Posted on 08/10/2010 4:39:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
One family got more than unlimited breadsticks when they visited a Boynton Beach Olive Garden Saturday night.
Richard Bennett and his family were having dinner at the Olive Garden at 1001 N. Congress Avenue when Bennett claims Paul Blankenfield started to make comments about his son, according to the police report.
"Can you control your kid, I'm trying to have dinner," Bennett told police Blankenfield said several times. Bennett said he tried to ignore Blankenfield, but when Blankenfield began to curse, Bennett told him that his 11-year-old son had autism. To which Blankenfield replied, "So what?"
The confrontation got physical when Blankenfield got up from his seat, pushed Bennett's chest and struck him in the side of the neck before other patrons intervened. When police arrived, Blankenfield was handcuffed and charged with simple battery.
"You know what, good for him," the police report states Blankenfield said of Bennett when he was being transported to jail. "he gets what he deserved - an autistic kid."
This isn't the first time lately that a complete stranger has taken to disciplining another person's child.
Jeffrey Feld was arrested in June after slapping a crying toddler in the elevator at a Surfside Publix.
Life isn't fair, Pal, despite what the Liberals have told you. I cannot even smoke a cigar anymore because it might offend someone. Keep your kids away from me if they cannot behave. (My kids NEVER disturbed anyone in adult situations. My daughter was dining in REAL restaurants when she was six. I KNEW she could do it. She first attended the Metropolitan Opera with me when she was eight. And she wasn't the one unwrapping little cellophane wrapped candies.)
ML/NJ
The disgruntled diner would have done better to register his displeasure with the manager on duty, then called the district manager the next day. Or asked for his money back.
As for the father of the autistic kid: find a babysitter and leave the kid at home if he can’t behave. The parents knew their son would have difficulties in this sort of setting, so why gamble and make every patron miserable?
Why parents wish to inflict their little ‘angels’ dreadful behavior on a captive audience is beyond me. In most restaurants, patrons expect food, decent service and an atmosphere condusive to conversation, not the spectacle of a special-needs child that cannot control himself nor of an altercation between two grown men that knew better. And, yes when in a restaurant, I have politely asked the manager on duty to speak to parents of misbehaving children. Asking if they could control their children as I and my party we attempting to enjoy our dinner. Many times, just the act of summoning the manager, is enough to shame the parents into corralling their recalcitrant youngsters. Not kids that fidgeted or played at the table, but kids whose behavior truly warranted it. Call me a b!tch, I’m too old to care.
Or what?
Yup, I hear ya', brother - and loud drunks too.
And anyone still driving around with an "Obama - Biden" sticker on their car.
And male waiters with that homo-lisp thing.
And people with faces full of metal studs - I can't even bring myself to look at em' without wanting to hurl.
And, hey while we're at it - the Irish, too - they should all be locked up..............
Assume that you take your family out to a movie ($80) and the kid in front of you with Tourrett's Syndrome keeps spinning around and screaming profanities at you through the entire movie, or even just a few times during the movie, how would you answer that?
Obviously there is no need to cage your child all of the time. You have an incredible burden placed on you. Yes, I get just what a burden it is. Its tremendous, almost unfathomable for most. Yet, it is your burden. Do the best you can. Most people are understanding, if you are reacting to curb what is clearly unacceptable behavior.
God bless you, and give you strength to work with your daughter.
You old bitch.
I just could not resist...
The guy could have reacted better...However people go to semi-decent sit down restaurants like Olive Garden to enjoy a meal without kids running around screaming and acting nuts. If you want to let your kids run crazy go to Chuck E Cheese............
I can’t stand when you’re eating a meal at a sit down restaurant and some obnoxious kid walks up to your table and starts acting crazy meanwhile the parents aren’t paying any attention....
I hope this guy "Blankenfield" meets Big Bubba in jail and gets a size nine poop chute, that's what this ignorant jackass deserves.
PS - I never let my son become a little monster, not even a whiney snot when we’re in a public setting. As a parent of such, I know I have to apply the constant balance of consideration of what’s going on in his frustrated little brain and cut some slack and when it gets beyond what reasonable, patient patrons would not appreciate. As compared to a previous poster who has a huge selfishness problem for anyone not his ‘style’.
Yup, I hear ya', brother - and loud drunks too.
And anyone still driving around with an "Obama - Biden" sticker on their car.
And male waiters with that homo-lisp thing.
And people with faces full of metal studs - I can't even bring myself to look at em' without wanting to hurl.
And, hey while we're at it - the Irish, too - they should all be locked up..............
You know...since you mention it...I like your thinking! I don't know about the Irish, but with that minor exception, you've got my vote!
I'm typically not a food snob, but Olive Garden isn't a semi-decent restaurant. I've eaten at one ... ONCE, and I shall never do it again. Food was horrible, place was dirty, service sucked.
And it was overpriced for what it was too.
The food was by no means "authentic" neither.
It can get worse!
Many parents with just ordinary kids, to say nothing of autistic kids, avoid taking them into public places ~ so the kids never get a chance to learn what to do or what is expected.
It can be difficult the first time, and there are old biddies and crotchety business types who may well accuse you of "turning your kid loose", but ya' gotta do it. Eventually the kid will figure it out even if the biddies and business types don't.
When my oldest was a baby, we went to a rodeo in Laughlin. Afterward, we went to one of the casino restaurants. As another group was being seated, our son gave a squeal of delight, as babies will, and one woman loudly complained about "not another noisy baby". He was very good through the meal, but as we were leaving, my husband and my son had the other customers in the restaurant laughing.
Look, we have all seen instances of parents NOT parenting and disciplining their child that desperately needs verbal and/or physical correction.
The two instances in this story are not two examples of this, but rather of people losing it and getting violent with other people.
A crying baby in a confined space can be irritating, but temporary. But you can’t reason or correct a baby for that. An autistic child may or may not be able to told by parents to calm down or have techniques that can calm them down, but usually strangers raising voices and getting physical with them or their parents is going to make it worse.
By “Semi Decent” sit down restaurant..I didn’t mean the quality of the food.... I was refering to price. It is Upscale from say a McDonalds..Fazoli’s or an Applebee’s...However in my personal view the food isn’t much better than fast food and about as authentic italian as chef boyardee.. LOL I just meant an eatery where generally kids aren’t seen running around and their aren’t “Play Place’s”...... I prefer to eat at a local individually owned italian place...If I have to go to a chain I like Carrabba’s.
Judging by your remark, I guess your kids will be rude and disturb others and it will be fine with you. Maybe you would be more comfortable with the folks over at DU who don't give a sh*t about imposing themselves on others either.
ML/NJ
Didn't think so.
Me too!
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