kaje62
06-08-2003, 08:28 AM
Spryte wrote this up and I know it took awhile but we want local mamas to know of our experience.
Kaje62 invited some friends and their children to meet up at the Riverview Coffee Shop to casually celebrate Charlie's birthday party. Kathy Jo and a few of the other mamas arrived before me.
Shortly after I arrived, Charlie had a temper tantrum wanting one of the coffee shops Gigantic MM cookies that are literally 8" in diameter. These cookies that are the size of a dinner plate are on the counter at toddler level with no glass case. When KJ told him no, he started to cry. She walked with him for a minute and then put him down thinking maybe he would stop crying if she didn't pay attention for a moment. After about 30 seconds, the guy behind the counter came up to KJ and said you need to make him stop crying. KJ said, “I am trying what would you like for me to do? Should I leave?” He said, “Whatever just make him stop crying.” And so KJ took Charlie outside for about 5 minutes, walking around, trying to nurse him. When that did not work, she went into the shop next door for 2 or 3 minutes and then back outside. Another shop customer even bought Charlie a ball to help KJ, a women in distress out.
After twenty minutes, nothing was working. So finally KJ gave in and bought Charlie the cookie (hey it was his birthday). Charlie sat and ate the cookie contently. Finally things were calmed. Two of the babies were playing on the floor and two toddlers were playing in the play area, when another man came over to "talk" to us. He said, I am the owner and I have several problems with you ladies today. I feel used and taken advantage of. I understand that it is hard to be a stay at home mom with your kids all day long, you probably get bored, but this is not the place to come when you can't control your kids and they are acting out. I can't believe how horribly you have treated me. There is food all over in the play area and the floor is a mess. I got three phone calls on my cell phone of people telling me that they will never come back here ever again because one of your children was crying so loud. Maybe you will never come back here again anyway and I don't care. I created this shop to be friendly to the people in this neighborhood not to have people like you take advantage of me. ((It is hard to explain this without being able to show the man's face, posturing, or tone but he was unbelievably rude)). When he finished his tirade (and yes that is exactly what it was), I told him that first, we were good customers of his shop regardless of anything, that I had been there for less than an hour and had already spent almost $10.00 and that I knew our plan was to purchase lunch. KJ told him that she had invited several people to his shop and that she was bringing him business. I continued and told him that I thought he was speaking to us in an incredibly rude fashion, (he interrupted me here to say that he didn't care) that regardless of what he thought we had done there are ways to speak to people other than cruelly. Additionally we were not the cause of the problems that he accused us of and that in the future should he decide to lambast a group of people in his shop I would hope he would be more clear about their wrongdoings. That our children had not eaten in the area that he was complaining of spilled food and that there were many other children belonging to other customers who may have made the mess. That we had already vacuumed up crumbs once and that I had even asked my child to remove her shoes as to not bring dirt into the play area. Before I could finish addressing the comments he made he walked away muttering.
We basically packed it up and left. This was suppose to be celebrating Charlie. And then a couple hours later we started bombing Iraq. What a day for Kaje.
Kaje62 invited some friends and their children to meet up at the Riverview Coffee Shop to casually celebrate Charlie's birthday party. Kathy Jo and a few of the other mamas arrived before me.
Shortly after I arrived, Charlie had a temper tantrum wanting one of the coffee shops Gigantic MM cookies that are literally 8" in diameter. These cookies that are the size of a dinner plate are on the counter at toddler level with no glass case. When KJ told him no, he started to cry. She walked with him for a minute and then put him down thinking maybe he would stop crying if she didn't pay attention for a moment. After about 30 seconds, the guy behind the counter came up to KJ and said you need to make him stop crying. KJ said, “I am trying what would you like for me to do? Should I leave?” He said, “Whatever just make him stop crying.” And so KJ took Charlie outside for about 5 minutes, walking around, trying to nurse him. When that did not work, she went into the shop next door for 2 or 3 minutes and then back outside. Another shop customer even bought Charlie a ball to help KJ, a women in distress out.
After twenty minutes, nothing was working. So finally KJ gave in and bought Charlie the cookie (hey it was his birthday). Charlie sat and ate the cookie contently. Finally things were calmed. Two of the babies were playing on the floor and two toddlers were playing in the play area, when another man came over to "talk" to us. He said, I am the owner and I have several problems with you ladies today. I feel used and taken advantage of. I understand that it is hard to be a stay at home mom with your kids all day long, you probably get bored, but this is not the place to come when you can't control your kids and they are acting out. I can't believe how horribly you have treated me. There is food all over in the play area and the floor is a mess. I got three phone calls on my cell phone of people telling me that they will never come back here ever again because one of your children was crying so loud. Maybe you will never come back here again anyway and I don't care. I created this shop to be friendly to the people in this neighborhood not to have people like you take advantage of me. ((It is hard to explain this without being able to show the man's face, posturing, or tone but he was unbelievably rude)). When he finished his tirade (and yes that is exactly what it was), I told him that first, we were good customers of his shop regardless of anything, that I had been there for less than an hour and had already spent almost $10.00 and that I knew our plan was to purchase lunch. KJ told him that she had invited several people to his shop and that she was bringing him business. I continued and told him that I thought he was speaking to us in an incredibly rude fashion, (he interrupted me here to say that he didn't care) that regardless of what he thought we had done there are ways to speak to people other than cruelly. Additionally we were not the cause of the problems that he accused us of and that in the future should he decide to lambast a group of people in his shop I would hope he would be more clear about their wrongdoings. That our children had not eaten in the area that he was complaining of spilled food and that there were many other children belonging to other customers who may have made the mess. That we had already vacuumed up crumbs once and that I had even asked my child to remove her shoes as to not bring dirt into the play area. Before I could finish addressing the comments he made he walked away muttering.
We basically packed it up and left. This was suppose to be celebrating Charlie. And then a couple hours later we started bombing Iraq. What a day for Kaje.