There are elite sports teams who travel throughout the country. The age range is from elementary age to high school. It could be basketball, baseball, soccer, and volleyball. Occasionally, these teams will visit The Stack for dinner.

The logistics for getting the sports teams to eat can border on being nightmarish at best. Where do the parents eat? Do the team members eat with their parents? Do we have enough space for them?

The parents usually prefer to sit with each other. The servers, on the other hand, prefer that there is at least one adult at the sports team table. We serve food. We don’t babysit.

Also, due to the size of the party, the children will sometimes sit in one server’s section while their parents sat in another’s section. Servers aren’t fans of that scenerio either. Here’s why.

Adults drink adult beverages. Athletes drink water or a kid’s soda (which are both free by the way).  A 200 lb adult eats more than a child. The adult’s bill will be higher than the child’s bill) . We rely on tips to survive. If you were a server and had to feed your family,  which table would you want to serve?  That’s right.  The adults.

On this particular night,  I had been assigned all the children from a sports team. They were preteen boys. My colleague got all the adults who sat nearby. Was I happy? You tell me.

The boys were yelling. They drank their free kid’s sodas from two straws instead of one. They drank from the water carafe instead of their water glasses. They were having a grand old time.  Their parents didn’t correct them. I was fuming!

They were done with their meals before the adults. So then, a few of the boys started running around the place during dinner rush. I was beyond angry by then.

One server sister expressed concern. She told me several times that they were running around and implied I should stop them. My response? “Their parents are watching them run around! What am I supposed to do?  I’m not their mama or their babysitter.”

Things came to a head when I served the table beside them.  A shy young lady was telling me what she wanted to eat for dinner. The boys were so loud that I couldn’t hear her. That’s when I finally said something. I stopped taking the order for a moment and went over to the noisy table. I was fed up with them.

I gave them my signature, “Wrong move” icy glare. I then said to them, “I can’t hear the young lady placing her order. You are too loud. Quiet down!”

They were taken aback and apologized. A parent finally addressed their behavior by yelling at them from three tables away. They boys got up and left the restaurant. The parents left a few minutes later I think.

I understand that it’s customary for athletes and parents to sit at different tables. I disagree with it for reasons I’ve already mentioned. Just monitor your team coaches. Make sure they are still representing team values on and off the field and court. That’s all I ask.