A mom has divided people online after changing her baby's dirty diaper in a busy cafe.
After realizing their child needed freshening up in a cafe, the parent was asked to leave by an employee - much to their frustration.
Taking to Reddit's popular 'Am I The A**hole' forum, the cafe worker asked their fellow social media users whether they were in the wrong for instructing the mom to leave.
They asked: "AITA For telling a woman she can’t change her baby’s dirty nappy on our cafe's chairs?"
To start with, the staff member explained that they didn't have baby-changing facilities on the premises because the cafe was in a listed building. "We cannot knock down walls so we are tight on space," they wrote. "A consequence of that is that we only have enough space for one women’s toilet and one men’s toilet. No baby changing facilities in either."
"There is, however, a public toilet block no more than 50m away from our premises. It has multiple baby-changing facilities, in both the female and male toilet blocks," the Redditor added.
The cafe worker then launched into their story, explaining how a young family enjoyed a bite to eat and a drink before noticing that one of their babies needed changing.
When the parents asked whether there were any changing facilities in the cafe, the employee says they were apologetic, but that they couldn't provide the necessary utilities.
"I apologized and informed her that we didn’t, but I pointed out the public toilets and said that they were free and had everything she would need," they wrote.
However, when the mom proceeded to change their child in the middle of the cafe, the worker had to step in. "I told her that we cannot allow that as it’s disturbing the other customers and that it really isn’t sanitary, especially as we have fresh pastries and cakes in display," they recalled.
This didn't go down well with the mom. "She went ballistic saying that it’s the law that we need to let her change her child wherever she wants if we are unwilling to provide her with suitable changing facilities," recalled the cafe employee.
When the cafe staff refused to relent, the whole family got up and stormed out. The employee clearly felt some guilt over the situation, as they ended the post by asking their fellow Redditors: "Her whole family got up, left and looked at me like I was a sexist bigot. So… AITA?"
Many people leaped to the cafe worker's defense.
"Sorry lady, but that’s gross… it’s like the equivalent of wiping your own a** in the middle of the restaurant," one person wrote.
"[I'd] rather do that in the restroom than embarrass the Cafe Employees. Don’t know why she felt so entitled to do that," another agreed.
"I'd never do it where people are eating. It’s not sanitary and even as a parent I would not want to eat after changing my kids diapers at our table," a third chimed in, adding: "NTA" (not the a**hole).
However, other people were on the mom's side. One person argued that regardless of how small the restroom was, they should always be able to fit a baby changing station.
"The teeny weeny bathroom on an AIRPLANE has a drop-down changing station and you're telling me you can't fit one?" they wrote, adding: "YTA for lying to your customers and us."
Another claimed that the cafe should have made it clear from the start that they did not have baby-changing facilities.
"Expecting customers to leave your premises to change a child's diaper is not okay. Neither is changing one where food is served. You need a sign on the door stating you are not a baby-friendly establishment [and] changing facility's are located down the block," they commented.
