Imagine working at a restaurant when a family with a child is seated at one of your tables.

Would you go out of your way to be friendly with the child, or would you simply be polite and do your job?

In this story, one waitress took the second approach, and the family was quite critical of her attitude. Now, she’s wondering if she really did do something wrong.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITAH for not acknowledging a families children when they came into the restaurant I worked at?

I am at a loss here truly 😭

So I am a waitress and bartender and I work at a popular hotel chain.

This Saturday I was working in the restaurant all night as well as being the only staff member available to work on the bar so I was pretty busy.

The interaction started out normally enough.

A family of 4 came in, a man, two women and a young boy probably around the age of 5.

When they sat down I asked if the boy needed a children’s menu.

And they said no and that they would pick for him. That was the end of my acknowledgment to their son really.

They yes ordered and I the child was climbing around over the seats and climbing up and down the booths.

The kid sounds out of control.

When I went to give water the table he stuck his hand into the jug.

I didn’t say anything to him and just asked if they wanted a new jug.

They said no.

I was then rushing food to tables and this kid was playing with toy trucks in the middle of the floor and pushing them to my feet as I was carrying hot heavy plates.

She still tried to be nice.

I just sort of smiled at him but carried on and went in another direction as to not run into him.

When I cleared their plates I noticed their table was FILTHY. Just covered in chewed up food and spilled juice and everything.

Anyway, you can imagine I wasn’t to fond of this family.

The family didn’t like her any more than she liked them.

At the end of my shift my manager informed me that the family complained to him and that I was being cold and distant by not interacting with their son.

My manager said he wasn’t upset or anything but just thought I ought to know.

Just to clarify I don’t dislike children at all, I love babies but I’m not good with kids and I don’t want my job to be affected by bad parenting.

So basically AITAH for not being friendlier and more playful around this child? Thanks

Who cares if the family with the out of control child likes you or not? They needed to get a better handle on their son. She’s pretty lucky she didn’t trip and fall. She’s a waitress not a babysitter.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

The boy’s parents were the real problem.

Exactly!

I’m glad nobody got hurt.

Whoops, indeed!

This person calls out the manager.

But this person thinks the manager is on her side.

Parents really need to control their children at restaurants.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.