Blame

It would appear that I have garnered quite the reputation among the New Jersey tourists for banning kiddy strollers from the restaurant.  I don't know why, no restaurant in town allows them in due to fire and safety issues.  Yesterday, two young couples, each with a large stroller, attempted to enter the restaurant.  One couple had two toddlers trailing behind, clinging to mama's skirt and whining. Oh, and both women were pregnant, again.

Breeding, if not parenting skills and overall common sense, is going well.

I told them that the strollers had to remain outside the building, that we had hi-chairs and slings for the little ones and we would take care of everything.  The daddies collapsed their strollers and placed them on the floor of the entry foyer (you read that right - 'entry foyer') and returned as I was seating the rest of the party.  Then I spotted the strollers next to the front door and couldn't believe it. Are New Jersey residents that stoopid?  Don't answer, it's only a rhetorical question.

 I returned to the table, apologised, and told them again that the strollers had to be outside the building, they had to be moved.  The mothers jumped to their feet almost in unison and yelled that they had heard about me from their friends in New Jersey and I was nothing but a "mean, nasty son-of-a-bitch!"  While the dads looked bewildered, the women grabbed, yanked, dragged their broods out the door and down the street.  Clearly heading for another restaurant where strollers aren't allowed, and small children are avoided like the plague.

The entire staff had a field day calling me a MNSOB all day.  Hey!  It's August!  The month of the worst tourist attitudes of the entire year.  The other night, the doslocos guys had to call the police to remove a group of 20 who refused to wait 45 minutes for tables then blocked the entryway in protest.

Two more weeks until it is all over...but who's counting?


More later.
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