Sucky dad and his "embarrassing" son

[Chattonne]

Another thread reminded me of this story. This happened several years ago at a hibachi-style Japanese restaurant. It was one of those with the great big tables that they seat several families at, and the table heats up so the chef cooks the food right on the table. A lot of hibachi chefs have a little routine they do with flipping spatulas and catching eggs and such. Our chef as part of his routine put some kind of oil on the heated table and lit it on fire. WHOOMP! Table-o-Fire.

One of the families at our table had a young boy, probably around 6 or so. When the chef lit the table on fire, it scared him, and he started crying. His father then started loudly berrating him for "embarrassing him in front of all these people" and for "acting like a girl" and being a "crybaby". OH COME ON! He's just a kid! Heck, it made me jump when the guy lit the table on fire, and it's perfectly understandable for a kid that young to cry when scared, whether a boy or a girl.

[katie kaboom]

I know what you mean, i've witnessed that at these hibachi places too. As far as i'm concerned young kids do no belong sitting at a hibachi table. I have seen countless little kids (no more than 3 or 4) start screaming and crying when they feel that hot fire on their little faces. Can't say i blame them, the first time i ate at one of those places the fire startled me, and i was 22 years old at the time.

Betcha that kid grows up to be a pyro now.

[Pezzle]

I'm taking my 12 year old brother to a Hibachi table for his birthday in an hour! He loooves it there and has since he was 6

[katie kaboom]

I'm taking my 12 year old brother to a Hibachi table for his birthday in an hour! He loooves it there and has since he was 6

Well cool, glad it doesn't freak him out. If they can handle it, i see no problem bringing them into a place like that. But if you know your kid is gonna freak out when they light the fire, don't bring him till he's old enough to deal with it.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I'm taking my 12 year old brother to a Hibachi table for his birthday in an hour! He loooves it there and has since he was 6

Do you recall your brother's first experience at the hibachi table?

I can see a 6 year old being startled and crying the first time he encounters the flames. I can also see him wanting to came back to see it again, and eventually enjoying it so much you wonder if he's going to became an arsonist.

The dad's reaction in the OP was not nice. That kid is headed for some therapy in a few years.

[Gawdzillers]

I dropped a piece of ice on the hibachi a few minutes before the chef arrived.

It scared the living daylights out of me at how fast it melted.

[Aethian]

Went with some friends to one once and one brought her daughter. We explained how the chef cooks the food on the shiney part and to not touch it cause it gets so hot. The girl nodded and demanded to be shown how hot it was so we did a little water dance with some droplets of water. She ooooed and awwwwed at that.

When ours did a fire trick her eyes got real big and she tried to hide behind her Mom's shirt but mummbled something. It took a couple tries before we got what she wanted, she wanted to see it again. :P Chef managed to do it a couple times and the last time she was sitting there and giggling at the fire dance.

So I think properly warned, some kids won't react so badly.

[Severen13]

For the penultimate hibachi restaurant customer suckage, here is a story originally posted on the Etiquette Hell forums:

BF and I went out for dinner and are seated around the big cooking plate with a family of 3, whose son is OBVIOUSLY down syndrome and maybe 12 years old, and another couple, who will be hencefore know as Complete Jerk Couple.

The chef gets going and the couple's son is very excited and enthusiastic about the cooking performance, making very nonirritating exclamations of "wow!" and "look Mom wow!". Mom leans over and smiles at BF and I and says she hopes son isn't bothering us as this is his very favorite place to eat and he recently won an award at school and this was his reward. I told her son was far better behaved than many adults I have eaten with and I was actually enjoying my dinner more because I was so enjoying watching her son enjoy his! She then leans over her husband to Complete Jerk Couple and I assume says something similar to them.

I hear the "man" (I use the term very loosely) of the Jerk Couple say this: "Well, yeah hearing your g*dd@mn r*tard kid yelling all night really isn't how I pictured my evening. Can't you shut him up? Aren't there homes for people like that anyway? Jesus!"

Cue jaws dropping and dead silence at the table. Even the chef just stood there and stared at this guy with his mouth open. The chef then calls over the manager and asks Complete Jerk Couple to either leave or be reseated somewhere else. Jerk man gets all huffy and starts grumbling "how he was just saying whatever one else is thinking and isn't this American and he's got freedom of speech". My BF stands up and says that Jerk man should just leave now or else BF and the son's father were going to "exercise a little free speech on his filthy mouth out in the parking lot". Son is upset, mom is in tears, dad is furious, I'm furious, BF is furious, but the guy leaves and we all manage to settle down and enjoy the rest of our dinner. We even got dessert on the house because the chef felt so bad.

I still cannot believe the ignorance and the cruelty of that man.

Neither can I.

[iradney]

Severn13 - as for that asshat in the post you found on Etiquette Hell - if he had said something like that around me, I would have asked if him he was psychic - since he's "only saying what everyone else is thinking." Fsking moron

[MoxisPilot]

My nephew loved going to the hibachi grill for my graduation party (he was four at the time) - but he's more rambunctious and outgoing than most. I'd have to agree that a hibachi is no place for a little kid.

That said...someone needs to shoot that dad in the foot.

[marasbaras]

Hibachi? There's a giant grill with coals at the table that the chef cooks on?

[Ironclad Alibi]

Hibachi? There's a giant grill with coals at the table that the chef cooks on?

The hibachi that's a small grill with coals is on your deck or patio. The hibachi in the restaurant is a gas heated hot plate used to prepare teppanyaki cuisine. All of sudden I've lost my desire to go to McDs for lunch today. Where's the nearest Japanese steakhouse?

[RetailWorkhorse]

That said...someone needs to shoot that dad in the foot.

The knee. More nerves in your knee than your footsie and it hurts a heck of a lot more.

GRR! I have a couple customers that have Downs Syndrom or are mentally handicapped (Me and Handicapped Kid [don't know his name yet] buzz at each other because it's fun, we are Buzz-Man [him] and Jingle-Keys[me], protectors of Really Annoying Sounds!) and they're pretty cool to be around. They don't mention my flaws and I don't mention theirs, we get along pretty well.

[Bella_Vixen]

I dropped a piece of ice on the hibachi a few minutes before the chef arrived.

It scared the living daylights out of me at how fast it melted.

Completely off topic, but this reminded me...

Last summer, our large ice chest at work was having issues. I, for some unknown reason, was elected to get all the frost/ice/etc out of it, for yet another unknown reason.

It was 90º+ outside. I was throwing HUGE chunks of freezerburned freezer ice out onto the blacktop...and it took HOURS to melt.

I wish I took pictures.

[Anriana]

I personally wouldn't take children to non-scary public places where it's "perfectly understandable" for them to be scared. Fancy restaurants with explosions aren't really a life lesson children need to be exposed to. Of course, I also wouldn't berate my children for not being macho men at age six. Sucky parenting all around.