So I'm new here and literally signed up just so I can get some advice on this topic.
I own an pretty upscale coffee shop & craft beer/wine bar in a small town. I've only been open for a year but business has been really amazing! The thing about small towns though, is everyone knows everyone and I have to be careful what I say and do (I used to manage a coffee shop in a VERY busy tourist location in Hawaii so the difference is, I could tell people to buggar off and refuse service to a**holes without it affecting the business at all. But obviously I can't do that in a small town, at least without being established yet, I'm too new to risk it).
So anyways, I don't want to get too lengthy here, but I have a big problem of young mom's with toddlers who come in left and right and their kids TERRORIZE the place. The main problem is with one mom, who insists--literally insists--that her 2 year old child gets a muffin even though he says he doesn't want one and then it gets completely thrown all over and trampled into the floor, all over the tables, etc. And then she smiles and waves goodbye to me, never acknowledges the huge mess her son created, as I'm grabbing the cleaning squad to go clean up the tornado of muffin left behind. The same mom also gets her son a drink everytime...and I swear to God, he spills it every time. We had to throw a rug away months ago because of HER son. And she never apologizes or says anything, she just takes 1000 napkins to clean it up everytime and hurries out. Or there's also the scenario of how the child "just loves your straws, he plays with them, it's so funny" as her kid is grabbing a handful of straws from the condiment bar. For real, lady?
Also, when she meets people at the shop for a coffee date, she completely IGNORES her child and he runs around the entire store yelling and playing as if it's a flippin daycare. Yesterday the whole couch area where I have newspapers & magazines was DESTROYED. Newspapers were all torn apart and lying all over the couches and floor--all within 5 feet in view of the mom but she didn't do ANYTHING about it--and her kid wasn't even hanging out there, he was running around...so it was just a giant mess he created and she did nothing about.
So the hard part is, I'm *kind of* her friend. I grew up with her husband, who is now a doctor and never home and shes a stay at home mom with 2 kids and she is literally losing her mind, so I feel sorry for her.
So how would you handle this situation? I'm going crazy. Sometimes I'm super busy and can't clean up the crazy crazy mess left behind, so then new customers have to see it and probably think my beautiful shop is just a pig sty.
I need advice. I want to tell her that I won't allow her kid to have muffins anymore and GOOD LORD BRING A SIPPY CUP but I'm really afraid of offending her and also all her friends who some I even hang out with.
Help!
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