Family-Friendly Businesses? Yeah right.

     Let's talk about businesses that are purported to be family-friendly, but in reality, hate disabled children. Without mentioning any names... there is a very popular international pizza restaurant with a red roof... that hates disabled children. When we first moved to our neighborhood, we went to this local pie spot, and there were only 2 other couples in the whole joint. Teagan, as usual, was very excited when he saw they had arcade games, and wanted to play them. However, our policy is that he must eat first, in order to play games.  So, much raucous and fussing ensued, and he did eat, but then kept leaving the table to go to the arcade games. The supervisor came to our table and told us that we would have to leave because Teagan was disturbing the other patrons. Are you serious? I don't want to throw the race card around, but we were the only white people there. And it was clear that the supervisor was friends with one of the patrons there, but they never even cast a sideways glance in our direction. So, we were ejected from the restaurant. Well, of course you know what came next. I am not one to back away from a fight, especially involving my child, so I wrote their headquarters a very nasty, very lengthy letter, stating that if this was the way they do business, they need to stop advertising as a family-friendly establishment, and advertise as a "we hate disabled children restaurant". I also reported them to the Better Business Bureau, and threatened to call the local media.
     Very soon after, I received a response to my letter, stating that the supervisor that night apparently had many complaints about him, similar to mine, and had been terminated because of his behavior. However, 5 years after the fact, we still have not returned to dine-in, but we do order take-out from them frequently, as they are the only pizza place that delivers to our house. :-(
     The next time we got kicked out of a restaurant, it happened twice at the same restaurant. Needless to say, we do not take Teagan there, and have only been there without him maybe twice in the last 5 years. It was a very nice Chinese buffet restaurant with amazing food. I really love their food. But when Teagan was about 5 years old, and again at 6 years old, we were asked to leave because he was being "too loud and disturbing the other guests". Needless to say, I raised hell, and the next time my mom was with us and she raised hell. My momma is just like me. We're a couple of hellcats that aren't going to put up with anybody telling me what they think of my child. He's my child. If I think he's a brat, that's my deal, not yours. You try raising him for a day, and see how many grey hairs you sprout while maintaining some shred of sanity.
     So, basically, our family dining experiences now consists of those restaurants that have playgrounds, where all the children are screaming like wild hellions and the parents are speaking even louder just to be heard over the noise. And it's just fine with me. You don't like my child? You don't deserve my money.