There is nothing more infuriating than arriving at your favourite restaurant to find some numskull has installed their two year old complete with buggy and the entire contents of the nursery at the table next to you.
I am not talking about a cut price eatery here. This restaurant is quite expensive and somewhere we go with some confidence that the service is excellent, the food superior and the ambience perfect.
People who bring very young children to restaurants are, in my opinion, from a very different planet to the one the rest of us inhabit. It is grossly unfair to allow your child to dominate the atmosphere in any public place, but especially in a restaurant where the music is set at a volume especially not to drown the conversation, the waiter service is discreet and the entire atmosphere is one based upon the joys of peace and tranquility.
Into this harmonic dream steps Mr and Mrs Completely Inconsiderate with Junior and the Tried and Trusted Food Throwing Programme. When baby's antics reach ear splitting level, Mrs Inconsiderate decides to step in and add her screeching to that of the child, so that we are all left in no doubt where Junior inherited his flair for drama.
The best bit is when, having noted the tutting and sighing coming from all around the room, the parents decide it might be a good idea to release the kid from the confines of the buggy and let him run around a little to let off some steam. This is the very worst move yet and in my opinion parents who encourage a child to use a restaurant as a race track should be taken out and shot.
It is interesting that restaurant owners and managers do not interfere in such behaviour until the rest of the clientele is ready to walk out. By the time the situation is under control, everyone's evening is in tatters, yet they all have to pay the check regardless.
