Panera- not so kid friendly

[sarahdennisscott]

I went out with my mommie friends and their babies today for lunch at Panera Bread. All of us had little ones between 7 mo- 3yrs. There were 4 moms and 5 kids.
Near the end of our meal. A lady who worked there brought out a broom and dust pan and leaned it up against our table and said to one of the moms, "Here. I thought you may need this." Her son had made quite a mess, but I just think that is rude! She didn't touch the broom at all. She had a 3 yr old and a 9 mo old... both tired and ready to go. Did they really expect her to stay and clean up?

I use the Fisher Price Booster Seat with tray. My son never drops anything on the floor. If he did, I would pick it up. Personally, I wouldn't allow my child to make a mess like that.

I'm just wondering what you all think. I can see both sides, I guess.

[Casalinga]

I don't know, I'm not sure this is an indictment of Panera in general. Probably just one not so great employee at one Panera.

I always picked up after my child anyway, but if it were me I'd have a little fun with it and start sweeping up around the whole area when we were done. Then when the manager wanted to know what I was doing, it would have been my pleasure to tell her that her employee had asked me to do it.

[3qtzzzzz]

To be polite, I would probably pick up any big items that my child had dropped but, frankly, if you're in the restaurant business and you allow children to dine in your restaurant you must know that childrens' messes are part of the business. That was very immature and unprofessional of the employee to expect the mom to clean up. The employee is paid to clean up. I think I would have spoken to the manager or left a comment card for the manager to speak to the employee about what is expected of an employee and what is expected of a customer.

[aspyne]

This is a tough one. I always pick up after my daughter - I don't think it's anyone else's job to do so. But I do think it was rather rude of the employee to bring out a broom. I guess she just didn't want to sweep up that day.

[kirchberg@ltdkate.com]

Once my daughter spilled a drink at Chik-Fil-A. I notified an employee because I didn't want anyone to slip and fall. They kindly came over and cleaned it up and even offered me another drink. They didn't hand me mop and expect me to clean up. You can just tell from the verbage used by Chik-Fil-A employees that they are trained well and value their customers.

I don't know what kind of "customer service" training Panera employees are given, but it sounds like this person needs a refresher course. Or maybe just a Midol! Which ever the case, I think it is very unprofessional to hand a customer a broom. How much business could have been lost by that one incident? I doubt seriously that any of the Mommies in the group will give their business to that store again. Yes, we as customers must do our best to be neat and tidy and teach our children good manners, but who among us hasn't had a few crumbs land on the floor?

[lismom2]

I worked in restaurants for 15 years and managed for 8 of those and I would personally complain. Send a letter to the Panera Home offices or simply call that particular panera bread and let them know about your experience. Whether you clean up the mess or not (and many thanks to the parents who pick up after their children, it IS noticed and appreciated by the staff), an employee should never have done that. It is VERY poor customer service.

[vimalnina]

I own a fast casual restaurant, and I can tell you that kind of behavior from an employee would be unacceptable at my establishment.
Kids make messes, heck sometimes adults make bigger messes, but parents should not be required to clean them up in public places. I would complain to that particular store and I would also complain to panera's corporate office.

[newmomma2003]

While I agree that the employee had no business handing the customer a broom, I think that it might make some people think about what kind of mess they leave for the staff. I have so many parents who come into my resturant and let their kids run wild, leave trash all over the floor and the table, that many times I wish I could ask them to leave. While I would never personally hand a person the broom and suggest they use it, I do appreciate it when the parents take care of their kids and their messes!
Yes, we are paid to work there but many times it certainly is not worth being a maid as well.

[freckles]

Well according to your story, I thought the lady at Panera was definitely rude and out of line....only if you gals were still sitting? Just sounds like to me that the lady did not give your friend a chance to clean after her own child. She still does not get to say anything like that.

[MeashLL]

Wow...I'm really surprised by that. I have had no problems at either of the Panera's I've been to. My daughter is pretty well behaved in restaurants. She is 19 months and we've been taking her out with us since she was a month old. We try to keep her area as clean as possible but kids are kids and sometimes messes happen. I try to clean up as much of the big stuff as I can. But, it is a restaurant and you would think that having kids dine there, they would expect to have to do some clean up. For an employee to bring a broom to the table is extremely rude and unacceptable. If that happened to me, I would definitely be having words with the manager. And I would definitely not be dining at that particular Panera again.

[meganmgm7]

Well, this is how I see this. In a restraunt, if your child is making a huge mess...atleast try to clean up some of it, especially if you're at a sit down place where you have a waitress and especially if she's really busy...or atleast leave a bigger tip, and maybe apologize for the mess. It WAS completly unacceptable for an employee to come over and hand her a broom and tell her she might need that. She's getting paid to basically walk around and sweep, what's a few more peices of crumbs. Like I said, if your kids making a huge mess, atleast try to clean up some if not most or all of it, but her behavior was completly unacceptable and rude.

[sharint]

While I see the importantance of cleaning up after my own child. We all know that sometimes dining out can get out of control especially with so many children. However the employee acted very unprofessional. I would love to know which Panera location would allow an employee to treat a customer so poorly, for I am sure never to give them my business regardless whether I am with my children or not.

[olivia's mama]

I can see both sides of the story but to actually speak to a customer like that is aweful. I always try to clean up after my little one and leave a bigger tip if I can't get it all. I would have asked to speak to the manager if someone had done that to me. Some parents leave a mess but it sounds as though you wern't leaving yet you were enjoying a good time. I really think you should write a letter to the store and coperate this young lady needs to be given another leason in customer service and maybe you can some other mother the trouble.

[angiem8705]

I too think that was a horrible thing for the employee to do. I usually clean up after myself (too many years working in the restaraunt bussiness i think) and when i do make a bit of a mess, i usually will tip a bit extra.

one other thing too that woulda bugged me is there was multiple young shildren so what was the girl thinknig bringing a nasty dirty probably food covered broom to a table where there was food? wait til they are gone then do your job and sweep.

[vikoula23@aol.com]

I recently had a similar experience at a Panera as well except the lady didn't actually have the guts to tell us to clean up, instead she huffed and puffed and made faces as we left. We were 6 mommies and 8 kids and had a nice but rowdy lunch there. Needless to say there was a bit of a mess afterwards but not too bad. My child hadn't dropped anything but is she had I would have picked it up but the one mom with 2 kiddos had dropped a cookie on the floor and as she was rolling her stroller along it ran over the cookies and crushed it therefore leaving a bigger mess. The employee, with broom in hand and mouth wide open, just stared at the floor and at us but said nothing, still, you could tell she was ticked off. As my friend roller past her she said, "oh, it's just a cookie!". Now, my husband and I are restaurant owners and would not EXPECT our customers to clean up messes off the floor but it certainly is APPRECIATED. I know I always do when I go out!

[mable06]

If the waitress doesn't want to clean up food messes then she shouldn't work in a restraunt. I took my 2 1/2yr. old there for lunch and it cost me over $20 just for the two of us. They make enough money to deal with a few crumbs and chips on the floor. I don't care how messy your kid is.

[hhunter78]

OMG, I used to work at a Panera, that is totally NOT how that should have went. I am so sorry to hear that happened to you. I would have definetaly talked to the manager. They have an 800 number to call as well & report that kind of problem. If anything ever happens like that again, you should totally get their name & report them.

[H.Starr]

If the waitress doesn't want to clean up food messes then she shouldn't work in a restraunt. I took my 2 1/2yr. old there for lunch and it cost me over $20 just for the two of us. They make enough money to deal with a few crumbs and chips on the floor. I don't care how messy your kid is.

How much the company makes has nothing to do with how much the waitresses make.
The standard rate for servers is $2.13 per hour. After taxes, that leaves $0. Servers do not get paychecks, they only live off tips. So even if a restaurant charges $50 for one sandwich, that doesn't mean the waitress is making a dime from that. It all depends on what you leave for a tip. And since most people don't tip for crap, its rarely worth it to have to clean up a huge excessive mess.

[mable06]

Actually, at Panera the employees do not work for tips. They are paid an hourly wage, probably minimum wage. I've been a waitress working for tips and I made more than $2.13/hour. In addition to that with my tips I was generally making around $10-$15/hr. I don't feel sorry for waitresses especially since I've been there and done all that. I made better money waitressing than I did working a 40hr/wk job and that wasn't even one of the better restraunts in town to work. All I'm really trying to say is you take the good with the bad at any job and if you don't want to clean up after people/children then find a new line of work. I did.

[Disco Lemonade]

Wow, that tops the stares that we get when we go have dinner. We always go every where with Abigail, and every time we go out to eat the waiters or waitresses always give us the evil eye. Abby likes to shred napkins; she also drops some food on the floor, its only normal. We’ve tried to keep the napkins away from her, but she always manages to get her little hands on them. They don’t understand that some parents are not going to CONSTANTLY clean up after their child. Honestly I rather pick up her mess right before leaving. What that lady did was so low; it only made her seem like a miserable hag.

[craftyashley]

I'm glad I read this. My girls don't make an inordinate amount of mess- but they are two two year olds, so you can only imagine. I kind of try and keep it neat. But sometimes there is mess on the floor. We do try and leave an extra tip. But then there's the places like Panera- it's more of a casual place I've heard that you don't leave a tip, and that you should! I don't know. I didn't use to worry about it when it was just me- but when my kids make a (kind of) mess, I am a bit more aware and oftentimes confused.