Restaurant refuses to sing happy bday to 6 yr old

[demon102]

this stuff is really annoying to hear and see when Im at a restaurant but the way it went down they shoulda just sucked it up and sung the dumb song since the hostess lead u to beleive that it would happen, B-day songs while eating though is soooooooooooo annoying

[El Diablo]

Blarg,

You're of course free to disagree. But it's just a fact that the vast majority of bars/restaurants tend to go straight to hell if an owner/manager isn't there. If you really don't believe that, then it's hard for me to believe you have much experience in the bar/restaurant industry. Please note that I am not stating that most bars/restaurants are terribly well run businesses. Few bar owners or restaurateurs are really good businesspeople.

[MicroBob]

Maybe he can't afford to pay somebody a reasonable enough salary to be in such a supervisor capacity.

From the owner's standpoint if you presented this idea to him he would think, "Why would I pay somebody to a job that I'm perfectly capable of doing? Isn't that wasting my money? How is sitting around doing nothing while I'm paying $50k/yr to some new guy going to help me?" (and, of course, they will generally think they know how to do the job better anyway).


Agree with ElD on the hostess part.
Some young girl is at the door and asks you "smoking or non-smoking."
They aren't usually there in a supervisor capacity at all in such casual-dining establishments.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if they were somehow slightly lower on the totem-pole than the servers even.
"Crap, she doesn't even know our menu yet and has zilcho wait-experience. Just have her greet and seat people. She can handle that, can't she?"


And finally, LOL at the insistence that you need to call ahead of time to confirm something like this.
I would say, "Yeah, I think they sing at that place. Does anybody know?"
somebody else, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure they do."
"Okay, then we'll give that place a try. Kid wants tacos and singing. I think that place will work fine."

Calling ahead for such details just to go out to dinner at a mexican place seems unbelieveably nitty to me.

Just show up, inform restaurant it's your kid's B-Day. Proceed from there. This is how most normal people would do it I think.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Blarg,

You're of course free to disagree. But it's just a fact that the vast majority of bars/restaurants tend to go straight to hell if an owner/manager isn't there. If you really don't believe that, then it's hard for me to believe you have much experience in the bar/restaurant industry. Please note that I am not stating that most bars/restaurants are terribly well run businesses. Few bar owners or restaurateurs are really good businesspeople.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think we're necessarily disagreeing here. I'm talking about how they should be run and can be run, not how they are generally run. When we talk about how they generally are run, we're in agreement.

[edfurlong]

A small restaurant needs the owner to be there and hands on. He can't really pay someone 30k to do it for him since he's probably clearing like 60k a year as it is.

[Stuey]

Happy Birthday to you, stick your head down the loo, don't waste it, just taste it, happy birthday to you

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe he can't afford to pay somebody a reasonable enough salary to be in such a supervisor capacity.


[/ QUOTE ]

Possible. If so, he is probably not that good a businessman or very ambitious. I would think being the owner of one small business you could never leave would be among the least likely of an owner's goals. And among the least wise or healthy. In any case, if he really is a good businessman, he's crippling his earning power by not developing his staff so he can look into developing other opportunities, or expand. Sounds like a businessman who doesn't love business, or even money. Perverse!

[ QUOTE ]
From the owner's standpoint if you presented this idea to him he would think, "Why would I pay somebody to a job that I'm perfectly capable of doing? Isn't that wasting my money? How is sitting around doing nothing while I'm paying $50k/yr to some new guy going to help me?" (and, of course, they will generally think they know how to do the job better anyway).


[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, there are a lot of unambitious people out there. And egotistical ones. You need a certain amount of ego to even try to own a business, so some is good. But when you are your own boss, it's very easy to have your ego go completely unchecked and out of control, because there's nobody there to tell you to knock it off until somebody sues you or its in some other way too late.

[ QUOTE ]
Agree with ElD on the hostess part.
Some young girl is at the door and asks you "smoking or non-smoking."
They aren't usually there in a supervisor capacity at all in such casual-dining establishments.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if they were somehow slightly lower on the totem-pole than the servers even.
"Crap, she doesn't even know our menu yet and has zilcho wait-experience. Just have her greet and seat people. She can handle that, can't she?"


[/ QUOTE ]

If the business is really that small and tight, they aren't hiring people who are useless and aren't going to be doing anything. They can't afford it, and if they could, it would still be throwing away money. This person will generally have multiple duties.

[ QUOTE ]
And finally, LOL at the insistence that you need to call ahead of time to confirm something like this.
I would say, "Yeah, I think they sing at that place. Does anybody know?"
somebody else, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure they do."
"Okay, then we'll give that place a try. Kid wants tacos and singing. I think that place will work fine."

Calling ahead for such details just to go out to dinner at a mexican place seems unbelieveably nitty to me.


[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds really LOL to me. This sounds like a friend of mine, who would pile everyone into his car then go to a restaurant that he essentially thought was "over here somewhere" or "maybe north." We'd drive around endlessly, aggravated as hell. Finally we wouldn't go anywhere he suggested unless we confirmed it in the yellow pages, checked it out in the Thomas Guide, etc.

People who don't know where the hell they are going or what the hell they are doing are huge pains in the asses to the whole party. Nobody wants to sit through that crap.

[ QUOTE ]
Just show up, inform restaurant it's your kid's B-Day. Proceed from there. This is how most normal people would do it I think.

[/ QUOTE ]

Normal people who walk into lightposts regularly, maybe.

Obviously, if it's so important to your kid to have happy birthday sung and you don't do one damn thing to lift your finger to see that it gets done, you don't really give a damn about whether your kid is going to get that song or not. Sounds like being a completely sucky dad.

It's his birthday, for crying out loud! Show a little initiative and responsibility. Jeez, it's not like he's not your kid or something.

Or is it? Maybe that's the story!

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
A small restaurant needs the owner to be there and hands on. He can't really pay someone 30k to do it for him since he's probably clearing like 60k a year as it is.

[/ QUOTE ]

There are small restaurants, and then there are small restaurants. A lot of them make very good money. You'd be surprised how much even a hole in the wall pizza shop or doughnut shop can make. Seriously.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Happy Birthday to you, stick your head down the loo, don't waste it, just taste it, happy birthday to you

[/ QUOTE ]

This I love!

[Signal777]

[ QUOTE ]
Signal,

Did the dessert they brought for him have a candle in it or happy birthday written on it or anything?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it wasn't decorated in any way at all.