Whine Dining

Illustration by Bob AulTo the father who blithely ignored his three-year-old daughter throughout lunch: keep your kid out of my meal! While cute, the little darling spent a solid 45 minutes perched on the top of her booth, staring directly at me while alternately yelling, making faces, sneezing and coughing all over me. I generally have no problem with kids at restaurants; we all need to eat, and eating as a family is always a great idea. But parents need to pay attention to what their kids are doing. You had your wife and two other young kids at your table, so we decided not to add rudeness to rudeness and say anything. Besides, moving to another table wasn't an option because the place was completely full. But as our lunch progressed, I had to resist the urge to fling bits of tasty carnitas at the back of your immobile and apparently deaf head. You may have learned to completely tune out your darling daughter, but we had no such option.

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