Hello, TFR's! So, lately, I've discovered a new epidemic in the wake of the holiday crush: people don't watch their damn kids--or even better, they expect me to do it. This is nothing new, but during the holiday season, they just become completely stupid to the point that it's overkill. Here's a couple of stories from the hostess view.

TALE 1:So, it's a couple of days after Christmas, and the restaurant is super busy, can't walk anywhere without nearly tripping over a small child, or their equally oblivious parent not paying attention to the fact that no, the kitchen is not the bathroom. So, I have a guy come up the stairs during a momentary lull in seating, and immediately point at me.

Frantic Parent: Have you seen a two-year-old in a blue shirt run past here?

Me:No, but I only just got back here, I'm not sure?

FP:How did you not see him?! It was less than a minute ago!

Maybe because I can't even see over this podium because it's directly at eye-level when I'm on the platform, it's actually taller than me when I'm not, and your toddler is most definitely below that line of sight.? Luckily, we had a manager right there, who helped him locate the missing child in question--who was two steps from running into the kitchen. I'd like to say this event was an uncommon one, but it actually isn't. People get so lost looking around that they don't pay attention to what their kids are doing, and I'm surprised more kids don't get kidnapped out of the area tbh. (At one point during the summer, we had a kid wander in from a restaurant two blocks down during the height of the lunch rush, and we assumed his parents were inside the restaurant until the managers took him outside of the retail shop and found the area swarming with cops).

Tale 2: This one happened a day or two after New Year's, everyone enjoying their last days of vacation and swarming the restaurant. Family comes in, three adults and two kids. We tell the parents that it'll be about an hour and ask them to wait downstairs. Classic response is "Oh, we'll go right now, we just wanna look for a couple of minutes." This translates to "We're going to go to the bathroom, and then come back and be pissed off that only five minutes have passed and stare at you until you do something." Unfortunately for them, I'm a veteran of ignoring awkward guest stares.

So, the parents and third adult are all taking photos, while the kids swing their balloon swords at anything and everything, but mostly whoever walks up to the host stand. It's getting real old, real damn fast. Then, the little girl drops her balloon into the fountain behind the host stand, and her dad fishes it out eventually. Having discovered a new game, she drops it back in, only to climb on top of the ledge surrounding it and attempting to fish it out.

Yo, I'm not a lifeguard. I flag down her dad and he retrieves his wayward daughter and her balloon, before going back to ignoring her. Now, her brother joins in, and both of them are leaning over the ledge trying to touch the water and dangerously close to going in head first. I actually have to break one of my own rules, which is to not physically touch any kids just in case their parents freak out, to grab this kid by the back of his jacket cause he's over-balancing. 75% of the time when I'm at the host stand, my attention is focused primarily on the seating system, not what's going on behind me, but a lull in seating and my doing a bit of clean-up work was the only thing that actually made me notice this kid about to drown himself.

Generally speaking, this area isn't off-limits to guests, as long as they aren't directly on the platform, and we let kids look around, or guests wait a few minutes, if they're not being disruptive. This is not the case. They're not listening to me when I ask them to wait downstairs, and I ask a manager to ask them, because if their kid tips over into the fountain, I'm not going down with that ship because I am not paid enough to watch after children, nor is it part of my job description.