Restaurants and Diapers
By chiggerdog
@chiggerdog (134)
United States
April 11, 2008 9:29pm CST
I'm curious what kind of strange experiences other people have had while eating at a restaurant.
Here goes mine and it just happened. My daughter and I were eating fajitas at a rather upscale Mexican restaurant. She and I were talking and she asks me why the guy next to us is changing a diaper on the table. I told her there's no way anyone would change a baby's diaper on a table in a restaurant and she said look. So I looked and sure enough this person was changing a "poopy" diaper in the middle of this restaurant. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He had pulled out a blanket, laid the baby on top of it and was changing the diaper. The bathroom with a changing station was about 50 feet from where he was sitting. After he was finished the manager came out and told the guy that he has to change diapers in the bathroom. This guy then started arguing with the manager saying that the diaper didn't stink. Eventually the guy just stopped arguing and left, but instead of taking the poopy diaper with him, he left the diaper on the table for the wait staff to pick up. The people he was eating with apologized to the manager afterwards. In the meantime the manager comes up and apologizes to my daughter and me since we were privileged to witness the event. Am I odd, or do people not have manners anymore. This guy didn't care that I had to witness a diaper changing event while I was eating. Plus the poor baby's rear end was exposed for the whole world to see.
3 people like this
14 responses
@CherylsPearls (1269)
• United States
12 Apr 08
Sadly, it is true...so many people are lacking in manners these days. I would have had to say something to him. I know me. That is just totally gross. I mean, do you change your baby at home on the table you eat on? I can't even think of it!
The only thing close to that I have experienced is when I was interviewing a young lady in my office. Her mother came in with her and sat in a chair in the corner. I was asking the young lady questions and filling out forms when I thought I heard this popping noise. I looked up and the mother was flossing her teeth! OMG! I just stared at her until she looked at me. When she looked up and saw the look I was giving her, she said, "Oh, is this bothering you?" I said, "Yes, I find it absolutely disgusting and if you must do that, then go to one of the bathrooms!" She stopped and never said another word. All I could think of was that she was going to flip food from her teeth on me. I may have had to do worse than talk! lol
@chiggerdog (134)
• United States
12 Apr 08
Oh my gosh, I don't know what I would have done over that one either. That is just plain gross.
@eden32 (3973)
• United States
12 Apr 08
Oh that's so bizarre. I often try to play devil's advocate & think of a logical reason why someone would do something out of the ordinary. But this one is on it's own. I can't think of any reasonable or unreasonable reason why anyone would want to change a diaper where they're about to eat or where they just ate. That's just weird, kind of creepy & totally gross.
@chiggerdog (134)
• United States
12 Apr 08
And what makes this even more strange is that his wife had their daughter in the bathroom while he was changing the baby's diaper on the table in the restaurant. Their daughter seemed to be about 4-5 so its not like the mom had to help the girl too much. I just couldn't figure out why the mom didn't take the baby to the bathroom with her.
@woah_megan (1)
•
12 Apr 08
haha wow. i would probaly throw up. yesterday i went to wal*mart at like 2:00 am and saw a guy sitting in the magazine isle eating bananas.
@LouRhi (1502)
• Australia
12 Apr 08
I do not think that you are being totally unreasonable. Some people have no idea that there are other people who need to be considered.
Changing a poopy nappy at any table is not cool. Especially when it is in public. The fact that it didn't smell is irrelevant. A little discretion is needed at times.
Having said all of that I can find times when discretely changing a child's nappy at a table could be acceptable. However I believe it should be done on the parents lap rather than the table and if the change room is not occupied and close by then it should be used.
The age of the baby needs to also be taken into consideration. I think the younger the child then more acceptable this action would be. However if the child was a toddler then this behaviour becomes more unacceptable
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
14 Apr 08
I have to agree with you that circumstances and discretion are necessary. I have changed a baby at the table in a restaurant because: he was a newborn, the restroom did not have a changing table, the floor was dirty and I did not want to put his blanket down on it and it was freezing cold in there. Instead I laid him across my lap, positioned us so we were not in plain site of other customers (we were in booth seating) and did it as quickly as possible. And just in case anyone is wondering why I couldn't step out to the car to change him...he was born in November, it was winter here so that would have been even colder than the restroom.
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
12 Apr 08
Oh yuck.
I can't imagine what would possess someone to do that in a public area where people are eating. And doing it right on the table!
I've not experienced anything totally odd like that, but on a similar note, something that gets to me is when you're ordering at a fast food restaurant and the person in front of you or beside you sits their small child in diapers on the counter while placing/paying for their order.
Ick, ick, ick ...
@schilds (410)
• United States
13 Apr 08
Done it!! Still do it, and probably will continue to do it. Sorry! If I put him on his feet - he's gone!! I had to chase him out the door one day and caught him just as he ran into the drive thru lane. I don't know if anyone has every tested the outside of a diapered butt before, but it cant be much worse than the handle on the door into the restaraunt. At least the diaper is changed often, and the pants are washed after each wear --
@magrylouyu (1627)
• United States
17 Apr 08
That is on the crazy side. I have seen some people change a baby on a bench seat because some restaurants do not have baby stations. It does make it hard. I one time had to take my coat off on several occasions with my oldest daughter (4) lay the coat on the bathroom stall floor and then change my daughter. That's about the craziest I have gotten. Other than opening the tail gate and changing my children there too. lol but I could never think of a restaurant table! That's just nasty.
@ptygino (72)
• Panama
27 Apr 08
That is over the line. Why would you change you kids diaper in a table, rather just go to bathroom and do it there. I hate people that think public places are their living room, that is soo not cool. Well that just tells us to educate ur kids.! If you are looking for back packs for diapers check out my store.
www.backpackdiaperbags.biz
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
14 Apr 08
A gross experience I've had at a restaurant...when the guy wiped his nose and then picked up my food to hand it to me....believe me, I didn't accept it!
When my oldest daughter was younger she threw up at a restaurant. It happened so fast I couldn't get her to the bathroom in time so it just spewed all over the tile floor right in the main dining area.
A strange experience...I went to a fairly upscale restaurant once. Our private party was in an upstairs dining room. Just as we started to go up the stairs a woman coming down missed a step and tumbled right down almost knocking us down too. I felt bad for her but it wasn't her fault. The lighting was dim and they had strands of Christmas type lights lining the stairs...they followed the shape of the railing not the stairs themselves so it was very misleading.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
15 Apr 08
No you are not odd. That is uncalled for and yes, people are very short on common courtesies, manners and common sense.
But while you are appalled at this, let me lighten your stress.... years ago when my daughter was little we went to eat to an all you can eat place and me, daughter and husband were with his parents. We are sitting there eating and a couple a few tables over from us, gets up to go get seconds, and my MIL jumps up, runs over to their table and scoops all the BBQ rib bones and other food off their plates into a napkin and into her purse!!! I was mortified!!! Thankfully the two sets of us were all that were the at the moment, and when they came back, they just looked around and were saying "where'd our food go?" Apparently they werent done with what was there! SO I say, "lets get out of here". So while I collect everyting kid wise to get out of there, these people go back to get the stuff they had still there before, and as MIL walks past their table on the way out, she scoops up the new meats they just brought back and puts them in her purse!!!! I grabbed my littlte girl and took out of there fast as I could so no one would see me with MIL doing that! My gosh, to this day (that was about 28 years ago!) I can still feel the embarresment from that!
@asawanialvin0611 (1877)
• Philippines
12 Apr 08
The deneanor of such guy is nasty.He should be taught properly.What will he think if he is the baby who was not given a privacy like that.also, the guy show no respect to every one who is eating in the restaurant
@schilds (410)
• United States
13 Apr 08
Yuck!! I haven't done anything that blatently gross, but I don't always think things through, and I don't get out of the house much. So, I will say - maybe he just didn't realize. He was so focussed on the baby needing changed he didn't even realize that a restaraunt table was completely inappropriate. Even so it is gross, and he had no cause to argue the matter with the manager - the manager has health codes to adhere to.
@SassyKittyKat (2135)
• Australia
12 Apr 08
That's nasty! There is no reason for it other than complete and utter laziness. I mean, every restaurant usually has a baby changing station, even in the men's room. There's no reason for it. No one wants to see or smell that crap while they are trying to enjoy their meal.....
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
15 Apr 08
some people are just really slobs. I used to work in our local library and one day before we opened I was picking up books left from the night before on the childrens tables. Not really looking down at the bench at this one table, I was in a hurry for one thing, I sat down and immediately felt something icky a and smelled something gross. I got up and found I had sat on a paper diaper that was full of poop and got some on my skirt. the outcome I had to go home and change into a clean skirt and then come back to work. some lazy woman had left the dirty diaper right on top of the bench then just shoved the bench in so nobody could see it. Just unbelievable to me.
@jerzgirl (9291)
• United States
12 Apr 08
There are all sorts of "sick", if you will, people in this world. I mean, accidents do happen (as I know from personal and embarrassing experience when my son made a messy diaper in a restaurant that didn't stay inside the diaper. Believe me, I wanted to die.) But, this was a blatant disregard for both fellow diners and health codes. The restaurant manager could have called the police, I'm sure, so they wouldn't get charged with allowing such a violation. But, I am curious - if he had changed the baby on the seat beside him (assuming a booth), would it have bothered you as much? I've seen that and have done that (before changing stations existed), but I would never in my life put my baby on the table to change them in a public setting where food is served.
One time, I used the bathroom in a local Chinese "take out/eat in" place only to find "poopy" smeared EVERYWHERE!! I mean, there was nothing untouched by the stuff. WTF did the person who was in there do???? The stench made it obvious it was a baby, but my God - was she throwing it around or what?? All over the toilet, the seat, the walls, the floor the sink, and the faucets!! I wanted to run, but had to go so bad, I cleaned off what I could for my own emergency, and then washed my hands and went to tell the restaurant owners. They were so embarrassed and I felt so bad for them. It was horrible. I think pigs live better than the person left that room, I swear!!
