Cafe's Facebook Rant Proves Some People Are Just Jerks About Kids
This restaurant owner took aim at parents of crying babies
As parents, we spend a lot of time worrying about our kids disturbing others. We know better than anyone that kids are hard to handle, and the majority of us try not to be selfish jerks, but a recent series of “funny” Facebook posts by the owner of a Dublin restaurant proves some people will just never be happy with kids around, no matter how courteous or concerned their parents try to be.
Paul Stenson of the White Moose Cafe in Dublin is known for being outspoken, and he held nothing back in sharing his views about crying babies. In a post that went up over the weekend, he wrote, “Dear Parents, if you cannot control your crying (screaming) babies, I will crush up some valium and put it in their fruit juice. Babies are more than welcome in our café, but please ensure that they are asleep throughout the entire duration of their visit.”
The part about the crushed up Valium was obviously tongue-in-cheek, and patrons responded in kind, writing things like, “I’m actually considering taking my kids to White Moose Cafe for the free Valium so I can have a nice time in Dublin,” and, “As a mother… I take offence to this. Valium has way too many side effects. Benadryl is much more effective.”
Parents can laugh at things like that because we don’t like it when our kids are noisy and obnoxious either. That said, the post did leave some rankled — especially once they saw what Stenson had posted just one day earlier. “Dear Guests,” he wrote, ” If the music in our cafe is too loud for you, may I suggest you wear ear muffs. The music is there to create an atmosphere, and just because you are not happy, it doesn’t mean we will turn it down. You are not the only person to walk the face of the earth.”
Wait, so if music disturbs other guests, it’s fine? But parents with crying babies deserve to be publicly shamed? Talk about people who think they’re the only ones “to walk the face of the earth.”
No one likes a screaming baby, but the fact of the matter is babies cry. Most decent parents will deal it with quickly or go outside until the baby calms down, but the few seconds of crying other guests hear in the meantime shouldn’t be something we freak out about. Why is overly-loud, obnoxious music something people should just deal with, but parents are made to feel like criminals if their children so much as make a peep?
If you want to play loud, shitty music and ban all parents, fine. Do it. Put up a sign that says “no kids allowed,” and enjoy your baby-free establishment. But don’t say “babies are more than welcome” while at the same time creating a hostile environment for moms and dads. We deal with enough people bitching about us on planes, in stores, at restaurants, and pretty much anywhere else we try to go. If you don’t want us around, tell us. We’re more than happy to not give you our hard-earned money.
