These "parents" you speak of (boy, that term is used loosely) are your typical soccer mom 80,000 dollar SUV driving, child psychologist listenin morons who have no right to reproduce. Hell, when I was a kid, i stopped acting up in public places after the first time. My dad never beat me, but he sure as hell made me think he would. And that is why I never acted up. Children these days have parents by the balls (or vulva as the case may be) because they know if they get spanked they can tell their teacher/babysitter/friend's mom/some other adult and get their parents in huge trouble. All because some nutjobs came up with the idea that discipline = lowered self esteem = future delinquents. Sorry, but that rant lit a spark in me and I had to reply with another rant.

I'm especially sensitive to this, because I hate kids. I find them insanely annoying to begin with.
My steps for dealing with this:

1. Get a hold of manager. Tell them the kids are being obnoxious and seriously bothering you.

2. If it persists despite an honest attempt, I leave. If the manager tries to blow me off with some sort of "they're just kids" bullshit (which I get a LOT), I inform them that _I_ can yell much, MUCH louder than the kids can, and if he/she (the manager) doesn't get them to shut up, i'm going to yell at the little shits until they cry and then yell at the parents for being irresponsible assholes and raising their kids up as bastards.

Nothing says motivation like hitting them in the pocket. You think a parent will return to a restuarant where their little kid got yelled at and called a "stupid fucking brat who should die a horrible, painful death at the hands of strangers"? (my fave line- I've only used it once, but the mom damn near fainted... ah, memories...)

neing a waiter at a semi- upscale restraunt, i know this to well. most of the time the kids are well behaved and are no problem, but some kids are just brat plain and simple the parents just dont care. example; a few weeks ago a mother grand mother and this prolly 12 year old kid came in, every time i turned around the kid was dumping shit in to our candle lamps. every thing from salt and sugar, to PAPER and other flammabe things. it took sevral dirty looks @ the kid then me finnaly going and talking to him, not his mother i mind you , for him to stop.

and just tonight thire was this damned 2 yearold running around climbing every ware. i didnt say anything in leiu of possable getting a good tip. but those cheap basterds who rang up a $88 bill left me fucking 5 bucks after i put up with all their shit (cleaning up spillt soda/ apple juice)

i realy wish my restraunt would invoke some new rules

1.no kids
2. no cell phones nothing is worse than some fucktards cell going off 10 times while he is eating

God I remember back in the day if i misbehaved and screamed one little bit i got whopped and never misbehaved again. Otherwise the parents hired a baby sister and I didn't go with. My parents taught restaurant etiquette from an early age which I am glad I learned. My dad hardly ever goes out to eat with the family due to the fact of people bringing screaming kids and not doing a damn thing about it. Reminds me of a time me and my girlfriend where standing in line waiting for her to get her medication. There was this lady behind with a little kids and he was so loud and picking shit up and being the most annoying little shit someone could imagine. I said in a quiet voice "she needs to give him a good slap on the hand head and ass. and my parents did that all the time and I turned out really good" The lady in front of me just started to laugh her ass off and said she agreeded. I think people are also worry about being to "harsh" cause if they hit their kid in public it might make them look like a "bad" parent.......Discipline is highly needed.

I am a full time single father of a 9 y.o. girl and 7 y.o. boy, and my kids have NEVER behaved this way in a restaurant. Why? Because I PARENT my children (this seems to be a foreign concept to most people). My children know how to behave in these types of situations, and know what is EXPECTED of them(yes I expect my children to be respectful toward others) . I get pissed when i take my children w/ me somewhere like the Outback (yes I have taken them there, and they disturbed NOBODY) and other peoples kids are behaving like frigging animals, as a matter of fact my kids get upset about it and complain to the waiter/waitress!

cj2112, this is the stuff I applaud. Being a single parent is tough enough, I'd imagine, but it's just cool when your kids complain about other's kids not behaving properly. It helps that they are a little older, and most definitely understand what manners are, as compared to a 2-5 year old, but still...impressive.

I recently went out with my girlfriend's family to dinner. She has the most obnoxious 6 year old sister. I wanted to get up and leave half way through. Aren't 6 year olds supposed to behave, I thought they were old enough to know better.

The funny part of dinner was that it was her mom's birthday and the 6 year old was opening all the presents and then thinking that it was HER birthday...God I hate kids..

One of the things that NOBODY knows about me is that I managed a Burger King for a year back in 1983 in Greensboro, North Carolina. I file it under the "What Would You Do to Survive?" category.

It was the year that "Return of the Jedi" came out, and Burger King was one of the big sponsors. As part of our promotional, they sent us posters advertising "Revenge of the Jedi," which was going to be the title until the studio changed it prior to release. If I'd had any sense, I would have kept one of those now highly valuable posters.

Also, that was the year that a little toddler named Sarah Michelle Gellar was the Burger King "spokesperson" in a series of ads that insulted McDonald's.

I started in the 4th quarter of 1983, in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, as one of the original crew. It was kinda neat. I did it as a college student, for gas and food money.

Generally, I worked the closing shift in the drive thru window. It's amusing to look back on.

*adopts Jim Carrey voice*

"Back off lady - this is between me and the kid." :D

When I went to resaurants with my parents as a kid, I used to have to tell my parents to be quiet and sit still. :P

Agreed.

Let us not forget the babys in the movie theatre.

I swear someone brought a newborn into the matrix: reloaded....
I also recall a freshly spawned child screaming bloody murder during SAVING PRIVATE RYON!! WTF brings a baby into that kind of movie!

My wife is an ex-elementary school teacher she usually gives the monsters her teacher voice and they shape up. We go to a lot of restaurant that serve liquor cause there seems to be less kids.

undisciplined. you said it. its completely up to the parents.

I literally lured some drunk asshole outside of a restaurant once. He was smart enough not to egg me on, otherwise the large rock nearby would have met his head at high speed. Seriously. The parents were tipsy, and the kids were pratically in our laps.

its completely up to the parents.

I share your pain. Once while being seated at a family type restaurant, I was asked, "smoking or non-smoking?" I replied that I didn't care, however, just don't seat me anywhere near any children, as I enjoy eating my meal in peace. Man, you should have seen the scornful eyes of several of the motherly types standing nearby. Worked like a charm though. These days, I only go to restaurants that accept reservations and are moderate to expensive in cost. For maybe $20-30 more in cost, I completely avoid the whole issue. Well worth the peace of mind.

Another stategy is to eat cusine like Lebanese, (hot) Indian, Thai or Japanese, stuff that the little tards are never going to want to eat.

Just make sure they don't have some sneaky "kid's menu.