offend anyone at all.

As someone that lives very close to Disneyland, my DH and I are there often. We love being there. BUT what we are noticing more and more is that parents are not using strollers for their toddlers. Yes, parents are pushing the stroller but the toddlers are not IN the stroller. The parents are allowing their toddlers to toddle throughout the Parks where most guests are walking at a very good clip to get to the next ride. GUESTS are running, most walking very fast and NOW we find we are dodging these little ones more and more.

The parents are all SMILES as their little one toddles off towards any direction at all. Guests are literally dodging around these children and it is not SAFE for anyone. The child then generally will topple over or stand still.

Disneyland is NOT the place to allow your toddler that type of freedom and expect all the rest of the guests at the PARKS to understand.

As far as the restaurant, ^^^^ this is the FIRST thing that entered my mind when I read in the article that the 'child wandered off"!!!

Parents think they have a TROPHY in their child and want them on DISPLAY.

(Again I am not saying there is anything wrong with it BUT not in busy public places like RESTAURANTS and THEME PARKS).

Sorry but you are still just witnessing bad parenting. Who lets their toddler walk off anywhere? DD's first trip she was 22 months. Sure we had a stroller but she walked most of the time for a week. She preferred being out of the stroller, so we let her. But she also held someone's hand because she is still little. At two, we didn't even take a stroller. She walked, holding a hand. Sorry if you have an issue with but I am not putting my kid in a stroller because you want to run through the parks (also not safe at ANY age).

 

[LSmith]

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[Schmeck]

I agree. She was representing Applebees when she decided to post, in bad judgement, online.

I think it was awesome that she shared the note, and did not deserve to be fired at all. The freakin' stupid person who wrote that note should have thought first, counted to ten, and done the "Christian thing" and paid the server appropriately. If she was dumb enough to write the stupid note, she deserved to get harassed. Stupid is as stupid does. She dissed the server, the server dissed her right back.

 

[LSmith]

.

 

[mrsklamc]

In the real world, many, many clients are idiots but you have to suck it up. That's life.

In some jobs, that's life. In some companies, you are expected to treat people with a modicum of decency, and the employer would rather have that kind of environment than make another buck letting someone be treated poorly. When I have the chance, I'm going to choose to do business with an employer that chooses respect for their employees.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

I also think she should have been fired. Yes, the CC number was not there, but information that identified the person WAS. It is not the waitresses right to post that information and cause harassment to anyone. It was not her right to identify anyone.

I agree.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Hmmm, wandered off????

So I am going to add my 2cents. I am not here to offend anyone at all.

As someone that lives very close to Disneyland, my DH and I are there often. We love being there. BUT what we are noticing more and more is that parents are not using strollers for their toddlers. Yes, parents are pushing the stroller but the toddlers are not IN the stroller. The parents are allowing their toddlers to toddle throughout the Parks where most guests are walking at a very good clip to get to the next ride. GUESTS are running, most walking very fast and NOW we find we are dodging these little ones more and more.

The parents are all SMILES as their little one toddles off towards any direction at all. Guests are literally dodging around these children and it is not SAFE for anyone. The child then generally will topple over or stand still.

Disneyland is NOT the place to allow your toddler that type of freedom and expect all the rest of the guests at the PARKS to understand.

As far as the restaurant, ^^^^ this is the FIRST thing that entered my mind when I read in the article that the 'child wandered off"!!!

Parents think they have a TROPHY in their child and want them on DISPLAY.

(Again I am not saying there is anything wrong with it BUT not in busy public places like RESTAURANTS and THEME PARKS).

While I don't think toddlers should be allowed to wander around DL aimlessly, I don't think letting them out of their strollers is a bad thing. DL is a place for everybody and I have a wonderful picture of my not then two year old going through the castle into FL - she's the only one in the shot. If it had been crowded, I wouldn't have let her do that, but there was no reason to have her in the stroller at the point. I agree with the PP who said you are just seeing some specific bad parenting, but that doesn't mean all parents should put their toddlers in strollers. And the bigger safety issue is the adults running through the park.

And to be honest, I've had way more adults stop in the middle of the path to look at a map than I have toddlers stop to look at something.

 

[Fire14]

I and my brothers went out to eat freq. as kids, we had our butts planted on seats from time we were seated until family was ready to leave. I remember us kids going to a certain chain often and when we walked into lobby we would look at showcase to see what clip critters were being given out that week and decide quietly which one we each were getting that night. the only other thing I recall was me wanting to order adult sizzler meal since whenever I ordered kids sizzler, the kitchen always over cooked it.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

While I don't think toddlers should be allowed to wander around DL aimlessly, I don't think letting them out of their strollers is a bad thing. DL is a place for everybody and I have a wonderful picture of my not then two year old going through the castle into FL - she's the only one in the shot. If it had been crowded, I wouldn't have let her do that, but there was no reason to have her in the stroller at the point. I agree with the PP who said you are just seeing some specific bad parenting, but that doesn't mean all parents should put their toddlers in strollers. And the bigger safety issue is the adults running through the park.

And to be honest, I've had way more adults stop in the middle of the path to look at a map than I have toddlers stop to look at something.

Did anyone say that all toddlers should never be let out of their strollers in public? I don't think so. The PP talked about people having to dodge wandering children at DL. It's a matter of degree and individual situations.

The difference tho between an adult staying out of an adult's way and an adult having to deal with a child running around is that you can see an adult easier than you can see someone knee high who's oblivious to what's going on around him/her. Not to say there are never rude and oblivious adults out there. And you said the bigger safety issue is the adults running through the park...all the more reason not to have a toddler loose to get tripped over.

I will take my 22 month old DGD to the soccer field this week when she visits, and let her run around like a nut, but I will be taking her during the day when school is in session. I will not be taking her after school when there undoubtedly will be soccer practices going on, as I learned quite quickly one weekend when I brought her to the playground at that same park that swings aren't as interesting as flying soccer balls during games. We left quickly.

So just as being loose at the soccer field depends on the situation, so does being loose at WDW, or DL, or anywhere else.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Did anyone say that all toddlers should never be let out of their strollers in public? I don't think so. The PP talked about people having to dodge wandering children at DL. It's a matter of degree and individual situations.

The difference tho between an adult staying out of an adult's way and an adult having to deal with a child running around is that you can see an adult easier than you can see someone knee high who's oblivious to what's going on around him/her. Not to say there are never rude and oblivious adults out there. And you said the bigger safety issue is the adults running through the park...all the more reason not to have a toddler loose to get tripped over.

I will take my 22 month old DGD to the soccer field this week when she visits, and let her run around like a nut, but I will be taking her during the day when school is in session. I will not be taking her after school when there undoubtedly will be soccer practices going on, as I learned quite quickly one weekend when I brought her to the playground at that same park that swings aren't as interesting as flying soccer balls during games. We left quickly.

So just as being loose at the soccer field depends on the situation, so does being loose at WDW, or DL, or anywhere else.

No, but the PP said don't let them out (of strollers) in places like restaurants and theme parks. I'm not disagreeing that there are kids out of control in both places, but again that is poor parenting, not something that should be generalized like that. We do bring our stroller with us to DL, but that doesn't mean that my little one will stay in the stroller the entire time, nor should she be expected to. I don't let my kids run around, out of control and I don't think that because some people allow that, all parents should be expected to keep their kids in strollers. I don't want anybody getting hurt, but DL is meant for all ages, so if they can all have common courtesy, they all have equal right to walk.

And I stand by that I have had more "close encounters" where somebody could get hurt with adults stopping in bad places than I have ever had with kids. But maybe that's because I have small kids, so I'm always paying attention to that height.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I thought of this thread today after my lunch today. We went out to Cheddar's(a family chain in the South if not familiar) and it's always crowded and loud. We were seated in a booth and across from us sat down a big family with a toddler boy. He hadn't been seated 5 minutes and he was up running around going to tables and looking, spitting straws at people, and throwing napkins. The oldest sibling was trying her hardest to control the boy but it wasn't happening.

I've learned just don't make eye contact, smile at that kind of acting child, or anything else that is considered encouragement. Well, the boy comes over and spits paper napkin in my food. I grabbed the straw and said sit down in probably the meanest voice I have. The waitress comes over and she is apologizing and bring the manager over and he is apologizing. He offers to bring me another entrée and comp the meal. I said please don't comp the meal, and looked at the family and said charge it to them. He is the reason I didn't finish the meal. We gathered our things and left. No clue what happened after that.