Discrimination!

Have you ever been the victim of impatient huffs or evil stares? How about rude comments? Rude service? Or maybe not rude service, but just plain impatient service?

And it's all because of the little jewels in your crown, your children. Join the club.

To be honest, I'm kind of getting tired of it. I understand if my kids are acting up and you don't want to hear it, but neither do I. Besides, Wal-Mart is a public place and families are bound to be there, shopping together. If you would prefer to shop when there are no kids around then go at 10pm when we are all home, with our children tucked into bed.

My husband and I like to go out to eat. It's our treat to ourselves and there are some days I really don't feel like cooking. We always pick "family-friendly" restaurants, it's not like we are going to the cute Italian bistro that doesn't have a kids menu let alone a high-chair.

Just last week I decided to take my son out on a lunch-date. Just me and him and some good food. I wanted to change it up a bit and decided on Applebee's. My son didn't care as long as he could have french fries. We arrived at 11:45am. They seated us in an area that had TWO other tables with patrons, everywhere else was empty. I immediately distracted my son with the provided coloring page and skimmed through the menu. I AM aware that I have a two-year old with me and that I am at a sit-down restaurant so I must be prepared to order when the waitress comes to ask for our drinks. I also have snacks in the diaper bag to hold him over till the food arrives. I watched the waitress wipe down two empty tables that didn't really need wiping, ask the other patrons if they needed anything else, flirt with (whom I am assuming was) the shift manager, and make eye-contact with me twice and then intentionally look away. After fifteen minutes I quietly packed up my stuff, told my son that we had to leave, but not to worry we would go somewhere else with french fries, and walked out of the restaurant. Five minutes later we were seated at Chik-fil-a, while the nice employees brought our tray out to us and we enjoyed a nice hot meal. During our stay there they asked if we needed refills, if they could throw my trash away, and if I needed anything else. And I didn't have to TIP them.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened to me nor do I think it will be the last. It's a form of discrimination and I don't like it. I could go on, but for the sake of not turning nasty, I will stop here.