Worst waitress ever *comic book guy voice*

[Canarr]

Just a reminder not to turn this thread into a debate of whether it's right for males to hit females, or vice versa, as this thread is not about that. It's about a waitress who grabbed a young teen by the arm.

Exactly. If a kid misbehaves in public, then I see no wrong in a responsible adult (waitress, manager, whoever) grabbing the kid by the arm to quiet it down again/ get it back to its parents.. Hell, it's what my mother did often enough to me and my brother.

In the situation described by the OP, however, it was completely unwarranted and, yes, should be a firing offense.

[kibbles]

ITA, what the waitress did was absolutely a firing offense. The only time any waitress/waiter/manager or person not directly related or known to the child should ever lay their hand on them is if the child is in immediate physical danger IMO.

[Samaliel]

Or being threateningly aggressive. I've had small kids stick out their tongue, or screaming at me or complaining about me to their parents because I told them something in a polite but definitely unfriendly way (usually, to get out of the way while I'm shopping). Once, one kid, maybe 5 years old, began to punch my knees after arguing over the fact that I needed to get into that aisle. He seemed to have decided to defend it against invaders. It didn't hurt in the least, and was kinda cute, in a very wrong way.

It would have never crossed my mind to even push him away. I just called the woman who was further down the aisle "Excuse me, is this your kid ?" She came back, apologized on behalf of her kid, grabbed hime and told him to "Stop annoying the gentleman. And apologize to him." which he did.

However, teenagers can be hard to handle and can be as much of an asshole as everyone else. If one happened to act all aggressive and I thought he was a threat, I might or might not let him deal the first blow. I'm quite non confrontational, but you won't like me when I'm angry.