Monday, December 04, 2006
by Ospite. 
Most waiters tend to hate children. They're loud, often messy, disruptive, and needy. Most of the time. Parents also seems to require their wishes immediately before anyone else in the restaurant.
I recently have had the joy of waiting on particularly enjoyable little people.
Today my last table at lunch was a grandmother, mother, and two young boys. Jack was the youngest. Propped in his highchair, he was quite adamant about getting french fries with ketchup and mustard. Sadly we have only honey mustard but his mother suggested I get it anyway. Upon receiving the honey mustard, he placed the tip of his finger in it, then put it in his mouth. With a spectacular grimace, he said, "Eeeew!" and clean his finger off...in his hair.
Jokingly, his mother asked, "Do you happen to have a kiddie bath? Or something I can scrub him down with?"
"Well, I think our dishwasher might fit him in it on the cold cycle, but I suggest the hose in the back."
Jack found all this quite humorous. Then his icecream came. Vanilla, with chocolate sauce. It was clear that he did not enjoy the icecream but certainly liked the chocolate. So he proceeded to separate them in his mouth, swallowing the chocolate and spitting out the icecream.
Saturday we were enjoying a leisurely push before the dinner rush started. He was about 2 and silent as a mouse. White-blonde hair and huge sky-blue eyes. He made eye contact like an adult and only stirred when he heard me mention chocolate milk, which he got and was quite excited about. He was one of the best-behaved customers I've had in weeks. His parents were pleasant also. As I dropped off the check, Gavin (as was the wee one's name), reached for the check, promptly opening it and pointing to his father the amount owed. I walked away with a chuckle. When I returned to pick it up, Gavin took the mastercard, placed it in the book and handed it to me with a matter-of-fact, "Here you go, sir." I'm expecting him to rule the world by the time he's 25.
I recently have had the joy of waiting on particularly enjoyable little people.
Today my last table at lunch was a grandmother, mother, and two young boys. Jack was the youngest. Propped in his highchair, he was quite adamant about getting french fries with ketchup and mustard. Sadly we have only honey mustard but his mother suggested I get it anyway. Upon receiving the honey mustard, he placed the tip of his finger in it, then put it in his mouth. With a spectacular grimace, he said, "Eeeew!" and clean his finger off...in his hair.
Jokingly, his mother asked, "Do you happen to have a kiddie bath? Or something I can scrub him down with?"
"Well, I think our dishwasher might fit him in it on the cold cycle, but I suggest the hose in the back."
Jack found all this quite humorous. Then his icecream came. Vanilla, with chocolate sauce. It was clear that he did not enjoy the icecream but certainly liked the chocolate. So he proceeded to separate them in his mouth, swallowing the chocolate and spitting out the icecream.
Saturday we were enjoying a leisurely push before the dinner rush started. He was about 2 and silent as a mouse. White-blonde hair and huge sky-blue eyes. He made eye contact like an adult and only stirred when he heard me mention chocolate milk, which he got and was quite excited about. He was one of the best-behaved customers I've had in weeks. His parents were pleasant also. As I dropped off the check, Gavin (as was the wee one's name), reached for the check, promptly opening it and pointing to his father the amount owed. I walked away with a chuckle. When I returned to pick it up, Gavin took the mastercard, placed it in the book and handed it to me with a matter-of-fact, "Here you go, sir." I'm expecting him to rule the world by the time he's 25.
3 Comments:
Sounds like a cool little dude.
I love the well behaved ones. They give me hope for the future.
Often they arent though.
Sigh.
Ran across this post while going through your older posts. I am the father of 2 boys ages 2 1/2 and 1 1/2. Actually they are 16 months apart. I have had them in "training" since birth. We take our kids out as much as possible. Being the bias father that I am, there has not been very many times when our wait staff has not commented us on how good our kids were. The only regret is (and I'm sorry for this) the mess the youngest leaves on the floor under his high chair. I try to clean as much up as I can, but I know more cleaning is needed after we leave.
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