Posts tagged rude people

I was just over reading Theta Mom’s blog and her post about snarky comments reminded me of a situation I was in about a month and a half ago.

It was early January and my awesome friend Molly was up visiting.  We were out doing some errands with my girls and decided to stop somewhere for lunch.  I really wanted to go to Chili’s but Brinley demanded we go to Applebee’s instead.  When we got there it was a bit after lunch time so it wasn’t too busy.  The hostess brought us to the last table in the back left corner of the restaurant.  I’m sure the fact that we had two young kids with us landed us that fabulous table, but I wasn’t going to complain (I know, you’re surprised!).

Anyway, we were looking at the menu and Brinley was coloring on the little kid’s menu/coloring book that restaurants provide while Nora finished up her nap in her car seat.  (No, I didn’t leave her in the car!  She was tucked into the booth.)  The waitress came by a few times to see if we were ready to order, but Brinley couldn’t decide what she wanted to eat.  She eventually said she wanted a grilled cheese but then I remembered back to another time we had gone to Applebee’s and what the grilled cheese was like.  Basically they take a hamburger bun, flip it inside out and put some cheese in the middle.  Then they “grill” it in the burger grease.  DISGUSTING!  Last time we ordered it for her I refused to let her eat it when it came out.  The manager took it off the bill and I had steered clear of Applebee’s since then.

Much to Brinley’s dismay, I ordered her Mac n’ Cheese instead.  Now, this is something that she typically loves so I didn’t think she’d really even notice that I had ordered something different than what she requested.  Boy was I wrong!  When the food came, she flat out refused to eat it.  She wouldn’t even take a single bite.  I asked her a few times to eat her lunch because she said she wanted dessert.  I eventually backed off of it thinking she’d eat it when she was ready, but instead she flipped out.  She was crying (fairly loudly) and just wouldn’t snap out of it.  If you are lucky enough to have a three year old, you will recognize this as a tantrum.  This was a result of her not being in control of the situation.  Yes, my little three year old control freak!

Aaaannyway, at the table behind us sat two older women.  I’d say they were at least 70.  Well, one of them said in disgust to the other one, “If that were my kid I’d just smack her.”  Followed by, “Someone needs a parenting class.”  Now I don’t know if they thought I was hard of hearing (maybe because they were), but I heard what they said as clear as day.  I attempted to bite my tongue and not say anything which is VERY difficult for me to do.  I happen to think that I am a damn good parent.  Sometimes there is just no reasoning with a three year old.  If my food hadn’t just arrived on the table and I wasn’t with company, then I’d have taken Brinley right out of the restaurant and gone home.  Well, we stayed, Brinley continued to pout (not quite as loudly as before) and Molly and I tried to enjoy our lunch.  The two old women continued to make snarky comments.  Eventually I just lost it and turned around to them.  I don’t remember exactly what I said, but the woman proceed to tell me that when she made those comments that she was referring to her nephew and how he is out of control.  Hmmm, I wonder why she was referring to him as a her?

Molly and I finished eating and then got ready to leave.  I made sure to give a nice look to those old ladies on our way out.  There was another family there with young children who gave me a nice, sympathetic, “I’ve been there, too” look as we passed them.  I’d really like to have seen how those ladies would have dealt with a stubborn three year old having a “moment”.  Maybe I will learn some techniques for handling it in my parenting classes, NOT!