Taking young children out to eat at a restaurant is an expensive — and sometimes messy — prospect for parents. One waiter also claims it’s actually a costly experience for the restaurant’s staff — and that the parents should be willing to dish out bigger tips to make up for it.

Writing for SeattlePI.com, one restaurant server explains that four youngsters ordering off the kids’ menu is obviously going to be a smaller tab than four adults. This translates into a smaller tip for the staff, even though they are doing at least as much work as they would when serving a table of grown-ups.

“For the effort of serving children, the monetary return just isn’t there,” he writes.

And then there’s the fact that kids are sometimes messy:

“But of course they are!” you say, but toys strewn about are a different story than marinara sauce. Like most restaurants, mine offers a children’s menu that doubles with intellectual mysteries to keep their attention. Unfortunately, 10 minutes into dining, its bleached white surface has turned into the foundation for Mount “I should be eating this food for nutrients and sustenance, but instead I’m going to pile it high, stabilizing the creation with Crayolas every inch.”

The server sums it up by saying that, if you’re going to bring messy brats to his restaurant, you should be willing to help foot the bill for the mess.

“Dining out with children is a luxury, but what diners must understand is that the buck (being cleanup) is being passed onto the staff, you the parent being fully aware of what that cleansing will take,” he writes. “Reward it.”

Restaurant server: I’m never happy about serving a child [SeattlePI.com]

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