- A woman asked a mom to move her stroller after failing to find a seat in a busy cafe.
- The mom gave her a “dirty look” and complained about needing space.
- The woman caused an online debate after arguing moms should be considerate of other people when sitting with a stroller.
A woman has been left with a sour taste in her mouth after a tense exchange with a fellow cafe goer.
On April 6, she vented on the UK-based forum Mumsnet about a recent interaction she had at a “busy cafe” during lunchtime. The woman explained that there were no free tables available, so she asked a mom if she could move her stroller which was “taking up the space of two chairs.”
Speaking of the mom, she wrote, “She gave me a dirty look and mumbled something about needing space.
“I get that babies come with stuff, but why should that mean no one else can sit?” she continued.
The woman confessed that she was now second-guessing her actions, writing, “AIBU [am I being unreasonable] for asking?”
The post racked up hundreds of comments as people argued they would never sit at someone else’s table at a cafe and defended the mom’s need for space.
“YABVVVU [you are being very, very, very, unreasonable] and entitled,” one person wrote. “It’s not a bus, it’s a cafe. You ASK if you can share a table; you don’t just assume you can shove someone’s baby out of the way.
“You should have checked that there was somewhere to sit before ordering and ordered takeaway instead. That’s how cafes work at busy times,” the same person added.
Another commenter wrote, “I’ve never sat down at someone else’s table at a cafe. She wanted some quiet time with her baby not to have to sit opposite you, what were you going to do just eat and stare at her?”
A third response to the post argued that the woman should’ve considered the baby in the stroller the same scenario as if two people had been sitting at the table.
“She had a 2-person table for 2 people, her and her baby,” they wrote. “It’s a lot just getting out the house with a baby, and she probably did need the space – if not just mentally! It would have been a different issue if she was at a bigger table, but she wasn’t. Why would you want to sit opposite a stranger with her baby on a small table?”
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The woman attempted to defend herself amid the backlash by arguing that she would’ve made a different decision if the child was older.
“I didn’t get a close look at the baby’s age but it wasn’t a newborn – looked more like a baby who could sit up with support,” she wrote. “There were high chairs available, so I assumed the pram could have been moved or folded to make space.
“Totally understand if it had been a newborn or if she genuinely needed the buggy where it was but it didn’t seem necessary in this case,” she continued. “That’s why I asked politely – I didn’t demand, just asked.”
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