'Thanks, you little f*****': Family horrified after restaurant bill makes clear what waiters thought

[The Straight Story]

'Thanks, you little f*****': Family horrified after restaurant bill makes clear what waiters thought of Molly, two

Most parents have experienced their young children getting restless when waiting for a meal in a restaurant.

But not many get the bill at the end of it with a message describing their offspring as a 'little f*****'.

This is what happened to parents Craig and Kimberley Cartin at a Mexican restaurant in Halifax, West Yorkshire, where they received the receipt which had 'Thankyyou littell f*****' written on it.


Visiting the brand new eaterie, called Cactus Joe's, on its opening weekend the family had already been frustrated by slow service and poor food, which caused hungry two-year-old Molly to complain.
'Unbelievably offensive': The family's receipt - the obscenity is the last item on the bill

'Unbelievably offensive': The family's receipt - the obscenity is the last item on the bill

The couple believe her mild protests triggered the shocking comment - despite being seated in the advertised 'kids' zone'.

Fuming Craig, a 34-year-old administrator, said: 'I couldn't believe my eyes. The meal was indifferent anyway but to be abused on the bill is unbelievably offensive.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212583/Family-horrified-getting-restaurant-describing-year-old-daughter-little-f--er.html#ixzz0R24ZpmVk

[BlooInBloo]

1. hahahah!

My parents didn't take me to restaurants until I was old enough to behave. Apparently that concept's time has passed.

[hlthe2b]

27. ditto and my mother would grab me or my sister to take outside

if we had a tantrum such as this. What the waiter did was rude and unacceptable, but I have to express frustration at those parents (not all, certainly), who believe this is acceptable on a REGULAR basis. Certainly young children act out and one must take them to settings such as this restaurant in order for them to learn how to behave in public. This family may have done all the could (or not). Given the snickering from others in line overhearing the whole situation, I suspect strongly that this waiter/waitress (no matter how inappropriate) was speaking for the frustration of more than herself. These parents may need to take that lesson to heart as well.

[HughBeaumont]

38. I'm cursed . . . sort of.

As long as I can remember, no matter WHAT restaurant I'm at, there's always always ALWAYS a spine-ripping screaming kid who the parents refuse to take outside and calm down. Case in point - I went to Aladdin's today. Walk in - there's a non-stop screaming brat. I asked to eat outside (nice day, plus I don't have to listen to that). Go outside. Not even two minutes later, I hear a toddler screaming in the center of the square. CURSED.

But here's how I'm not. I married a woman with a kid (he's now 14) who I've been a step-parent to since he was 19 months old. He's never so much as raised his voice EVER in a restaurant, even when he was a toddler. The worst he's been would be a mad, pouty look where he ignores us, and that was rare. I'm like, "Awesome, you do that . .. little pouty thing, just don't make any noise . . ."

[seabeyond]

2. teen sextexting, kid in restaurant. man, you are on a roll tonight, lol. nt

[The Straight Story]

3. Yeah, it's Suday, just chilling and reading news

:)

[ShortnFiery]

4. Hilarious!

Yeah, I think it would be worth losing my job for that last line if the kid was "off the rails." :evilgrin:

[Cirque du So-What]

5. Fuming Craig?

They're deliberately trying to make this story hard to believe, aren't they?

[Pangolin2]

22. And Craig is also the "daddy's" name?

I call BS on this story.
:silly:

[Ghost in the Machine]

28. Yes, he was fuming mad... hence, Fuming Craig (Cartin) n/t

[nini]

6. that's in the 'system' available to print?

That doesn't look like he added a comment but was in the system. Doesn't mean he didn't mean it to be there, but the fact it was there is really stupid.

[nini]

7. dupe

.

[TTUBatfan2008]

8. That's hilarious...

Serves them right for having their little brats screaming their heads off. When I visit my family, we still occasionally gets put into areas with little kids. My mom gets offended and tells the waiter to take us to the grown up area. My sister is 26, I'm 23. We both look younger than our age, but it's still a load of shit to get put into an area with a bunch of screaming 4 year olds.

[sharp_stick]

11. Then you should

quit taking your parents to Friendlys. ;-)

[TTUBatfan2008]

12. Never heard of it...

[sharp_stick]

13. It's an ice cream restaurant

very ordinary, lots and lots of kids.

[rebecca_herman]

15. Friendlys is a kids/family restaraunt/desert place

I think it's only on the East Coast. I go there from time to time becuase they have a very good ice cream menu. And adults can order chicken fingers/grilled cheese there. (I don't have very sophisticated tastes, heh)

[TTUBatfan2008]

17. Neither do I...

but I'm in Texas so that would explain why I've never heard of it.

[Touchdown]

74. I think it's kind of like Farrell's in California.

Sort of classic woodgrain restaurant, only a dessert/ice cream shop. It may be like a Tastee Freeze though. Cheap, white walls made from shower panels.

[dionysus]

19. hmmm, kick ass milk shakes!!!

[Algorem]

9. lotta pricks at Cactus Joe's

[Pangolin2]

24. Yeah. Some of them are customers.

:D

[rebecca_herman]

10. Depends on what kind of restaraunt it is?

I don't like screaming children during dinner either, but if I decide I wish to avoid that I will eat at a nicer restaraunt or at hours children are unlikely to be there. I can't really tell if this restaraunt is one that advertises itself as "family friendly" but the receipt does show a kid's menu item so it's possible there were a lot of young kids there and that's why the parents thought it would be ok. I wouldn't go to say, Friendly's, and then flip out because a child was crying.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

14. from the article 'despite being seated in the advertised 'kids' zone'.

[rebecca_herman]

18. ah, I didn't realize there was more to the article

If they were in a "children's" section then the staff have to expect there might be some cranky kids there, and it doesn't sound like she was having a full-blown tantrum. Uncalled for by the waiter/waitress.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

40. From the time my children were born, I took them to restaurants. I never sabotaged them and took

them to family friendly restaurants. The staffs at those restaurants knew what to expect with kids and other diners understood. As they got older, when they became "old hands" at eating out, we started to go to more adult restaurants and both were incredibly behaved.

it seems like the employee of that restaurant was the one with the obvious problem.

BTW...when I said from the time they were born, I mean just that. In an infant seat, a few days old.

[DollyM]

39. I had a similar experience with Lowes . . .

We had ordered some building materials from Lowes that didn't show up when they were suppose to. Since our workers were going to start early the next morning, I called and asked them where our materials were. They promised to pull our order right then and have it here within the next couple of hours. Apparently, they pulled a young man to load the truck that was ready to go home and he was not happy. So he called up our home phone and left a message on the answering machine calling us a bunch of b*******! I called the management of the store right back and he apologized and told me that would fire that young man when he came in to pick up his paycheck. What worried me is that he also had our home address and phone number then. Lowes' compensated us with a $100.00 gift certificate but i was so upset that I never went back to Lowes and gave the gift card to someone else. (This was on top of many years of complaints I had over lowes and the poor customer service they gave in general but this was the final straw.)

[BillDU]

49. Reach for the top!

The Lowes in my area seems ok.
Maybe go over their heads to the top corporate management?
The local manager may be a so and so that is protecting all his little so and so underlings.

[DollyM]

81. When we lived in Oklahoma, our Lowe's was great . . .

But this one pretty much sucks in cutomer service and it is our closest one. I don't know what their problem is but they just seem to have consistently bad employees and poor customer service. Rather than put up with it, I just don't shop there anymore. I still have the message saved on my computer as it came through a program I had that answered the phone and allowed people to leave a message while I was on the computer, we had dial up at the time.

[sharp_stick]

16. Any place called Cactus Joes

isn't likely to be fine dining, and they were in the Kids Zone so I think the restaurant style is answered.

[Catch22Dem]

20. I have little tolerance for unruly children at restaurants

And before anyone bites my head off, yes I'm a parent, and yes my child got unruly at restaurants when she was little. Know what we did? Apologized and left. Don't even get me started on babies at movie theaters!

[juno jones]

21. I work in adult restaurants and miss out on all the fun...

OK, new restaurant, bad choice for kiddos because everyone piles in and the waiting time becomes longer than average.

I've opened many restaurants in my career. you might call it a specialty. Don't go the first week. If you can wait don't go the second either and DON'T take young children because you're gonna wait. Sorry, but there's 50 orders ahead of you and food only really cooks so fast, especially if you order more substantial meals than nachos and fries. It can be worse in fast food places that don't triage, but do every order in the order it came in.


I hope the kid who got fired over this winds up OK. If he stays in restaurants, he should consider cooking, he'd fit right in...

[TreasonousBastard]

23. What's the problem? The "Thankyoulittlefucker" was the cookie...

little Molly got for being so sweet. And they weren't even charged for it.

(Doesn't anyone have a sense of humor any more?)

[Pangolin2]

25. Way too many people are taking themselves way too seriously.

We've turned into a nation of grumpy asses.
:grr:

See?
:D

[Demit]

31. The particular grump in the story was in West Yorkshire.

Guess they're grumpy in the UK too.

[Pangolin2]

33. I knew that yet I said nation instead of world

:D

[Sarah Ibarruri]

26. Clearly they shouldn't have said that, BUT....

I really don't understand why some people feel others should be subjected to their kids' ill behavior.

I've been in restaurants where kids are out of their minds screaming, and it is NOT pleasant to be eating while listening to that.

Same thing with church. Once in a while I go to this one church where one of my nephews is an acolyte. (I like watching him do his acolyte duties). Anyway, there's a couple with a baby that cries a lot, and it never fails, instead of one of them leaving the service when the kid is out of control, they stay right there while the kid is blasting his lungs out and making it impossible to listen.

Last of all, what about these people who bring their kids to your house and let them snoop through your house, touch everything, ask you for things to eat, drink, etc., open your refrigerator, or ask you impertinent questions, then the parent smiles goofily and says something really stupid, like, "Oh he's tired and due for his nap." HUH? If he's so tired that he's acting like an unpleasant little demon, go home and let him do this sh*t at your house!

I DO NOT blame the kids. Ever!

I blame the PARENTS!

[SoCalDem]

29. servers push buttons with food items on them

It's obvious that the people who program their computer, had some time on their hands and just got "creative" with some of the dishes that are not ordered that often:evilgrin:

Could have been a new server who made a lot of mistakes, and seeing "0" amounts, did not even read what was printed..tried to "correct" their error and since every entry print, ended up with this receipt.:shrug:

[SoCalDem]

30. Kudos, Mom & Dad.. you gave pedophiles a new "star" to drool over

Instead of realizing it was an obvious "programming joke"

[Odin2005]

32. How rude and disgusting on part of the restaurant.

[EndersDame]

44. believe me waiters 'round the world are cheering for this guy

WE have to deal with rude disrespectful and cheap customers with a smile

[4lbs]

34. No *REAL* Mexican restaurant would have an American name like Cactus Joe's

The real ones have Spanish names.

In my area, there's "Tacos El Gordo", "La Pinata", "La Quinta", "Los Primos", "La Nena", etc.

[Garbo 2004]

37. It's the UK...what are the odds there's a real Mex restaurant in Halifax, West Yorkshire? nt

[4lbs]

41. Almost none.

All the Mexican restaurants I go to have uh... real Mexicans working in the kitchen making real Mexican food.

If a "Mexican" restaurant doesn't have such, it's just a glorified Taco Bell.

:D

[MindPilot]

66. Hell, around here a Mexican will be cooking your food...

be it Italian, Indian, Thai or French.

On the other hand my regular Mexican place is called "Ray's" and is run by a Middle Easterner.

[Jo March]

59. Yes, because 2 year olds deserve to be called "little fuckers"

Oh, yes, they do. More people should call them "little fuckers"! Yep! That will teach those toddlers to behave!

:puke:

:eyes:

[marybourg]

35. "Advertised kid's zone". Wow! Are there any restaurants

in the U.S. with "kid's zones"? If there were, and they also had "cell phone zones", I might just start eating lunch out again.

[Garbo 2004]

36. Poor food, poor service, insult customer who's expected to pay 32 pounds for it.

Brilliant marketing and career strategy. Apparently the wait staff can make notes under misc. that appear on the receipt unless deleted and they didn't get around to deleting.

Local newspaper's account: http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/Fword-shock-on-our-dinner.5636109.jp

[EndersDame]

42. I am a waiter little kids are safety hazards

I waited on a birthday party-kids around 4 to 5 screaming and literally running around the table playing tag! I almost dropped a big hot steaming plate of crawfish etuffee on them!They also decided to throw the crawfish shells around the restaurant Parents just said no with out any punishment (physical or time out or just leaving.

I understand about screaming/crying kids in stores where you have to get essentials but you should not bring them if they are too young or too bratty to know proper etiquette in restaurants, same goes for movies.

Sometimes when the parents ask for crackers for their little bundle of scream I am tempted to just smush them and throw them on the floor and say "here I saved you a step!" At the restaurant where above inicdent took place we had to bus our own tables . We don't get paid by the hour so in arush we have to turn our tables as quickly as possible and the extra time it took cleaning up took away time from serving my other tables.

In my opinion parents of unruly kids should tip extra for the extra effort time and mess caused by little ones

[EndersDame]

43. heh I usually just saved my farts for my rude and/or bad tipping tables

Believe me Waiters everywhere are applauding this guy

[BillDU]

45. Oh!

Message deleted.

[Liberal_in_LA]

46. 'managress' got fired. Seems appropriate

[JI7]

47. this is probably not as offensive among the British as it is to Americans

i would be interested in seeing what most Brits think about this.

[BillDU]

48. Cactus Joe's may need to file down their spines.

Is that harassment?
Due they deserve to have the price of the meal refunded?
I might send a copy of the receipt to the owner if I could find him, if not then at least the top corporate management and ask them why they think I won't be giving them any more business.
It displays an immature and unprofessional attitude and behavior of the staff which seems to indicate that the customer, may be right.

[proteus_lives]

50. Fucker deserves to be fired.

[EndersDame]

51. Man This is every waiters hero!

wait to go!

[jesus_of_suburbia]

75. I've spent my time waiting tables.. and I agree! HERO!

I don't have a child, but when I go out with my niece, she had better behave (and she knows it).
Some parents don't even try to control their kids.





This is not like the guy who slapped the child in Wal-Mart.. that was terrible. This is FUNNY!

[michreject]

52. Kids are why I sit in the smoking section

I don't smoke.

[samsingh]

53. idiots

[izzybeans]

54. I'm always amazed at the gleeful hatred of children and parents on DU.

Hateful petty fuckers in this thread for sure.

[redqueen]

56. Yep... it's shameful. (nt)

[BoneDaddy]

60. Yep, and this is one of the ongoing problems

on this board. Self centered and self absorbed adults, entitled and obnoxious. Perhaps they need to have kids to begin to think beyond their own tortured existences.

[Pool Hall Ace]

65. Please don't take it as hatred for parents and children.

What I don't care for is the entitlement attitude of so many parents. It's the ones who describe their children as the "precious future" and who are reluctant to discipline their kids or have them quiet down because "they are just expressing themselves!" They frequently follow up with "Weren't you a child once?"

I have never waited tables, but I can see how waitstaff would easily lose patience with parents who do not make attempts to quiet an unruly child or remove the child from the restaurant. It doesn't excuse the message on the receipt, though.

If parents insist on subjecting their squalling children to waitstaff, the *least* they can do is tip very generously!

[izzybeans]

69. I haven't met that parent I suppose.

But I know what a jerk looks like when I go out to dinner with my family.

This restaurant caters to children according to the article and somehow this douchebag is a hero to servers everywhere.

[Joe Fields]

72. If you cannot make your children behave in public, then keep away.

It's as simple as that.

If you have a child that acts up in a public place, then remove them immediately, take them to a quiet place and make them understand that you will not put up with such ill-mannered behavior.

As I say, it's as simple as that. If you are the type of parent who is afraid of your child getting mad at you, then naturally you will cave in to their every demand, while making excuses for the child.

[RandomKoolzip]

55. Oh well...fuck 'em.

People need to get realistic about what goes on in food service. These people don't even get paid enough to live on, most of the time, and they're made to work in exceedingly unpleasant, if not dangerous conditions, and their customers are, more often than not, little snotty assholes who think us cooks and servers literally live to service their spoiled asses. Fuck them. They're lucky they get ANYTHING.

Pay us more, and THEN we'll start behaving like the good little serfs you think we are. As it stands, food service is the closest thing to actual slavery that this country currently regards as "status quo."

Sorry to drop some realism on y'all...I know no one likes to think about the economic reality behind the conditions which make their tacos possible, but there it is.

[proteus_lives]

62. Slavery?

I've never seen chains on a waiter. I've never heard of anyone forced and whipped to bring someone a a plate of fries.

They are there to serve and if they can't control themselves or be polite they deserve to be fired.

[RandomKoolzip]

68. Oh my - never heard the term "wage slave" before, have ya?

Save me the self-righteousness; you're not walking in their shoes. You just want your damn turkey sandwich and be smiled at and treated like evewything's gonna be okay snoogums, WE just want enough money to pay our rent. Unfortunately, you (the public) hold the power of whether WE get to eat or not, while we toil away at restaurants that serve food to YOU that's too expensive for US to actually buy.

I've been hearing about increases in customer dissatisfaction at restaurants; complaints about poor service, etc. are on the rise. Meanwhile, costs of goods and services are up, while wages have basically stagnated in the last twenty years. Most of the people who work in food service (myself included) have to work two or sometimes three jobs just to keep our heads above water, and very few of us are insured. We're basically free-agent serfs, y'know, "wage slaves."....if you guys don't want to connect the dots between the economic crisis, runaway capitalism, and the "surliness" you encounter when you go out to eat these days, or simply don't want to think about the shit WE have to go through to make you your damned sandwiches, then too bad. Next time you go to restaurant, keep this shit in mind.

I thought liberals were supposed to be champions of the working poor. Have I just been imagining that?

[proteus_lives]

80. Heard the term, I am one. I have two jobs and I'm looking for a third.

And I deal with obnoxious customers virtually everyday but this behavior is unacceptable.

Would you treat a customer this way at your job?

Oh and the customer works for the money to afford their "damn sandwich" are all customers in your eyes worthy of abuse?

[Rebubula]

70. wtf are you talking about?

You sound angry and entitled.

I spent 15 years waiting tables (then the Computer age came along thank goodness) at Fridays, Cheesecake, Bennigans, Chi chis and other mid to low range of places. Your attitude creates your environment.

I enjoyed almost the whole experience. Sure, there were some assholes to deal with - but that is life - dealing with assholes in a way that does not fuck with your livelihood.

[RandomKoolzip]

73. Well, I'm a cook. But I'm also in grad school because I found the life of a line cook

to be dehumanizing, degrading, and humilating. Also dangerous - getting cut, burned, dealing with the anger and irrationality of chefs, etc. It sucks, and you get paid shit.

Servers/food runners on the other hand, usually dealt with more favorable conditions, plus your money's better. We get paid the same bullshit wage no matter how much business we do.

I've been in food service for over ten years now, and you're damn right I'm bitter. We REALLY need the industry to raise its pay standard, because I know people working full-time as cooks who are literally homeless. That shouldn't have to happen.

[Rebubula]

77. Cool...

...sorry, I misunderstood your position in the industry. I was a line cook at Fridays for about a year - a year too fucking long.

Of course, nothing is more dehumanizing than Grad school....

[proteus_lives]

79. Then your beef is with the industry.

Still no reason to be rude to the customer. Cheerleading bad behavior won't get you a raise.

[Cid_B]

57. They were in a family resteraunt...

with a designated "kid zone." It's like going to Chuckee Cheese and being annoyed because all the kids are in your way as you eat your pizza.

[Javaman]

58. I find it really funny that the restaurant's registers have a key to print that on the receipt!! LOL...

I want to go eat there just to get that on my receipt!!

:rofl:

[Toasterlad]

61. In the Waiter's Defense, That Molly Is CLEARLY a Little Fucker.

[PVnRT]

63. LOL The Daily Fail

You all do realize which "news"paper you're citing and believing, right?

[Name removed]

64. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DireStrike]

67. lol

Good.

[Joe Fields]

71. not exactly appropriate, but completely understood....

[jesus_of_suburbia]

76. "to be abused on the bill is unbelievably offensive" -- Craig is a drama queen.

[Touchdown]

78. There is NO WAY this is real. "littell F***r" is spelt wrong, even in brit slang.

Under the misc. items... Why "not decided on pudding"? If they wanted "fudge cake/cold/with ice cream", then why put pudding on the reciept at all? And why the extra item "Also cold with Ice Cream"? Yes, I like my ice cream as hot as my coffee please! "Remember Cheese"??? :wtf: What fajitas or quesadillas don't come with cheese? They'd be "dillas" instead.

This receipt is fake, and the story is too tall to be believed.