Parent Your Brats Or Stay Home With Them
Irish "parents" sued a restaurant after their 3-year-old stuck her finger in an 8mm hole in a sugar dispenser and couldn't get it out. It had to be cut off at a hospital. The lid, that is, not her finger.
Assholes.
Nothing like letting your kid go undersupervised and then trying to stick other people with paying for it.
The judge called this "compensation culture gone mad." He awarded the costs of the case to the restaurant (to be paid by the parents).
Here's a statement from the judge reported by the Mirror/UK:
"Quite frankly, this is another case of compensation culture gone mad concerning an extraordinary suggestion that the restaurant should have warned Robyn's mother when she was being shown to a table that the sugar dispenser had a risk associated with it."
via @overlawyered
What a savory example of parenting; letting your child stick her finger in a sugar dispenser. A lawyer should advocate for the child and sue the parents.
Patrick at December 20, 2013 1:09 AM
Sensible judge! Do note: not in the USA
a_random_guy at December 20, 2013 2:03 AM
If it had been my son, he wouldn't have had access to the sugar container. Of course, he's also not dumb enough to put his fingers any place other than up his nose. If he had gotten his finger stuck, he would have been shamed and given shit for it. Then we would use it as a lesson learned but I wouldn't sue anybody for it.
Kendra at December 20, 2013 4:18 AM
...he would have been shamed and given shit for it. Then we would use it as a lesson learned but I wouldn't sue anybody for it.
Exactly what I would have done. This is what reasonable and effective parenting looks like. It is NOT expecting everydamnone else to cater to your special little snowflake. There's a word for parents like that: breeders. Because that's all they are if they're too inept and/or lazy to actually teach their children how to behave and interact socially.
Flynne at December 20, 2013 4:56 AM
We did not play with table items. Because we were not taken out until we were old enough to behave like little ladies in restaurants and because we were taught and expected to behave that way.
Amy Alkon at December 20, 2013 5:23 AM
Not a "breeder" so I don't have kids; But, I do believe that when you have a 3-year old; everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is something to play with and parental safeguards should be taken.
If someone doesn't understand that then they shouldn't be parents.
One other bright side is at least they didn't allow him to run around throwing the sugar jar at other patrons! (Oh wait, his finger was stuck, maybe that's why he didn't throw it at others)
Charles at December 20, 2013 6:37 AM
This doesnt surprise me at all... I used to work in a bar. You know those places where adults go to drink? Well this woman brought her two brats (special snowflakes) in to the bar and proceeded to talk with other patrons and drink and ignore said children. One of the boys climbed on top of the pool table took the cue ball and bashed one of the pool lights out with it. Then the little darling began playing with the glass and cut himself. I was fortunate enough to be the one the "mother" decided to lecture about how I should have been paying more attention so it didnt happen. As I was about to lose my mind on her my manager stopped me and instructed this woman that the waitstaff was not responsible for her little monsters.
Lrj at December 20, 2013 6:41 AM
I wasn't aware that sausages needed parenting...
Hey, it's Friday!
Cousin Dave at December 20, 2013 8:37 AM
As I was about to lose my mind on her my manager stopped me and instructed this woman that the waitstaff was not responsible for her little monsters.
Posted by: Lrj at December 20, 2013 6:41 AM
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Was the so-called parent humbled, or did she just stomp out? Did she say anything? Was she given the repair bill?
No one's mentioned the fact that the Irish "parents," from the start, were allowing their kid to be a health hazard by allowing her to spread her germs that way. I've seen plenty of horror stories at Bratfree about kids sticking their hands in food containers at buffet restaurants, putting salt shakers in their mouths, etc., and parents doing nothing to stop them or even notice what they're doing. The posters often say "this is why I've stopped eating at buffet restaurants."
lenona at December 20, 2013 10:28 AM
@ Lenona- My manager was so incensed by what happened and that the woman had the audacity to scream at me about it that she kicked her out. The woman still protesting our "horrible service" My manager took that to educate her that servers are not free babysitters and a bar is not a place for children and she was LUCKY to not have to pay for the light. I never saw her again thank god! I did have another parent about 2 weeks later lose her child and ask to speak to my manager to inform her I clearly wasn't doing my job because I didnt know where her child was. People are AMAZING
lrj at December 20, 2013 11:41 AM
Why are they letting their child stick its fingers in condiment dispensers? Ew.
Conan the Grammarian at December 20, 2013 11:44 AM
Due to the totally lax liquor laws in my state (Colorado) breeders (AKA shittiest parents alive) frequently bring their little darlings to the bar. I've seen it all, from kids running barefoot (YES, BAREFOOT - do these people not realize that glassware has likely been broken in the past and there's a good chance a piece or two is still on the floor?) screaming, playing tag around the pool tables, climbing into the windows to switch the beer signs off and on, all this while the mommies were getting their drink on.
I see it again, I'm following them out of the bar, getting their plates and calling in a possible DUI, regardless of whether they are, in fact, drunk. Maybe a chat with Officer Friendly will make them think for once.
Daghain at December 20, 2013 6:04 PM
I've seen it all, from kids running barefoot (YES, BAREFOOT - do these people not realize that glassware has likely been broken in the past and there's a good chance a piece or two is still on the floor?)
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If I were babysitting some kids, I would certainly never allow them to go barefoot in any public place where the other people weren't barefoot, simply so as not to spread germs.
But I would never guess there might be broken glass in any INDOOR business - even near-invisible particles can and should be removed by a vacuum cleaner by the second vacuuming at the latest! Any business owner who allows this to happen is just being unprofessional - and a threat to the public health.
lenona at December 21, 2013 9:27 AM
I don't know what bars you go to but a lot of the ones I hit get vacuumed, once a day, after closing if they even have carpeting. Many have linoleum tile floors.
I have also seen glasses that are dropped and a chip is found ten feet away from the point of impact.
It still comes back to why should I, or a business owners and their employees, be forced to be look out for the rugrat that you brought to a nominally adult establishment. Or even a general establishment. A Chuck E. Cheese type place is catering to children. A Bob Evans caters to everyone and you are supposed to be relatively responsible for the minors you bring in.
Jim P. at December 21, 2013 9:46 AM
What I meant was: ANYONE, including an adult, can slip and fall - and get a glass fragment in the face if it wasn't picked up.
BTW, I don't go to bars - and kids certainly shouldn't be taken to them.
lenona at December 21, 2013 11:03 AM
One of the unintended consequences of banning smoking in bars is an influx of children and babies into what were once adults-only spaces.
Kevin at December 21, 2013 3:04 PM
My sincerest apologies for misunderstanding the ideas behind your post.
Considering that Amy's blog entry was that a judge threw the negligent parent's case of injury to their child I was taking your statement a different way.
In addition the prefacing of babysitting in your post misled me as well.
So again I want to extend my apologies that I couldn't read your mind.
With that being said, a typical adult, American, person walks out of the front door on a daily basis knowing that it may rain, the sun may shine, the ice that is on the road is slick, or the asshole driving down the street may swerve to miss a squirrel and accidentally hit you.
They also are usually smart enough to know that some of what may happen to them on a daily basis may be have been avoided if they did something different. Some may be the fault of the person or business they are in.
So a small chunk of glass later in the day may cut you but the business generally cleaned up the mess quickly after it happens will generally indemnify them.
That you are not competent to walk and chew gum does not automatically indemnify the business, but at the same time laying fault at the company's feet should never be assumed.
Jim P. at December 21, 2013 7:10 PM
"What a savory example of parenting; letting your child stick her finger in a sugar dispenser."
Wouldn't that be a sweet example of parenting?
A savory example of parenting would be letting the child stick her finger in the salt or multi-herb dispenser.
Which, again - disgusting.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at December 22, 2013 11:13 AM
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