There are few things that can ruin a meal more than a crying baby. When you’re out at a restaurant and some kid won’t shush, and Mom and Dad aren’t doing anything (“We’ve tried nothing…”), measures needed to be taken. That’s why Marcy’s Diner owner Darla Neugebauer snapped at a baby this weekend, and now she’s being yelled at by the Internet.
On Saturday, at the Portland, Maine-based diner, Neugebauer told WCSH6 that “the child’s parents had ordered three pancakes and then didn’t feed them to the girl, causing the child to cry loudly.” She tried to convince them to take their kid outside because that’s what normal, respectful people do, but when they refused, “she slammed her hands down on the counter and told the girl to be quiet.” Mom and Dad defended themselves, writing on Facebook:
“Anyone with a toddler knows when you wait for more than 40 minutes for food, your child runs out of patience so crying is normal.” (Via)
Neugebauer, meanwhile, is standing by what she did.
“Life’s full of choices and you’ve got to live with all of them. I chose to yell at a kid, it made her shut up, which made me happy, it made my staff happy, it made the 75 other people dining here happy, and they left, they may never come back, other people may not come in. Their loss really.” (Via)
The comments on Marcy’s Facebook page are half anti-yelling at a baby, half, well, this:
If parents of young children decide to boycott Marcy’s, that’s ideal for literally everyone else. A diner without babies, where you don’t have to navigate a maze of high chairs, sounds ideal.
(Via WCSH6 and Press Herald)