If a child is crying in a public place, what is your reaction? Do you get irritated by the noise, sometimes even requesting the manager to speak to the child's family?
Well if you are one of these people then be joyed, a restaurant in Singapore has begun charging $10 for screaming children. The restaurant sends out a message while reserving tables saying that if your child is loud you will be charged $10. It has defended the charge saying, “Over the last few months, we've received an increasing number of complaints of children running around unattended or disturbing other tables during the service period. Because of these experiences, we felt we had no choice but to impose a 'penalty' to address such unfortunate situations.”
They then added that this sure doesn't affect 99% of their customers and only affects the customers that don't respect other people's space and experience. The restaurant previously removed baby chairs claiming that they aren't a baby-friendly restaurant
The public seems to be divided over Angie’s Oyster Bar and Grill’s decision. A survey conducted in the UK threw up some interesting facts with 21% strongly supporting the idea, 26% tending to support the notion but 21% tending to oppose and 24% strongly opposing the ‘screaming child surcharge'. One person in Sheffield said, “Great idea. I’d actually pay more to dine somewhere that bans children.” Another person wrote, “I agree, might encourage parents to act as parents” and a third person commented, “I’d prefer to dine in a child-free restaurant some days.”
Although the people who were against this rule explained their reasoning by saying, “Children make noise. You can’t charge a parent because of it.” The other person wrote, “I would refuse to pay it, you cannot know when a child is going to throw a tantrum and what if the child is ill and can’t help it.” Furthermore, many people showed their dislike of this rule. A person said, “No, children make noise, despite the best efforts of parents. If there was this fine it would put parents off and then children would never learn to behave whilst dining.”
Few people also pointed out that this rule is exclusive to the kids who are on the spectrum. A user said: “Great news for those of us on the spectrum, it’s already difficult enough to go out for a meal. What a stupid idea, not inclusive at all.” Another agreed, writing: “Have they considered some children and adults cannot help but make noise, for example, those with learning disabilities? They should not be excluded and made to feel like they should hide away.”
People also said that if the restaurant is charging when kids are being loud, then it should add a charge for “loud foul-mouthed adults”, pointing out that many adults are worse than kids especially when those adults have had a few drinks in them.
The opinion remains divided as one can see but then it would be interesting to see something like this being replicated in India.
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