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A server has sparked fierce debate after questioning whether children should be allowed in restaurants after 10pm.
The conversation surrounding restaurant etiquette was reignited after a waiter, based in the US, took to Reddit to question why parents bring their kids to eat dinner so late as he claimed they should be ‘asleep’ by 10pm.
The unnamed waiter aired out his grievances about his evening at work and revealed that he didn’t mean to be ‘judgmental’ but he was furious when he had to serve children ‘sugary lemonades’ when they ‘should be in bed.’
His rant sparked a furious debate about whether kids should be allowed in restaurants past a certain time as some parents called for people to ‘give them a break’ because things don’t always work out as planned.
The conversation surrounding restaurant etiquette was reignited after a waiter took to Reddit to question why parents bring their kids to eat dinner so late as he claimed they should be ‘asleep’ by 10pm (stock image)
His post, which was shared to a thread titled ‘Server Life,’ was titled: ‘Why is your child just now having dinner at 10pm?’
The anonymous waiter wrote: ‘First, let me note that I am not a parent, but I am genuinely shocked how often I find myself serving parties with young children after 10pm? I’m so sorry to overstep, but your children are single-digits and they’re just having dinner now?
‘They should be in bed, shouldn’t they? And you want me to get them a super sugary lemonade?’
He noted that he didn’t want to ‘judge’ parents but had dealt with the situation far too many times.
‘Apologies for being judgmental. It’s just so much more common than I would expect.
‘I’m an American and the tables in question are American tables. I work at a restaurant in the USA and culturally, dinners don’t typically happen this late for us hence my shock. Hope this clears up my perspective a bit,’ he said at the end of the post.
People then flooded the comments section to share their own thoughts – with the majority of them slamming the caregivers for taking their kids out so late.
One person said: ‘I had a table that ate in the restaurant but stopped in the bar to have a few drink after… with three kids. It was after 10. All the kids were asleep at the table and they kept drinking.’
The unnamed waiter aired out his grievances about his evening at work and revealed that he didn’t mean to be ‘judgmental’ but he was furious when he had to serve children ‘sugary lemonades’ when they ‘should be in bed’
Someone else wrote: ‘This. There’s a family that comes in where the parents will be drinking and the bartender is basically on “babysitting” duty for their kid.’
‘I’ve seen this plenty of times at my last restaurant. Either sleeping in the booth or one time the parent had put two chairs together for the child to sleep on,’ one user added.
One user commented: ‘[I] worked as a lounge server once, party of six with a young toddler came in asking for drinks at 11PM, I stated we can’t have anyone under 18 in the lounge after 10.30pm, they said one drink and they’re gone.
‘Okay fine I serve them, toddler is jumping on the booth cushions, broke two glasses. Parents are having a great time and ask for a second round and I kicked them out immediately and got a negative review. Some people just aren’t fit to be parents. ‘
‘Yeah just do the remainder of your alcoholism at home,’ another person wrote.
However, other viewers told the server to ‘mind his own business’ and claimed that there could be numerous reasons that the kids were eating so late.
One user said: ‘It might just be a cultural thing. My family’s Indian (I was born and raised in Massachusetts) and we always ate dinner pretty late at night. Though typically not at restaurants lmao.’
Someone else wrote: ‘My almost three-year-old had a meltdown last week. She rarely cries aside from when she’s sick or injured, neither of which was the case. We’d been spending way too much time inside because it’s been cold and snowy.
People then flooded the comments section and shared their thoughts – with the majority of them slamming the caregivers for taking their kids out so late
‘After three hours of non stop screaming, I decided to put her in the car and go for a drive thinking maybe she needed a break from the house. We got three miles down the road and she said she wanted chicken nuggets and fries. It was the first thing she said once she was able to stop screaming.
‘We don’t eat out often (like a few times a year), so I decided fine, she’s having a hard day, she’s getting a treat. We’re in a small town with one restaurant that is a local family BBQ place. We got to the restaurant at nine and she was a happy camper the rest of the night.
‘Usually she’s in bed by eight – with dinner at six. Sometimes things just don’t work the way you hope they will when you’re a parent, and we are all just trying to survive,’ another person commented.
Another user added: ‘I know homeschool families who are on vastly different schedules than typical families. Particularly if one parent works unusual shifts or multiple jobs, the kids are on a schedule to be able to spend some time with that parent. It’s possible those kids sleep until 11 am or something.’
Someone else said: ‘Funeral, homeschool, travel, sports or school event, family event… so many reasons that you will understand more if you ever become a parent.’
Another user commented: ‘Mind your own business? What’s wrong with lemonade? Are you judging the sugar? Sometimes parents actually understand and know their kids better than we do,’ someone else said.
This isn’t the first time a debate about kids in restaurants has ensued.
Previously, one woman slammed parents who bring their children to restaurants on Valentine’s Day as she revealed that her dinner date was ‘ruined’ by the sounds of screaming babies.
However, other viewers told the server to ‘mind his own business’ and claimed that there could be numerous reasons that the kids were eating so late
The Reddit user’s call for restaurants to go child-free comes just one year after a New Jersey restaurant Nettie’s sparked furious debate when it banned children under 10 from dining
The anonymous woman, who was in her ‘mid 20s,’ also took to Reddit to complain about the ‘poorly behaved children’ that wrecked her romantic evening.
She explained that she and her boyfriend’s loved-up night was interrupted by kids who were yelling, jumping and running around the restaurant.
The Reddit user’s call for restaurants to go child-free comes just one year after a New Jersey restaurant sparked furious debate when it banned children under the age of 10 from dining in.
Italian restaurant Nettie’s, located in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, caused a stir on social media after making the announcement.
In a Facebook post, a staff member said the ban would begin March 8, claiming its decision was due to rowdy children causing safety issues during peak dining times.
Despite the growing calls for more strict no-kids rules to be enacted, the restaurant’s announcement came under fierce criticism from many parents, triggering heated discussion about the controversial policy.
However, Nettie’s paid no attention to the backlash and still refuses to allow any children under the age of 10 to dine there.
