Restaurant refuses to sing happy bday to 6 yr old

[Signal777]

My friends took their six yr old out for dinner for his bday, and told him he could pick the type of restaurant. He wanted tacos, so we took him to a Mexican place. We were a group of eight, 3 adults, 5 (well behaved) kids. The bday kid said that his favorite part of going out on his bday was having happy bday sung to him. He likes attn, but he is six.

When we arrived, the dad went up to the hostess and said when we ordered dessert, could they sing happy bday. She said of course, no problem. We had the meal, ordered dessert, and the waiter came over with it alone on the tray. The father asked if he could talk to the waiter (who was a very nice guy) and pulled him aside, asked if they could sing to the kid.

The waiter explained his boss told him they didn't do that there. She said they used to but they were trying to establish themselves as more of an "adult, upscale" restaurant. This is not an upscale place, its very casual, and there are always families there with kids. Its not a romantic dinner place.

The father asked to talk to the boss, who turned out to be the owner. This guy is one of the nicest guys I ever met, so I know he tried to handle this nicely. Basically, this is how he tells it. He told the owner that he requested before they sat to have it sung, and was told it was fine. She said, sorry if you are disappointed, but we don't do that anymore. I can't make an exception for one and not all.

He told her it wasn't him that would be disappointed, it was a six yr old, and that since they agreed to do it they should honor it. He said she got very rude with him and said, its a restauant, not a dinner threatre. If you want singing take him to a show. Needless to say, the bday boy was let down. He didn't even want his dessert. Am I overreacting her, or was this woman a complete douche?

[MissT74]

Complete douche.

Customers are (almost) always right, IF you want them to come back again. A 6 year old? Come on, give it to the little man.

T

[GambleGamble]

The restaurants sucks for what they did obviously...

...but why not just have the group of you at dinner sing to the kid....they cant stop that??

[pshabi]

This is where a cool dad clears a little space, stand up on the table and says:

"Hey Everybody, it's little Billy's birthday today!!!! He's 6 years old and we're all gonna sing him Happy Birthday together!!!!"

All while stomping a nice beat out on the table top.

[Hopey]

[ QUOTE ]
This is where a cool dad clears a little space, stand up on the table and says:

"Hey Everybody, it's little Billy's birthday today!!!! He's 6 years old and we're all gonna sing him Happy Birthday together!!!!"

All while stomping a nice beat out on the table top.

[/ QUOTE ]

QFT. Once they realized the waiter wasn't going to sing to the kid, why couldn't the family sing to the kid themselves?

Even if the dad managed to get his way after arguing with the manager, I'm pretty sure the singing from the staff wouldn't have been all that enthusiastic.

It's a real douche move on the restaurant's part, though. The manager obviously didn't get the word out to the staff that "Happy birthdays" are no longer to be sung. The manager handled this atrociously. They obviously lost themselves some customers.

[RiverFenix]

Disgusting.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This is where a cool dad clears a little space, stand up on the table and says:

"Hey Everybody, it's little Billy's birthday today!!!! He's 6 years old and we're all gonna sing him Happy Birthday together!!!!"

All while stomping a nice beat out on the table top.

[/ QUOTE ]

QFT. Once they realized the waiter wasn't going to sing to the kid, why couldn't the family sing to the kid themselves?

Even if the dad managed to get his way after arguing with the manager, I'm pretty sure the singing from the staff wouldn't have been all that enthusiastic.

It's a real douche move on the restaurant's part, though. The manager obviously didn't get the word out to the staff that "Happy birthdays" are no longer to be sung. The manager handled this atrociously. They obviously lost themselves some customers.

[/ QUOTE ]

Business decision. They didn't lose the kind of customers they want anyway.

[Cry Me A River]

I don't really understand why you need the restaurants permission to sing Happy Birthday, either.

That being said, I'd never go back to that restaurant.

BTW - If the restaurant had agreed to your request, they're actually opening themselves up to legal problems - They'd need a licensing agreement to legally perform the song due to copyrights. But they obviously didn't know that so it's not really an issue:

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/birthday.asp

[youtalkfunny]

I hope this is the worst thing that ever happens to this family.

[Signal777]

We did sing to him, and some people joined in but he was still disappointed. It was kind of the whole bringing the dessert over, with the candle on it, with a group of people coming over to our table that he was looking forward to.

Yes, I know its not the worst thing that can happen to a family. I am aware there are kids that don't even have food or medical care. There are kids being abused, etc. I just think to put a damper on a childs bday is really, really lousy. This woman had an extremely crappy attitude to begin with, when the dad tried to talk to her, she had this "whats the problem" nasty tone.