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Saturday, April 21, 2007

A word of warning...

This is a letter a friend of mine received through one of her "Mommy Groups." I thought it was significant enough to merit public response.

Hello fellow friends and parents,
I am writing to tell you about something that recently happened to me which
was very disturbing and unpleasant. I recently dined out at Baltazar's
Restaurant with my friends the Liebmans and the Lindekoffs. We had a sitter
for Sachi and Jade, and brought Kobe because he was only a few months old
and slept most of the time. Three different staff people there were very
unpleasant to us because we brought the baby and treated us very rudely
despite the fact that he slept the entire time and never made a peep.
Baltazar himself made it a point to come over to our table to tell Tom and I
(and I quote-) that "they do not specialize in children" so we had to put
him on the floor since there was no highchair to set his car seat into.

A few weeks ago, I was encouraged to write the restaurant a letter because
of how rude they had been to us so I finally got around to it this week.
After asking for approval from the MOMS Club of Bend board members to use
letterhead, I wrote to Baltazar describing our experience and asked him to
consider purchasing one highchair to accommodate parents with a small child
who may dine at the restaurant.

Baltazar called me today and made it very clear that he does not want any
children in his restaurant. In fact, his exact words were, "We are not
going to buy even one highchair because we don't want them (kids) here."
When I suggested to him that Bend was a family friendly community and that
by treating patrons disrespectfully for accidentally bringing a child into
the restaurant is actually not good for his business and he was shutting out

a corner of the market, he asked me if I was threatening him, told me he
would sue me and then concluded the conversation with a "GO TO H*** YOU
F****** B****."

was completely stunned and shocked by having been treated this way- but
after being harassed in the restaurant for having a sleeping 8 week old with
us, I guess I should not be surprised.

There are many other establishments in this community that would never treat
their patrons in this manner- and I hope you will consider joining me in
finding alternative dining options where people are treated with dignity and
respect, whether or not their children are with them.

As I told Baltazar, I completely support restaurants approaching customers
who have unruly children, or whose children are disrupting the dining
experiences of the other patrons and politely asking them to get the
situation under control or leave- but blatant rudeness such as his
demonstrates poor business etiquette. If Baltazar's policy is
anti-children in their restaurant, they should post a sign at the door
stating, "No infants or children allowed." It would save an unknowing
parent such as me the harassment of being indirectly told multiple times
while dining there that my child was unwelcome.

Please share this message with others you know. As for Tom and I, we will
never again dine there again and hope you'll join us in demonstrating that
behavior such as that will not be rewarded with our continued patronage.

Thanks,
Name withheld.

I think this is terrible. If you do not post your no-kids rule don't be surprised if people bring their kids in. If they do bring their kids in and you seat them you'd better treat them like royalty because that's where your tip is coming from. Not to mention the fact that these are the patrons who allow your business to stay open. People like this are the reason family restaurants are the most prevalent eateries around. It's hard to find babysitters and even still, some people enjoy eating out with their children. I find ill-behaved children in restaurants as irritating as the next person, but that is really a parent issue. Kids will behave badly whenever they are allowed so the blame must lie with the parents allowing it. My husband and I have decided never to gift such a miserable place with our business and I urge you all to do likewise. This guy and his staff need to know that it is never acceptable to treat your customers in such a disrespectful, ungrateful, childish and innapropriate manner. Let's hit him where it hurts. In the bank account!

4 Comments:

Blogger Pixie said...

Hey, I know this story...Crazy huh? Yeah, we're planning to definitely avoid that place! Did I tell you there's another similar story about this same place? A few people have sent these stories to the Bulletin and the tv station! I hope the word really gets out there! Thanks for posting it!

10:26 AM, April 23, 2007  
Blogger Life Is Good said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

11:04 AM, April 23, 2007  
Blogger Sabrina said...

The issue isn't with the fact that this is a child-free establishment. They have their place and purpose. The problem here is that these people ( and many others, it seems) were seated WITH the child, then treated like crap. Want a child-free restaurant? Great. Don't seat people with children. Calmly inform them when they walk in that you're sorry, this restaurant is intended for adult patrons only. But if you SEAT THEM you have an obligation to treat them well. They are, after, paying your paycheck. Especially since the children mentioned in all of the complaints were either INFANTS that slept the whole time, or are very well behaved toddlers.

5:25 PM, April 23, 2007  
Blogger The Writer said...

My point exactly. I have no issue whatsoever with child-free dining. I would go to such a place for a dinner away from kids. My issue is with failing to post this rule so that people with children wouldn't show up, and if they do show up, seating them anyway and then treating them like crap. Unacceptable. No restaurant should treat people like this under any circumstances, especially when the situation could have so easily been avoided by making their desire to avoid having children in their establishment known.

6:02 PM, April 23, 2007  

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