This story has been updated.
By: Sharon Aron Baron
A Coral Springs family alleges they were asked to leave a restaurant all because their daughter was dumping salt on the table and playing with it.
Adam and Cara Gregg were eating at Brooklyn Water Bagels in Coral Springs with their two children. At first, Cara was sitting in the restaurant with her toddler while her husband was standing in line with their 20-month-old. While sitting at the table, she ran into friends who witnessed the events unfold.
“I was letting [my] three-and-a-half year old dump salt on the table and play with it like a sensory toy. I guess that’s the worst thing in the world, and I should have just had her play with my iPhone, which I was trying to avoid,” said Cara.
The family said that they believe someone went to get the manager named Vincent, who then approached their table and berated Cara for allowing their daughter to play with salt and told them they needed to leave immediately and that he would call police.
“My husband wasn’t even ordering yet,” said Cara. “I called him to come back to the table because they told me to leave, and before he came back, the manager returned and yelled at me again and told me ‘I told you to leave.’”
The restaurant did make the call to police according to Cara, but they had already left at that point.
Cara said that the salt was only on 20 percent of the table, confined to one space and none fell on the floor.
“It honestly has nothing to do with the salt, it was the way that I was approached in public from a manager of this store,” she said.
According to witnesses, it was the couple that acted inappropriately, not the manager.
“I was there – this guy was cussing at the manager, dropping “f” bombs, that’s why he was kicked out, ” said Jarett Jarkow.
“The woman was rude, obnoxious, and loud to the manager, said Michael Black who was there at the time of the incident. “As a patron, I was embarrassed that a person like this would think it is appropriate to make a mess and scene like they did at a restaurant.”
However, Micheal Bodner, who is an acquaintance of Cara’s, agrees with her account. He said her depiction was very accurate as he was sitting nearby. Bodner said that the husband did curse once, and it wasn’t very loud and it was after they were already told that they had to leave.
“I’m sure he regrets cursing, but after being embarrassed like that, it’s only human,” said Bodner. “Hell, if it was me, the whole restaurant probably would have heard me on the way out.”
We reached out to the manager named Vincent two times to hear his side of the story and he would not take our calls.
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- Editor of Talk Media and writer for Coral Springs Talk. CST was created in 2012 to provide News, Views, and Entertainment for the residents of Coral Springs and the rest of South Florida.
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58 comments
Wow look how much business your gonna loss over spilt salt was it worth it.
Most people on here agree with the restaurant….
Again spilt salt does not give you a right to degrade a paying customer ask them to kindly not let your child do it.
Most people are idiots, I am learning in my old age. OK should child be playing with salt, not really a big deal. It doesn’t stain and won’t cause anyone to fall. I assume the employees (while not slaves and they might disagree) have to clean the table after each customer, so what’s a little salt.
I doubt that. The mother never should have allowed the child to play with it in the 1st place. Bring a toy for them!
They gained more than they lost, most likely.
Yeah, none at all!!
Figure how many people in Coral Springs that have read this that have kids that won’t go their over $.50 worth of salt.
Be nasty in public and then cry about it on the internet. Good grief. People have no class today.
It’s not a park for children. It’s a place for patrons to dine. If mom thought it was ok for her kid to waste salt for others to clean up, then God knows what else she would let her kid do. They wouldn’t lose that much business. Most of the witnesses were in favor of the manager. The parents were rude and careless, and the manager did the right thing. You use F-bombs on me, I’ll call the cops too. People act like they have no sense anymore.
It’s also not the Ritz. It is a bagel shop from crying out loud. It should be kid friendly. The whole matter should have been handled differently. And Melanie Gauss is right, why are we even talking about this on the internet.
Perhaps it’s WELL BEHAVED KIDS friendly!??
I have two boys. They were always out with us. They did not nor were they allowed to act up or play with food while out. I usually side with moms but this time I go with the establishment
If the mom didn’t want the kid to play with her phone, why not bring a toy that the kid can enjoy quietly? Or how about a book that one of the parents can read quietly to the child? I can’t believe how many times parents seem to think that children will magically entertain themselves while the parents ignore them. Take some responsibility for your children, parents, or hire a babysitter!
Who cares?
Seems like everyone except you.
I have a special needs child and I would never frequent a restaurant that is that close minded. No one knows what kind of day that mother or child had. Those who sit in judgment should be ashamed of themselves.
But do you let your child play with salt shakers, sugar packets, etc? It’s not a restaurants job to entertain your child, it’s yours. Things like salt, sugar, crackers cost money and then it costs money in the way of wages to clean up after your angel. The mother should be ashamed of herself for not interacting with her child instead of playing with salt.
Please don’t sit in my section! I don’t want to clean up after your children destroy my table!
Stay home. Society is not responsible for your child. If they can NOT behave, we should not have to have our lives disrupted. We didn’t birth them. You did. And you are responsible. IDC how bad your day was
You are right, no one knows what ANYone has gone thru and it’s not a matter of being closed minded. All customers should be treated equally. And all customers should give the respect they want in return. This was disrespectful to the establishment and the server and other customers who in turn pay for things like this.
Annette, my nephew is an Autistic non verbal 5 year old. When he goes out to eat he is well behaved because my sister always plans ahead and brings something he loves to do. No way would any of us sit there and allow him to pour salt out on the table, let alone pour it out for him. There’s certain etiquette when you are out in public. That’s what is wrong with society today, parents allowing their kids to do whatever they want, wherever. If they are not taught right from wrong it’s the parents fault. This story has nothing to do with people not wanting kids around, kids act up we all get that, it’s how it’s handled by the parent that decides the outcome.
Your child is your responsibility.
Sensory toy. That’s a new one.
Disability is no excuse for bad behavior.
Control your kid and it won’t happen.
One of your responsibilities as a parent is to teach your children to behave accordingly in public and at the dinner table. Pouring salt out on a table and playing with it is not proper table manners, it’s not play time when your eating. It’s also very disrespectful to the wait staff or whoever has to clean it up, not to mention wasteful. Children are never too young to start learning, the earlier you start the easier it will be to get them to behave and listen.
Well said.
I agree..well said, sums it up.
I think its ridiculous that the whole situation got out of hand. I for one always controlled my kids when I was out with them and if they cried they were taken out as to not disturb the other guests. As far as Spilling salt on the table, that is not an appropriate “toy” for a child to play with. The mom could have brought her cheerios or something until her food was ready. Grow up parents and take responsibility for poor judgement and parenting. Rude behavior is a totally other discussion.
Sensory toy?
Have new parents lost their damn minds?
It’s bad enough we have to put up with helicopter parent’s and the crazy ones that bring infants to movie theaters but now playing with food at a public restaurant?
Well I guess if you want to try and build the kids immune system with all the germs laying on the table then feel free.
So when the old folks stop by and spill a packet of sweet and low on the table, does Vincent toss ’em out? Probably not.
Coral Springs is a “family oriented” city. You know – with young families having young kids. If you don’t have the patience to deal with and the compassion to understand what that means, you have no business opening a business in the city.
Probably could have and should have been handled better by both sides, but we seem to have slipped into an age of intolerance. And when in doubt – the customer is always right.
there is a difference between spilling and dumping… its not the restaurants
job to entertain a child. clean up spills and mistakes… yes
When in doubt, self entitled customers are always right. Who ever came up with that saying, “The customer is always right” has never had to deal with the many customers who are not. That is bullshit.
The customer is rarely right! I love that you said “self entitled customers”! You are so right. I just love cleaning up sugar packets, salt/pepper and crushed up crackers when they have no decency to not let the child do it in the first place or not clean it up themselves. Do they let these children destroy the table at home, I’m 100% positive they don’t!
If you wouldn’t allow friends to do that in your home then it shouldn’t be allowed in a restaurant.
Tell me, you wouldnt allow that in your home.
Based on this article, the mother admits to allowing her three year old to dump salt on the table and “play with it like a sensory toy”. Children misbehave sometimes – that’s a fact of life. But it is a parents’ job to discipline them appropriately. If the child had dumped salt on the table and the mother had gently admonished her and promptly cleaned up I can’t imagine the outcome would have been the same. It is NOT appropriate to turn salt into a sensory toy at a restaurant!!! PERIOD!!! The sense of entitlement some people have to let their kids do whatever they want at restaurants ruins the experience for other restaurant patrons – with or without children. Oh and it seems that the parents were only asked to leave when the dad started cursing at the manager. Good riddance to both of them.
I am a server for 35 years and I have finally started tell parents to please not allow their children to play with other people’s food. This includes sugar packets, butter packets and S&P shakers. I always follow it up with, “We have books on the bookshelf if you did not bring your own playthings for your child.” We also do not supply sippy cups for kids. It is your kid, you know what they need.
As a server, I’ve literally taken salt/pepper shakers and sugar caddies out of a small child’s hands and removed them from the table. No tip is worth the clean up after a small child destroys the table.
Does she dump salt on her table at home? This is an example of what is wrong with people today!!!
Wow to any of you who found the fault to be the restaurant. TEACH YOUR KIDS…society already fucked up this generation
This generation and the one before it was doomed the minute they popped out of the womb.
Sad but true
I have a friend who has to give her two year old packets of sugar, pen and paper, anything to keep him occupied so she can eat out. I think this sort of thing is common. Better to keep the toddler distracted and amused then wailing at the top of his lungs. So long as the parent cleans up the mess, and doesn’t allow the child to eat the salt, so what!
So why on Earth if the child is that unstable would you take the kid out?
When we had our daughter we didn’t go out to see a movie or eat out at a restaurant for 3-4 years, public places like that are no place for children who haven’t been taught proper manners.
Maybe your friend should consider staying at home if her child can’t behave or she can’t discipline them. But I do understand if she is willing to clean up the mess! Most parents don’t even TRY to clean up the mess.
What about a babysitter? Or just wait til he’s not a toddler anymore and can behave?
When did it become acceptable to play with food? The mother must be from Nu Yawk City.
If you can’t control your children you probably should never had them. Let me guess. Ketchup art next?
Today her kids dump salt on the table. Tomorrow they will throwing things at people and cursing them. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Good for the Restaurant
I have to say, we have 2 sons who would not have been permitted to dump salt on a table out or at home. Basic table manners were taught and expected. Sensory toys are great, but not at meal time with the establishment’s salt.
Sensory toy ? No, it’s a condiment….food. Do you seriously let your kid dump salt all over your table at home.
Btw, restaurants throw away salt packets when your devil child plays with them.
Germs.
What a p.o.s.!!! Why would you think it is ok to let your 3 year old dump salt and play in it. As a restaurant manager, I see this happen all the time and only about 1 out of 10 parents will clean up the mess. The server has to clean it up. And to add to it, 90% of the parents are rude and don’t care that the server has to clean it. So I agree with the restaurant. I’d have kicked them out too for acting like assholes!
This is not rocket science its natural for pigs to be pigs no other analysis is needed lets put this story to bed. They got their 15 minutes of headlines.
Rude is the way to go now. Wherever you are in restaurants, driving, in stores people act and relate to other people as if they are the only ones who count. Manners are a thing of the past, unfortunately. As soon as child started pouring salt on the table she should have been corrected by parents period. End of story.
Parents need to learn the meaning of the word no.
it is one thing to make a mess while eating, it is another to do it on purpose. i wonder if you took the lid off for them? did you? i guess you think you are better than the people working there and they are your servants for the couple dollars you spend there on stuffing your faces.
What I’m getting a lot of from this comment section is that most of y’all think it’s completely okay for a public restaurant to CALL THE POLICE on a family whose egregious crime was playing with salt.
Are children super annoying? Yes. Could this parent have taught this child better? Yes. But this is not a matter that public servants must yield their time to. Shame on Brooklyn and shame on Vincent for calling an emergency team to respond to a small child playing with salt.
I’ve been in the restaurant business for over a decade. As a server, part of my job is cleaning up after the guest. That includes the child, which more often than not has made a terrible terrible mess of their own food. It happens, they are children who literally do not know better.
That establishment pays employees to clean. It’s part of their job to clean up after guests of all ages.
Also, I was once employed by Brooklyn Water Bagel in Coral Springs. Vincent once let a guest who called all of us young female employees, and I quote, ‘Fu***ng retards’ stay in the restaurant and enjoy his meal. But not a child and family that made a bit of a mess? That’s horrific. They called the cops on a toddler but couldn’t be bothered to defend the honor of their own employees.
One more thing, unrelated to the child and the salt… The operations manager, Robert Miller (age 35), at Brooklyn Water Bagel (H2O bagel LLC) uses his managerial position to manipulate and seduce young girls (usually 18-21). I know this for a fact. I know this because I witnessed it happening and also, he tried doing it to me. After I rejected him, he did not treat me the same way. Then, his behavior in general forced me to quit (he was EXTREMELY disrespectful to me and I walked out with my dignity one day instead of my job) and I whistle blew. I told the owner of the company what his ‘top manager’ was doing. Then the owner went to other employees to corroborate my story. He then fired those employees and stopped responding to my emails. Robert Miller, the 35 year old who uses his position as manager to have sex with legal teen employees, still has his job.
It is an awful company, with admittedly good food. I strongly urge anyone reading this to never spend a cent in that establishment. If only you knew what you were supporting when you do….
Somebody’s bitter about getting fired…