...where both people were apparently able to hear each other, and respond to each other.

And the conversation itself went on longer than it would have taken to actually take the order.

A lot of the public has become rude, demanding and frankly insufferable. Expecting your work staff to put up with just anything they feel like dishing out - is just as wrong as allowing poor service. A good manager steps in and supports his employee here - either by completing the transaction themselves, or firmly turning the 'difficult' customer away.

what a lot of people are apparently willing to gloss over, is that some of the responsibility rests on the customer. Most of the service industry is trying damned hard to accommodate you. If your child is in full melt down mode - maybe now is not the best time to try to make this transaction? Rather than expect that some poor waitstaff is just going to 'put up' with it.

I get how a screaming kid could be painful to hear over an intercom but...

I'm not one to put up with a screaming kid. In fact, at the first auditory cue of a kid meltdown wherever I'm at (and god, help me, it's usually at Walmart cause it's all we've got in this one horse town!), I'm headed straight out the door. Forget whatever it was I went in there for. It's still in the basket in whatever aisle I was last in. Oh... and any of the employees I meet on my way out, I let them know exactly why I'm outta there and where they can find the basket full of "stuff."

I know most just chalk it up to "old folks got no patience" and that's probably true. But I'm a firm believer in parental responsibility. There are times when meltdowns are unavoidable, but they should be parentally managed, whenever possible. And most of what I've seen, the parents are not only ignoring the kids but doing their own thing another aisle over. I didn't let my kid make a scene when we went someplace, and if she tried, she got marched out of the store and we waited in the car until whatever got her heated up was over with... with a little talking, it usually didn't take too long. But that takes time and effort, something I've not seen a lot of these parents do.

Since Covid, hubby and I rarely venture out anywhere on a "date" like we used to do. But when "The Way of Water" hit the theater, we took in the movie and then went next door to our favorite Mexican restaurant for supper. I found it to be way too loud for me and was ready to take our dinner and head home to eat it. But the deal breaker for my hubby was when the kid on the other side of the bench behind him stood up and started jumping up and down, screaming, and hitting the bench on my hubby's side. At that point, my darling hubs said, okay... I give up. Let's tell the waitress it's to go. We tried to get the parents attention discreetly, but that was a no go. And we didn't want to make a scene, ourselves. But the kid yelling and coughing and the parents not doing a damned thing about it just made the restaurant to dangerous for us both (he's 70 and I'm 67). So far, we've managed to stay Covid-free, but it ain't been easy!!!