Monday, July 30, 2007

Don't Touch My Baby!


This day started out normal. I was in a good mood. Business was steady. Not too much chaos. Hell, a nice looking man even asked for my phone number today. Then I got this table I am about to speak of.



The guests sat down and I politely greeted them. I took their order and took care of their every need. There was three of them and they each needed no less then six refills a piece. Everything went smoothly. All smiles. They had a very adorable baby girl. The Father was having difficultly getting his daughter in her car seat carrier. And here is what happened.


"Are you having trouble sir?" I ask, as I reach towards the car seat to help him figure out how to fasten it up.


"Don't touch my baby!" is snarled by the mother who was trapped near the wall.


I literally flinch. A simple, don't touch the baby, in a moderate tone would have sufficed. But she changed from a nice smiling customer to a psycho before my eyes.


I quickly moved my hands away from the car seat. I look at her and say, "I'm sorry. I was just trying to help him fasten her in."


"I don't care what you were trying to do. Don't touch my baby!" her voice gets agitated even more.


"I truly am sorry. I wasn't trying to offend."


"I don't care what you were trying to do. You don't just go up to someones baby and try to touch them. Do you have any idea what is on your hands after carried all of that stuff in there?" she questions me, as her voice gets increasingly louder.


"I understand. I have three boys. If it makes you feel any better, I wash my hands every time I enter that door and I just washed them before I came back out here." I stated.


She gets even more angry with me. "Just bring us our change we want to go."


At this point I am baffled. I didn't think I had done anything wrong and I believed I had handled the confrontation appropriately. I quickly brought them their change and went in search of a manager. I found him and told him. "If you get a complaint call later, it will be about me. I was just trying to help and this woman went crazy on me over her baby."


He proceeded to ask me what happened and I told him. I told him I thought she was psycho. Apparently they had came to the door and were listening in on my conversation. All hell broke loose when he went out there to talk to them. They proceeded to lie and say I was a shitty server the whole time. They said I never tried to apologize and got confrontational with them. That of course almost got me in trouble. Thank goodness, my boss knows me much better then that. The only thing I got in trouble for was for not taking him to the office to tell him what happened. Still, I have never had a guest go crazy on me before. Shook me to the core. I hate that about my industry. The customer is not always right. I am sorry, but guest or not, I feel they don't have the right to go ape shit on a server. So basically, I am just down right personally offended. I gave my night shift away. I was so mad that this woman was allowed to treat me like I was disgusting, accuse me of harming her child and got free food out of it.


Naturally, I didn't get a tip. Imagine that!

17 comments:

ZoeyBella said...

That's just one more example of why I hate people. (Not you, of course. But other people.)

NML/Natalie said...

Wow, that was really OTT of the woman. I couldn't help but giggle at that part where you were telling your manager and they overheard. Some women are ultra paranoid about their children but it's not an excuse for being rude to someone and copping a free meal out of it. Maybe she pulls that shit all the time and they never have to pay for food... ;-)

Adventures In Waitressing said...

I never thought about that. It wouldn't surprise me at all.

soccer mom in denial said...

I'm with the beautiful Zoey. I hate people. And they got free food. F*cking jerks.

I was the exact opposite with my boys. Someone wanted to hold them - SURE! Here's a kid and even a burp cloth for your shoulder.

Ambassador in New Orleans can attest that when the boys were 8 months old two women came up to us in a coffee shop and cooed at the boys. I offered them the chance to hold the boys and one jumped at the chance. The other did so with less enthusiasm and sneered "do you usually hand your children to strangers" to which I replied "yes, often" with the biggest, fakest grin I could muster.

Ambassador just about died from hysterics. The boys thoroughly enjoyed the new faces to stare at.

But back to you - THAT WOMAN SUCKED!! You are awesome. And normal. She is psycho.

CableGirl said...

Looks like my comment got lost in the ether. Bummer. It was long and I can't be arsed to type it out again.

Anyway, I wanted to say that to a certain degree I can understand the woman's initial reaction. Not her ignorance at being so rude, but her desire not to have strangers touch her baby. We traveled all weekend and I had way too many people touch my MJ totally unsolicited. That bugs me. Ask first. I mean, I can't even count the times I've seen people walk out of public washrooms without washing their hands, and they want to put those nasty germy things on my kid's face? I don't think so. Then again, I've never flipped out and been rude to someone for just trying to help me out either.

Adventures In Waitressing said...

I agree whole heartedly about asking first. I always ask. Which is why I asked if he was having trouble. Her tone in general is what I took exception too. I still don't understand how anyone could walk out of a restroom and not wash their hands. DISGUSTING!

Gunfighter said...

"Don't Touch My Baby!"

Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am! I wouldn't want your child to get any germs from my clean hands. Certainly, the airborne pathogens are less toxic than my hands. Maybe you should have left the little feller home.

Anonymous said...

I see some of you say that you "hate people" but yet condone the actions of the waitress when she was going to touch the customers baby.

Every time my wife and I go out somebody touches, tickles, taps or teases my baby. And my favorite, the Zulu clicking sounds out of peoples mouths in hopes to get my baby to smile.

It gets old and very nerve racking when all you want to do is relax and buy something and some person who just scratched their ass wants to touch my babies chubby cheeks.

Once people pass that line, they are a lower form of life to me and will be treated as such. Just like you were treated.

Just because you let everyone else paw your three children with their diseased hands, does not mean I (or many others) think its ok.

It is never ok to touch other peoples children.

Never.

Wonder if it was a homeless person touching your child? Would your views change then?

Anonymous said...

If you and I were in a conversation could I just reach over and start touching you? Maybe pinch you, tickle you, grab your fat cheeks? It would be strange right? Why then is it ok to reach out and do the same to someone who is the most precious person in my life? A stranger at that? It's just not ok. Did the dad ask for your help? Did the mom look so incapable of caring for her own child that she needed a stranger to touch her baby? What is wrong with you that you feel you were the one slighted? You, a stranger whos help nobody asked for who had the gall to reach in and grab (for whatever reason) a baby that did not belong to you have the nerve to be offended? KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF OTHER PEOPLES KIDS!! DUH!

April said...

I don't think you were intending to be rude, but you should never try to touch other people's babies. I know you were just trying to help, but maybe you were blessed with three healthly full term babies....many aren't. Perhaps this baby has an immunocompromised disease or was a preemie. Mothers have to be overly cautious and on guard because dumb people will put their hands all over babies without asking first. I have preemie twins myself and had to put up with this the rare times I took them out in public. I am sure her husband had it under control. Sure the woman was overly harsh about it, she could have had nicer tone, but you probably would have been offended no matter what tone she had. I have used very nice tone about asking people not to touch my babies even AFTER I have a sign on the carseat telling them not to touch my baby and they still get all offended. I am sure you are a very clean person, but that doesn't matter. Don't touch other people's kids. You made the situation worse by trying to argue with them. You should have just said "Im sorry I didn't realize" and then left.

thepsychomama said...

I understand that you were just trying to help, and I think they totally stepped over the line by yelling at you. That said, I just did a year-long internship at an Early Years Centre, and I would never touch someone's baby without asking, even though it is my job. I just had a baby myself a couple months ago, and people are constantly coming up to and trying to touch him. The swine flu is going around, it's regular flu season, and I am really sick of people thinking its their right to touch my child. It makes me want to slap them. I have never yelled at or even told someone not to touch him--I usually just move him away politely, but I think when you've had one too many people touch your child its possible to lose your temper and lash out. I'm not trying to defend them at all, it was really rude of them and the way they handled it afterwards was not okay, but I am personally at the point where I am searching Google for a plastic bubble I can keep my baby in because people are so inappropriate in thinking they have the right to touch peoples' babies. If an infant gets the swine flu they could die. That, in my opinion, is a reason to turn into a psycho.

Anonymous said...

www.handsoffbaby.com. They have signs that politely let people know not to touch the baby. No confrontation, the sign does the speaking for you. They also, carry bibs, onsies and toddler tees. New Hands off Belly maternity tops too!

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