‘Today was wild': Cafe owner's infuriating find in kids play area
A young business owner was left exasperated after part of her cafe was 'trashed' by children while the parent sat outside on their phone.
Ruby Rule opened her first cafe in 2021 at the age of 21. Now, she owns and runs three cafes in Queensland, with the hopes of soon opening a fourth
At just 25 years old, she already has a lot of experience and understands what it takes to run multiple successful businesses.
Ms Rule always wants to ensure the best experience possible for her customers, which is why when she opened the Bramble Bay General in Redcliffe she wanted to make it a welcoming space for families.
Speaking to news.com.au, she said having a playroom inside the cafe was always part of the vision when opening the venue.
It is located across from a popular playground and Ms Rule wanted to bounce off that and make her cafe a proper destination for families.
'The goal was to provide a space where parents could enjoy a coffee while their kids played safely in a calm environment,' she said.
The business owner put a lot of effort into curating the space, filling the room with books, wooden toys, a play kitchen, a doll house and colouring table.
So, when she entered the playroom during a recent busy rush to find it destroyed, she was at a loss for how to approach the situation.
Ms Rule took to TikTok to share her predicament, asking at what point is it 'appropriate for me to remind parents that their children are not my responsibility and our cafe is not a daycare centre'.
She added: 'I really believe in creating a safe welcoming space for both parents and kids. But when I tell you, today was wild.'
Ms Rule explained a customer had come into the cafe with two kids and 'shooed' them into the playroom, before going outside and scrolling on his phone.
'These kids trashed the playroom. They pulled out each drawer, they pulled everything out of the cupboards, threw every toy everywhere, books off the shelves, board games scattered, snapped the pencils and poured pencil shavings all over the rugs, so badly that I had to pick it up and take it home to clean,' the business owner said.
She made the discovery in the middle of a 'massive rush', meaning she had to take her attention away from helping at the counter to quickly tidy the room as she was worried the mess would reflect poorly on the cafe.
There are already signs up outside the playroom reminding parents to watch their children and tidy the area before they leave. However, while most parents are considerate, there are still those that let their kids run rampant.
In her video, Ms Rule asked if it was OK for her to post a friendly reminder to parents on their social media, or whether doing so would make them 'look like a bad cafe'.
'I really do want to keep offering this space and this service but only if everyone chips in a little bit. At this point, it feels like I have to hire another staff member just to look after the kids room,' she said.
The video quickly gained over 900 comments, with the vast majority of people horrified at the father's negligence and telling Ms Rule she is within her rights to remind parents about the playroom rules.
'Totally OK to post! Some parents need a reality check,' one person said.
Others branded the parent 'disrespectful' and 'entitled', with some even going as far as to say they should be charged a cleaning fee.
However, there were those that thought posting a reminder to parents on social media was not a good idea.
'The majority of your customers are doing the right thing and will be turned off by the cafe calling everyone out. You should have addressed it directly with the parents,' one person said.
There were others who agreed that, while leaving the room trashed was unacceptable, the cafe owner should have spoken to the parent directly.
Ms Rule responded to one of these comments explaining that, by the time she realised what had happened to the playroom, the man had already left with his two children.
Another person suggested the business owner could talk to the kids herself and encourage them to pick up after themselves with a 'clean up song'.
However, the 25-year-old rightfully pointed out that she is too busy making coffee and doing her job to ensure someone else's children pick up after themselves.
After sharing he video, a few of Ms Rule's staff revealed to her that this isn't the first time the playroom had been left in a mess, with similar incidents happening in the past that she had not been made aware of.
'It turns out this kind of thing has happened a lot more than I realised, but this time I witnessed it myself and decided we needed to finally say something,' she told news.com.au.
In the end, she decided to post a gentle reminder to parents on the business' Instagram story, which was received in a very positive light from parents and fellow small business owners.
'Owning a cafe like this, we really try to go the extra mile to create something special for our community. Small business owners wear so many hats, we're doing the cleaning, the planning, the marketing, the prep,' she said.
'So when we put time and energy into a space that's genuinely thoughtful and welcoming, it means a lot to see that space respected. We'll always do our best to keep offering these experiences, but it does need to be a shared effort with our customers.'
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