How would you feel if you were enjoying coffee and a cake at a café, and a baby was having their nappy changed at the table next to you?
Some people would be offended, as was the case recently in the Park Bench Espresso Bar, in Brisbane.
Mum Stephanie Plahn left a scathing review of the café and its owner, Jocelyn Ridgway, after her decision to change her baby’s nappy at the table was met with disapproval.
Stephanie referenced the incident in a Google review, which was shared by café owner Jocelyn. The review read:
“I approached [the manager] upon leaving and asked if she had a problem with my baby and I sitting there. She said in quite a critical tone, that she didn’t think it was appropriate to change my baby there.
“To this woman and the two other customers who made comments regarding this: mothers don’t need your judgment or criticism. We have enough pressure and stress we deal with on a daily basis. We rarely get the opportunity to get out and have a coffee amidst the long list of things we are doing for our families every single day.
“I am sorry (not sorry) you are so terribly offended by a tiny baby’s tiny little dirty nappy that you think it necessary to criticise.”
While the review was met with shock by café patrons, with some branding the mum’s actions as ‘filthy’, owner Jocelyn was eager to set the record straight.
Thanking her customers for their ‘overwhelming support’, she wrote: “It has been reported that I asked her to leave, which is not true. In fact, I said nothing to her until she confronted me. I simply gave her an honest answer which was I’d prefer it if you didn’t change nappies in front of my other customers, who were upset.”
“I thought that would be the end of the matter, but she decided to publicly review on Google; a misjudgment, perhaps, but her choice,” she added.
What are your thoughts?
Do you have a story that you would love to share with MummyPages? Click here and you could be in with a chance of winning €250.
