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Review content:
On 10/23/09 I took my kids to the Tea Lounge to hear some live children's music. I don't frequent the Tea Lounge often since it seems to be suffering from some form of identity crisis - a baffling dissonance of openly irked young professionals trying madly to focus on their laptops while the place is overrun with kids in the afternoons. In any case, the place was hopping today with buoyant 4 and 5-year olds who came to hear the band. At some point my daughters and one of their friends went to the bathroom. After a while, I heard them laughing and carrying on a bit loudly, so I looked in on them. My daughter was still mid potty break, and the others were standing by, waiting their turn. A highly miffed employee appeared and said that only one person at a time was allowed in the bathroom. I tried to alter the tone of this meeting by making pleasantries, but he was in no mood (I somehow doubt he ever is), and only repeated the demand for one person in the bathroom. I asked all the girls (except for my daughter, mid potty break) to leave the bathroom, and stationed myself outside the door. At that point I noticed that the door was locked, and asked the man if my daughter would be able to open the door from the inside. Sarcastically he replied, ""It locks from the inside, so I doubt it."" I pointed out tactfully (as I was more alarmed than anything else at this point) that he told me that all but one person was allowed, and he snapped, ""I didn't mean YOU - you're her mother, you should be in there with her."" I replied that as my daughter was almost five and often wanted her privacy, it wasn't uncommon for me to wait directly outside a bathroom for her, and how could I have known the door would lock automatically? ""ALL doors lock automatically,"" was his inane reply. Ignoring this extravagant absurdity, I asked him what the plan was when my daughter inevitably tried for the door and it wouldn't give. He made no reply and walked away. My daughter started shaking the doorknob and crying out for help, and I tried to calm her while attempting (unsuccessfully) to get someone's attention from the counter. Finally this same man returned, and tried to jimmy the door with a credit card-like device. It didn't work, and as my 4-year old became more upset, he had the unbelievable audacity to say, in as sarcastic and irreverent manner as possible, ""Yes, yes, it's terrible isn't it? How awful, I know...how tragic."" I was too stunned to speak. After his efforts to unlock the door had failed, he left again without saying a word. I calmed my daughter and someone else returned, also attempting to jimmy the door with a card. I told him what had happened from the outset, and he informed me that he was the Manager and assured me that he'd ""take care of it."" Moments later, I saw him with the other man behind the counter, sharing a laugh.
I wonder if the owners of the Tea Lounge endorse their employees making sarcastic reference to Park Slope parents, sneering at and attempting to intimidate their patrons, then going so far as to mock a small child who is hysterical because they're stuck in a bathroom that ""locks automatically""? For a place that is supposedly kid-friendly, it's immensely chancy to have a bathroom door that locks automatically, and perhaps even poses a fire hazard. It's equally irresponsible to hire someone as openly insolent and antagonistic towards parents and kids, in an establishment reputable for catering to both. Management was equally dismissive and flip. I can't imagine why parents frequent this place, but for a hyped up reputation for being kid-friendly, which it most decidedly is not.
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