Mum ‘told off’ by waitress after leaving five-year-old son at table alone

A mum has taken to an online forum to ask whether she was in the wrong after being 'told off' by a waitress.

Restaurant etiquette can be a pretty divisive subject online and one that garners a lot of internet reaction.

A anonymous mum has taken to the 'Am I Being Unreasonable' forum on the parenting site Mumsnet to claim she was 'told off' by a waitress after leaving her five-year-old son at the table alone.

She explained: "After the waitress had taken our order I went to the loo, leaving my son happily colouring at the table.

"Before I left I told the woman at the table next to us (who had young children) that I was nipping to the loo and could she please keep half an eye on my son.

"When I arrived back at the table literally 2 minutes later I was basically chastised by the waitress for leaving."

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The mum went on to say that the waitress told her she was 'worried' about her son as she didn’t know if the mum was going to come back for him.

"A bit far fetched considering I’d also left my phone, purse, keys and bag of shopping on the table," the mum went on.

She continued: "She huffed at me again and left, but I could see her taking to her colleagues across the room about it.

"That was the end of the whole thing but it left me feeling a bit weird, it never even occurred to me that I was doing something wrong but now I’m wondering if my behaviour was unreasonable?"

Well, the mum was met with a bunch of reactions from fellow parents on Mumsnet and the reaction was certainly mixed.

One person wrote: "I personally would have taken my child at that age with me to the loo but I don’t think it’s a massive deal if they’re sensible and were occupied with colouring."

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A second added: "I would have take my son with me and just told the waitress that we were nipping to the toilet and would be back.

"I would have left coats, colouring stuff on the table so other people knew someone was sitting there and just took my valuables with me."

Another remarked: "I would have done the same and have been asked to do the same too. Don’t worry about it."

Meanwhile, a fourth penned: "I wouldn't have left him or asked a complete stranger to watch him."

Where do you stand?

Topics: Parenting, Food and Drink

Callum Jones