Kid Knocks Down Potted Plant

September 7, 2012

in Kid Stories

Two friends and I went to “Pepper’s” one day right before the dinner rush. We were seated in a booth and one of my friends had the misfortune of being back-to-back to a girl (about age 6) who was practically bouncing off the walls of the booth she shared with her mother, who was basically ignoring what she was doing. On the shelf on top of the seat that my friend shared with this girl was a potted palm-type plant.

The potted plant stayed where it was until we had just ordered our drinks. Then, eventually, the girl tried to climb over the top of the seat and ended up knocking the potted plant down and, unfortunately, it ended up landing right on my friend. It literally looked like the plant was attacking him. The mother saw the entire thing and her reaction was to tell her daughter “don’t do that.” She didn’t even get up from her seat.

Luckily the waiter was nearby and saw the entire thing. We ended up moving tables and the mother and daughter ended up leaving shortly thereafter, seemingly totally oblivious to people in our area of the restaurant glaring at them.

{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

Hack September 8, 2012 at 1:19 pm

Chili’s, huh.
Always at Chili’s…..

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poco September 9, 2012 at 3:36 pm

17 years in the service industry has convinced me that we need standards for breeding. Some people shouldn't reproduce.

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Smithy September 10, 2012 at 10:36 am

50% of my dining experiences are somehow ruined by children. Hubby and I have started asking for the Non-Kid section from hostesses. Or, when being disturbed, we ask if we can switch tables due to kids climbing over booth seats. One time when we didn't move, at a BBQ joint, I was struck in the face with a 7 year old swinging his winter coat. And just as the above poster, the parents seemed to NOT care in the least or discipline the child. OR even apologize to me. I truly hate every child in this society. The future of this country is scr*wed.

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Amber May 10, 2016 at 11:41 am

In your situation it is entirely plausible the parents didn't realize you were struck with the coat. They may not have n=known punishment and apology were needed. the potted plant in the story would be an obvious thing and those parents should have apologized profusely and offered to pay for that person's meal.

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Jody September 19, 2012 at 9:02 am

I too have moved tables because of disruptive kid behavior. When I do ask to move, I make sure the manager/host/hostess knows that it has nothing to do with the server.

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Hemi September 28, 2012 at 4:18 pm

This type of thing is why some restaurants are banning children!

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greg November 12, 2012 at 4:26 am

the inattention that todays children get from their parents is truly sad. im only 25 but me or my siblings never would have thought to act that way because we knew we would have been punished. in fact even if we had acted that way, and the person sitting next to us would have said something to us or even given us a swat on the butt for our behaviour, not only would my parents NOT freaked and or sued the person, we would have been punished a second time! what i hate is when mothers/parents these days tell us that are childless that "well the parents are used to their kids making noise so they tune it out and dont even notice it" WTF?! just because they tune it out doesnt mean that i can, nor should i have a reason too! i hate going to a store and having to be forced to listen to a kid screaming his da*n head off while the parent mindlessly conducts their shopping. i used to work at a call center for a bank, and i always seemed to get stuck with the parent who is trying to console a screaming kid as they called in.. i couldnt hear them so my call time was increased (which got me in trouble with my supervisors) because i kept having to have them repeat them selves or repeat my self.. not to mention disturbing my co-workers as i had to shout over a screaming kid to try and help a thoughtless customer.

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MsDawn December 12, 2012 at 1:57 pm

I am so glad my children have always listened when we have taken them out to eat. If they got antsy/noisy my husband or myself would take them outside to walk. We also brought coloring books or something for them to play with. I do remember once my oldest when he was 2 deciding to run to a restaurant's kitchen. I was so embarrassed and mad at him for doing that. I apologized to all who was inconvenienced by him doing that (he got a smack on the behind too for it)

They are older now (9, 13,17) so I would hope they wouldn't act out now. We have waitresses from time to time give them free desserts because they said they couldn't get over how polite they were when ordering, quiet at the table and well behaved. Even had an older couple tell us we were doing something right. It can be done if the parents actually pay attention to their children and make them act right.

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Mel November 4, 2016 at 1:52 pm

One of the worst dining experiences I had was a Chili's. We were seated at a two-top right next two a gigantic party of mostly children, about 20 people total. It was fine at first, until the staff decided that giving the children full access to every balloon in the joint was a good idea. The children decided to blow up each balloon until it popped. Many, many times did we hear the popping sound. Still don't know why the staff decided to do that. Our waiter fortunately was not the one in charge of the children's party and did not suffer for their mistakes. He was tipped well, simply because he had to listen to this crap also.

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