CONFLICT

Last night I went to the club for dinner (fish and chips with salad) and a couple of glasses of wine.
Regular readers might remember me mentioning the club before and some annoyances I've had.

See: HERE

Last night was no different.
I was enjoying my meal, and wine, which was chilled, but it was a rose so that's OK. My enjoyment was broken though by a band of wild children between the ages of 5 and 8 who were rampaging around the club, running through the dining, entertainment (pool tables) and drinking (leaners and high chairs) areas of the club. They were chasing each other. At one point, as the band came close to my table I called one kid to stop and told her to walk. The kids eyed me suspiciously on their next rampage but soon were back to running about.

I tidied away my plate and utensils and left the dining area to finish my second glass of wine ( which was chilled but it was a rose so that's OK) and perched at one of the high tables in the 'drinking' area.
I would have been happy to go home then but was staying because of the weekly members draw which was quite a lot of money. From this vantage I spied where the kids' families were, in a corner of the drinking area and, when they were particularly raucous the mother of one of the kids, who was near the bar and me, told her kid to stop running. I took this opportunity to remind her that the kids had been running around like this for the past hour and that it wasn't a playground - they were on licensed premises.

This stopped the kids activity but, about 5 minutes later a man came up to my table to announce that he was the father of one (or two) of the kids. He asked what the problem was so I told him. He commented that I was the only person complaining and I was about to answer this when a mate of his - maybe another one of the fathers, came to my table as well and asked why I was making an issue. He demanded to know if I had children and was very aggressive. I was flanked by these two men so I put up my hands in a 'push away' motion and told them that I wasn't going to talk to them and that they could go away. I repeated this and then they went.

I hate conflict but sometimes you just have to do what is right. To me, at that time, what was right was telling the kids' parents that their kids behaviour was unacceptable at that time and in that environment. I was still finishing my drink when the first guy came back. He apologised for the behaviour of his mate and for 'ganging up' on me. I told him that I found it totally unacceptable that his mate joined in. We agreed on that and I explained to the guy that I had experience in the liquor industry and a knowledge of the sale and liquor act* and that even a 'family club' was still licensed premises and wasn't a cafe, school or playground. We agreed to differ and I told him that I respected his approach and manner.

On leaving I gave this guy a nod. We were OK.

Why though should I put up with this. It wasn't an isolated instance. I don't go to the club often but this is the fourth time in a year and a half that I've experienced disruptive children. I'm not a Grinch and this wasn't a public play area for children. It's a frigging pub albeit a members club, but licensed premises nevertheless.



I've decided to write a letter of resignation to the club and will not rejoin this year or ever again. I was annoyed at the children's running about. I was pissed off at being bullied by the two guys and having to have an argument over an issue that they, as parents should have been in control of. I was  angry that the club management did nothing about this and, being aware of the argument did not step in, and I'm disappointed that other club members (about 60 last night) did nothing themselves about this even though I could see that many were irked by the children.






* I didn't tell him about the three things that can go wrong with a bottle of wine with a cork closure though. Maybe I should have.