BIW Versus The Baby in the Bar

The other night, my husband and I were out for a meal and some happy hour at one of our favorite places. We had just downed our first drinks at the bar and were preparing to enjoy our first appetizer when another couple entered the bar. It would be important for me to note that at this point in the evening, the bar had recently emptied except for us, and I was kind of pleasantly surprised by this “in between time”. There were lots and lots of places to sit is my meaning.

That is precisely why I was surprised when the couple who entered the bar with their infant chose to sit directly next to us! I gave them a smile, but really, I would have preferred that they sit further down the bar. I mean, why in the world did they need to nuzzle up to us?! Still, me being me, of course, I didn’t say anything.

I felt guilty, even as I was feeling these other feelings because, let’s face it, children are discriminated against in precisely this way, thus alienating these types of parents. Perhaps I needed to lighten up: these people just wanted to get a drink after all, right?

Fucking wrong. They were a little dense in my opinion, which I think is why they had their baby in the bar in the first place. The woman, god love her, seemed like she had neither been out of the house nor been able to consume a drink in what must have been a life time. She downed a couple of drinks in record time, and before anyone knew it, she had taken her exceptionally quiet baby out of the carrier, and was putting it’s diapered ass on the bar... gross.

Why is it that I had such an aversion? No, I am not a crazy baby-hater... and I know that society allows us to be simultaneously pro and anti child in this way, and perhaps I was only taking advantage of it, but what can I say? It’s easy for me to sit back and say that “if I were a parent, I wouldn’t” [fill in the blank] but really, I can’t say this with any certain amount of truth.

So why the be so bothered by the baby in the bar? Because I was out for some adult time. I was out to enjoy a date with my husband. And I guess I am puzzled as to why any normal child isn’t allowed in the bar, but the baby is. Hmph. Going to dinner with children is one thing, especially when you are expecting it, but being bombarded in an otherwise empty bar by a heavily drinking couple with baby in tow? INAPPROPRIATE.

Even worse? Watching these parents drinking, getting rowdy, talking on the phone, and generally making fools of themselves with a baby tagalong. I fully understand that parents are people too, and sometimes they need to let loose... but when they need to let loose, they need to get a babysitter because bringing your baby to a bar in that fashion is completely tasteless.