She Taught Her Kids To Act Just Like Her
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“I work at a small cafe in a library. We have a regular woman who comes in almost every day with her two kids that she homeschools. These kids are about 8 and 11. The homeschooling seems to involve a whole lot of them coloring at one of the tables while she reads a book, but I digress.
This woman is somewhere around 35-40 years old, short and pudgy and probably Hispanic or Native. She became a regular at our place a few months back. From the very beginning, she was difficult. One of our most popular items on the menu is our breakfast sandwich. It’s simple: bacon/sausage, egg, cheese, toasted ciabatta. Our main attraction is that we use all organic and locally sourced ingredients. This lady doesn’t want a breakfast sandwich though, she wants just eggs and cheese. Simple enough right? Nope. I have never seen any woman be so freaking particular about scrambled eggs. I personally never had any problem when I made them for her. By the end, she only ordered them if I was the one making them, but I’ve seen her flip her lid on my coworkers over them. The sandwich is $3 without meat and comes with one egg, so I gave her two eggs and cheese for the same price. Eventually that wasn’t good enough for her. She wanted three. Fine, whatever. But then she wanted four. These are organic, pasture-raised eggs. They’re really freaking expensive. When my coworker told her no, she WENT TO THE HEAD LIBRARIAN to complain. We had to explain that we just have a contract signed with the library. The librarians aren’t our bosses. She didn’t care. She wanted the library branch manager’s contact info to file a complaint. The library branch manager, again, is not our employer. So we just give it to her because at least she won’t be bothering us anymore. She then, unabashedly, got back in line to order the original three eggs we agreed to give her. My coworker had to remake them three times because apparently they were underdone, then too buttery, then the eggs tasted weird.
She also wants a lot of things that aren’t on our menu, but I always went along with it if I have the ingredients to make her request (it was very small business and I know my bosses need every sale). One day she came up and made a typically difficult order, but I agreed to make it. She was my only customer so I didn’t print out her ticket, but then I ended up getting kind of a rush and forgot her order. She threw an absolute fit. She stomped her feet and screamed and pouted. Even after I gave her the drink for free, she tried to come up and complain about the little bit of foam that I apparently let get into there. After watching a 40-year-old woman throw a temper tantrum, I’d had it. I told her she gets nothing else and so our feud began.
The lady went back to her table with her kids and instead of reading her book, she decided to point at me for the rest of her shift and make rude gestures. Her kids joined in and copied their mother. The lady decided to pointedly ‘boycott’ our store after that by not buying anything, even though she’d previously gotten something every day. She’d come up to other customers in line to take their order and talk about how she used to buy things from us all the time but not anymore. We all ignored her.
This boycott lasted about a week. Then I guess this woman wanted her freaking lattes again because she started sending her 11-year-old daughter up there to order them for her. Her kids were always pretty polite before, but not anymore. This kid sneers and swears and rolls her eyes and taps her feet. Whatever. I’m not going to get into it with a child. Then the kid always goes back to her table to hand her mom the drink and the mom dramatically high-fives her and stares me down all smug from across the cafe. This has become some kind of game for her. She sends that little girl up to the counter to complain constantly. She sends her kid up there to say our music is too loud or our cafe (which is just the public library) is too loud or that the people behind the counter are being too loud. Then her and her daughter high-five and sneer. I’m not exaggerating, they look ridiculous. Recently though, they’ve kicked the antics up to 5-8 times in the 7 hours that we’re open. My boss finally told me at the end of my shift yesterday that I could refuse service to them and I’m soooo excited about it. It’s still pretty ridiculous to me that a grown woman is teaching her daughter to be a rude little twit though. Of course, this lady is nuts anyway.”
“I Wish I Could Unhear What She Said To Her Child”
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“I was at an Applebee’s one night with my co-workers and got seated next to some type of party. The party consisted of mostly women and kids. What followed next was something I wish I could unhear. One mother, who had to be between the ages of 18 and 23, was not interested in attending to her child.
The child was 5 and was asking his mother a simple question about his drink. She turned to scold the crap out of him. Her words were, ‘I can’t believe how dumb you are. Why are you here with me. No wonder why your daddy doesn’t want to have you around. You are worrisome.’ She didn’t say them all back to back like that, but she did it in a 10 minute period as her attention was on one of my co-workers.
One of her party members made the comment that the father didn’t want her either and it’s bad on both ends, and everyone at the table laughed at. The look on this kid’s face was confusion as he didn’t understand what was going on. It took everything I had not to bad mouth her and call the authorities. My other co-worker, who is also a father, leaned over to me and said that we didn’t know their names so we can’t call the authorities.
I recorded half of the stuff there, but due to lighting, it is like someone with a glow-n-the-dark pen is talking.
To make it worse, she had a party of 9 people there. When the check came, she complained about the price of the ticket from the food not being hot when she got it, her drinks not being strong, how many times she asked for a refill, and the fact that they had football on. Even with the manager comping the meal, she paid with cash and didn’t tip. As she was walking out the door, she told the child that he was getting dropped off somewhere cause she needs to go clubbing tonight.
I wish she paid with a card so I could have a lead to go by, but she didn’t leave any type of paper trail behind. I wish that child grows up to see that his mother is really a piece of crap. If you threw her into a black hole, it would reject her.”
The Bathrooms Have Changing Stations For A Reason
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“One time, I was taking my fiancée on a date and she decided to go to Red Robin. While we were there, there was a table with three adults and a child sitting at it. First of all, the kid was wearing pajamas instead of actual clothes. Then, the mother, who I can only assume was too lazy to walk to the restroom (or couldn’t move herself that far in one trip), started taking off the kid’s clothes right there in the middle of the restaurant. I could then see it is so she could change her diaper (the kid looks to be at least 5 years old by the way) right there on the booth.
At this point, I talked to a hostess and the manager who did absolutely nothing to stop it (though they promised to sanitize the entire booth before seating someone else there). After changing her diaper, the mother let the child run around the restaurant for over five minutes with nothing but a diaper on before finally putting a shirt on her.
Oh, did I mention that while changing the diaper, the mother continued to eat her food while doing so?”
The Waiter Is Not Your Babysitter
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“I was at a fairly nice restaurant with an adults-only patio bar in the back (on a canal). We were the only adults eating in the front part of the restaurant. The patio bar was really rolling. A couple in their 30s walked in with two girls, ages 10 and 12. They got a table for four near us. The server came in and the parents said, ‘Here’s $10. Watch our kids while we go to the bar.’ They then left the girls and went to the bar. The waiter pocketed the $10 and continued his job.
The kids started running all over the place and ran outside onto the street. We got our food and started eating. Kids were out on the street in front of the restaurant playing. The father came back from the bar and couldn’t find the girls. We told him they were outside. The father started yelling at us for letting them go outside, which was so uncalled for. Then he screamed for the server he tipped and the manager. He demanded the manager fire the server. We were still sitting there, totally blown away. We paid our check and as we were leaving, the guy was still screaming at everyone…kids, server, manager, and us.”
Some Kids Are Better Than Their Parents
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“I was going to pick up takeout food around after school time. There was a lady and a small boy, around 5-6 years old, standing by the parking lot. The boy was drinking a Coke, then he turned and tossed it over by a tree. He looked at me and I asked, ‘Are you just going to leave that there?’
His mother whipped around and asked me if I was talking to her son. I replied that I was asking him if it was his intention to leave his litter by the tree. She went off on me about not talking to her child. There was a back and forth for about 15 seconds. Meanwhile, the boy realized he was wrong and went to go pick up the can. The mom firmly told him ‘No,’ but he said it’s okay and walked over picked up the can and walked back to his mom. She snatched it out of his hand and promptly threw it back by the tree. She stared me down and dragged the boy across the street.”
She Refused To Do Anything About Her Kids Screaming Their Heads Off
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“One day after work, I walked down to my local watering hole to grab a pint. This place is 21+ after 8 pm but it allows minors to come in with their families to eat. I was sitting at the bar when my boyfriend at the time called and I ran outside to pick up. As soon as I picked up the phone, a child outside started screaming. I don’t mean like yelling but SCREAMING. The kid was probably about 6, with two other young children, completely unsupervised. They began body slamming each other into the cement, continuing to scream at the top of their lungs.
So my boyfriend heard nothing but screaming and started to freak out. All I could hear was, ‘Are you OK? What’s going on?’ I did my best to explain the situation: kids, screaming. Then he asked, ‘Where are their parents?’
I replied, ‘I have no idea where their parents are,’ and at that exact moment the ‘parent’ came out of the door, realized I was talking about her kids’ atrocious behavior, and proceeded to cuss me out.
It went something like this:
Her: ‘They are just KIDS, don’t you UNDERSTAND?!’
Me: ‘This is a bar, why are you leaving your kids unsupervised? You need to grow up and act like an adult. You need to be a parent take some responsibility for your children.’
Her: ‘If you EVER are lucky enough to have kids…which by the looks of you YOU WON’T BE, maybe you will understand!’
Me: ‘YOU NEED TO LEAVE!’
Now, this is quite comical, as I am a fertile, 24-year-old woman. In addition to the fact that I frequent this establishment 3-5 times a week. I politely told her to have a nice day and walked back inside.
It’s the people that think their kids’ crap don’t stink that really get me. You are raising a heathen, wake up.
I felt bad for about 20 seconds until two people approached me and thanked me for telling that witch off.”
His Mom Just Couldn’t Back Off
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“I managed, scheduled, and hired for a fast food place in a good neighborhood. This kid came in for an interview in a button up and tie. I took a liking to him and wanted to know if he had any extracurriculars so I could make sure neither of us were wasting our time. I hired him on the spot.
He came in on his first day and it looked like his mom dropped him off. Fair enough, it’s his first job. She sat down without ordering and watched him walk to the back to do computer stuff. I went back to the front to work and she was still there. I went to check the lobby about 30 minutes later. Still there. I got off a couple hours later and I got a call from my co-worker asking about the new kid. I figured it was about his timecard or something. No. The woman was still there and the manager wanted to know if the kid is special or something (he was not, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway besides accommodating him).
I got to work the next day and answered the phone. This woman wanted his schedule. I told her I couldn’t give it out and that he needed to ask for it or come to the store. She argued with me for a couple of minutes, but I absolutely refused to give out his schedule.
He came in about an hour later to get his hours, I had to pencil him in so I had the entire schedule book for the week out. She tried to take it from me. I snatched it and tossed it on the (employee) counter and told her in the most, ‘I’m being polite but forget you’ voice that she is not allowed to look at our schedules because she’s not an employee and that it is protected communications. She huffed and I gave the kid his schedule. I didn’t see her for a while. Great.
About two months later, she called the store to tell me to cut his hours because he’s ‘too busy’ now. I called him into the office while I wrote schedules for the next week and asked him if he wanted his hours cut. He had no idea why I would ask to cut his hours. I explained his mom called, he looked at me with a 1,000-yard stare and said, ‘I just turned 18. Schedule me 40 hours a week, PLEASE. I get out of school at 11 am, I can be here at 11:30.’
I scheduled him for 38 hours. His mom calls and tried to yell at me. I explained that:
A) I am not her child, or a child at all, and will not be yelled at.
B) Her ADULT child asked for full-time work and…
C) I do not under any circumstance owe her any explanation for how I do MY job. Eventually, she asked to speak to the franchise supervisor. He told her if she’s so concerned about his work life to fill out an application.
Three and a half years later, I am not there. The kid is a manager and his mom is still ridiculous.”
“I Guess She Needed A Free Babysitter So She Could Afford A New Weave Everyday”
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“I worked in a chain sub shop in a bad area about a year ago. One lady would have her two young children sit in the shop by themselves for hours during my shift. I guess she needed a free babysitter so she could afford a new weave every day. We had a survey on the receipts that people could fill out to get a free cookie, so she would also have her kids dig through the trash for discarded receipts to get the free cookies and then yelled at us when we started refusing.
She wrote a ‘letter to the big man’ on her iPhone about us being racists. The other sandwich artist (a friend of mine who was also working to pay for college) was black and neither of us had children we couldn’t afford babysitters or cookies for…”
“I Still Feel Terrible For Not Speaking Up”
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“I was at some gas station with an attached burger joint up in rural Oregon. I was standing to the side waiting to get my food when a couple with their boy, who looked to be about 5 years old, walked in.
The boy started fiddling with something on the counter. I think it was something innocuous, like an example of the toy you get with a kid’s meal. The father barked at him to stop, which he did for a second, but like any kid with a short attention span, he went right back to it. That’s when the dad went absolutely crazy. He went from 0 to 100 in a fraction of a second. I halfway expected his skin to turn green and his muscle mass to quadruple in size.
He started shouting at the boy. I’m talking full-blown, top-of-the-lungs shouting. He was swearing at him left and right, sayings things like ‘GOD, I ALREADY FREAKING TOLD YOU TO PUT IT DOWN YOU STUPID PIECE OF CRAP,’ and other such pleasantries. The boy started crying and that enraged the father even more. He kept telling the boy to shut up and come with him outside. The poor kid was paralyzed by fear at that point so the dad stomped over and yanked him by the arm with such force that I’m surprised his arm didn’t pop out of the socket. The more the boy struggled, the harder his dad yanked him.
Keep in mind, the dad was a big dude. He looked like the type who played football in high school. Judging by his clothing and where we were, I could tell he was probably a hunter as well.
Everybody in there was just sort of staring in shock at this point. Nobody knew how to react. I personally was afraid that saying something would escalate the situation and the boy’s punishment. Eventually, the dad (who was still screaming obscenities) picked the kid up by the arm, threw him over his shoulder like a ragdoll, and started aggressively hitting the kid on the back. The hits weren’t quite punches, but they were much harder than simple spanks. Then he took him outside and literally threw him in the back seat of their truck. After that, all we heard was the boy screaming bloody murder while his dad continued to shout at him.
The mom was still inside and once everyone snapped out of their shock, they confronted her. She was already on the defensive and told everyone to ‘Mind your freaking business and order your freaking food, he’s our kid and we will discipline him however we want, blah blah blah.’
One of the people called the police and started giving descriptions of the family, their vehicle, and the situation. The mother looked completely shocked that people were actually disturbed by what had just happened. After a few more attempts at telling the guy to mind his own business, she shouted, ‘FREAKIN’ DEMOCRATS,’ and charged out of there. They sped off a few minutes later.
I felt terrible for the kid. I could only imagine the other abuse he must’ve faced if his dad’s rage got that bad over something so minor. I hope he’s okay. That was about eight years ago and I still feel terrible for not speaking up.”
Hot Car + Baby = Disaster
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“It was a hot, 100+ degree summer afternoon. As I was walking to my car from at the University of New Mexico campus, I passed by the local Thai food restaurant. There were cars parked out in front of the restaurant and that’s when I noticed it. Someone had left their 6-month-old BABY in the car. They only left the window cracked about less than an inch. The baby was crying and looked red and sweaty. I waited a few minutes maybe thinking the parents were picking up a to-go order, but after no one came out I called the cops.
The cops rolled up, broke the window, and the parents came running outside. Apparently, they thought it was okay because they were ‘sitting near the window and could watch the baby for distress.’ They told the cops the baby was crying and they didn’t want to bring it in and upset other diners. What made me angrier was when the cops let them go and just told them to bring the baby inside.”
What They Were Doing Was Completely Unsanitary
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“This family came into the restaurant I worked at. They ordered their food and everything seemed to be going okay. They were a little nasty looking, but meh. I didn’t really care. I went to clean tables or something and I looked over to where they were sitting and their kids were running around without shoes or socks on IN A MOTHER LOVING RESTAURANT. This was disgusting, so I asked the manager what should be done. She told me to go inform them that they couldn’t do that because they were in a public restaurant and it’s really unsanitary. I did this and it reeaallllyyy made them mad. The mom got in a big huff but somewhat complied. They stayed there for a bit longer, and then finally left.
Well, a feature of this restaurant is you throw your own food away when you’re done. So I was already annoyed that I had to clean up these kids’ mess because I wouldn’t let them run around without shoes or socks on. As I was cleaning, I looked on the floor and there was chewed up food that has been spit out ALL OVER the floor. It’s not like a toddler spit his food out on the floor and the mom didn’t notice. No, the floor was just littered with chewed up and spat out food. Truly awful.”
