07 March 2023 , 16:51
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Sometimes, if you work from home, you may crave the occasional change of scenery to spice things up a little bit. This doesn't mean you can treat a coffee shop like an office, however, and give people dirty looks who are going about their day trying to enjoy themselves.
That's the predicament one mum found herself in as she took to Mumsnet to fume about a man who was "sat sighing and rolling his eyes" at her toddler - she felt like she had no option but to confront him because of how obviously rude he was being towards her child.
The woman was horrified with the man's reaction to her child (Stock Image) (Getty Images)The mum fumed: "I'm probably being unreasonable for posting here in the first place since there's a bit of an anti-kids in public sentiment here at times, but when did it become acceptable for people to think a coffee shop is the same as an office?
"I was just having breakfast and a coffee with my toddler and someone was taking a teams call at a nearby table. If it's relevant we were seated first.
"Toddler was being good as gold in my opinion. I get sometimes they can be too loud or badly behaved but they were just sat drinking their juice and having a little babble and sing, occasionally pointing out things they saw. 'Cup! Cup!' Obviously louder than if I was just sitting by myself but really not a disturbance and no louder than any other table of two chatting.
"The man sat sighing and rolling his eyes for about ten minutes until I just had to turn to him and say 'sorry but this is actually a cafe, not an office, if you're in a meeting and need silence you're in the wrong place'.
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He was giving the mum dirty looks (Stock Image) (Getty Images/Westend61)"He did a big huff, picked up his laptop, and walked off trying to find a new table but had to come back as it was too busy. Now he's sitting there giving me evil eyes.
"Am I being unreasonable to think I'm not in the wrong here? I'm really not a confrontational person and normally wouldn't speak up but a public cafe at breakfast time isn't exactly the place to do a work meeting!
"If people want to rave about working from home then go f***ing work at home. People out in public don't need to tiptoe around you because you want a change of scenery during the work day while you sit in meetings."
People were quick to tell the mum she'd done nothing wrong and should be able to go to a cafe with her toddler without fear of being sighed at.
One wrote: "Not at all unreasonable - it's a public space, child friendly. Why shouldn’t you take your child to a cafe?"
"No, you're not in the wrong", another reassured. "If they want somewhere to work, they can rent a desk in a co-working space."
Someone raged: "If he wants silence, he can lock himself in his bathroom at home."
A Mumsnetter sympathised with the woman, saying: "You are not being unreasonable, and well done for saying something. It's always the people working who are in there for ages too, taking up a table way after they've finished their coffee because obviously, their work is so important...
"I've only worked in a cafe once when my internet went down and I didn't expect silence around me at all."
Who do you think is in the right here? Let us know in the comments.