Tacos and Tantrums

I worked in the restaurant industry throughout my college career.  It pretty much stunk.  Nothing builds your self esteem more than rude customers.  I once had a lady that left two pennies on the table for me after her meal.  I guess she gave me her two cents worth!

Another customer thought that it would be cute to poke a fork through a coffee creamer that he had hidden in his hand by his eye.  I had just come to his table to take his order and suddenly there was coffee creamer spewing everywhere and he was holding his eye and moaning in agony.  When he saw the horrified look on my face, he laughed like a hyena.  Fun times!

But my favorite types of customers were the ones who let their darling children behave badly in the restaurant. Some customers would let their kids run rampant through the restaurant.  Let me tell you, there is nothing like carrying a 50 pound tray loaded with piping hot plates of food across a restaurant, and having to dodge kids.  Piping hot heavy plates and little people do not mix well.  Other parents would let their little ones wail and cry throughout the entire meal.

Now, I am a mom of six kids, and we have definitely had our "moments" with one or two of the monkeys in a restaurant.  We are not perfect parents and our kids have their issues.  Whining at the table? Yep.  Rude bodily noises during dinner? You bet.  Horsing around and spilling stuff?  It happens (sometimes multiple times during the same meal).

Let's face it, kids are kids.  They are learning and we are their teachers.  As our kids' teachers, my husband and I have always tried to teach by example.  Monkey see monkey do, right?

But there are instances when our kids have totally crossed the line in a restaurant.  Take for example, this past weekend when our littlest monkey decided to have a full-on temper tantrum at our favorite taco joint.  It actually started with some whining and protesting, then it escalated to an attempt to jail break from his high chair.  Whining turned to wailing.  Protesting turned into pitching a fit.  It seemed like everyone in the usually loud restaurant, suddenly stopped talking and started staring.

Take a look at these gawkers!

That was our cue to promptly remove the screaming banshee.  Tacos to go please!

And I am quite sure that I heard everyone in the restaurant breathe a sigh of relief as we exited.

At least these people seemed to be relieved. Until they had to get in the van with the howler monkey...

Hugs,

Melissa