My Panera Experience

Ocassionally, when I am on deadline for articles that are due, I will go someplace like Panera to work on them. The coffee is good, the internet access is free and it's pretty quite. Except for today.

I have no more than found a table in a corner and in comes two mommies with their 2 year olds. They promptly drop them in the lounge chairs next to the fireplace, move the coffee table against a nearby wall and then pull over their own little table and chairs right next to their kids. They have effectively blocked the walkway. Next, they've decided what to order - salads for them (no cheese, but extra dressing please, on the side) and muffins and fruit for their kids. Mom 1 goes to order while mom 2 stays behind to read - out loud. "Lemonade is made from lemons. Who can say leeeemmoonnsss?" and "Here's Peter Clocks, he has chicken poooxxx." Ugh.

When the food actually arrives - yes, mom 1 got them to deliver it to the table - she looks at the fruit cups and says "You don't do these on plates? My issue with these cups is that the fruit is probably not fresh." I thought the Panera girl was going to slap her. Instead, she took the fruit cups back and promptly came back with two plates full of "fresh" fruit. Now, you know as well as I do that she went in the back, dumped the cups onto plates and brought them back out..... maybe with a little extra something on top if you catch my drift. But mom 1 is happy as can be that her needs were met. The moms continue to complain about how they just don't have time for facials this week, they had to make a "rules and responsibilities chart" at home to give their kids more structure (they're 2 - maybe), and how, no matter how often they come, their orders are never right.

Now, one kid has just thrown a book at the nice little old man sitting next to them and hit him in the face and her mother has just dropped an apple slice on the floor, but is pretending she didn't do it and is waiting for the Panera girl to come back and pick it up for her. I guess that "rules and responsibilities" chart isn't working for anyone in the family.