AITAH for telling a lady she should reimburse the shop for all the coffees her grandkid spilt?

A Reddit user shares a story of a frustrating experience at a busy coffee shop where a young child, running around and playing with a ball, accidentally knocked over several coffees, causing a mess and wasting the drinks. Despite multiple requests from the staff for the child to calm down, the grandmother remained on her phone, ignoring the situation.

After the spill, the Reddit user suggested that the grandmother should reimburse the shop for the ruined coffees. This led to an angry confrontation, with the grandmother dismissing the suggestion and leaving in a huff. The Reddit user is now wondering if they were out of line for asking the grandmother to pay for the damage caused by her grandchild. Read the full story below to see what happened!

‘ AITAH for telling a lady she should reimburse the shop for all the coffees her grandkid spilt?’

I was at the local shopping centre early yesterday morning getting coffee and breakfast for myself and my partner (we’re moving house and the motel we are staying in has shocking coffee). The coffee shop was extremely busy with nearly all the eat in seating taken and about 10+ people like myself waiting for take away.

There was a lady with her grandson also waiting for take away. The kid would have been around 8 maybe 10 at most. This kid was running around everywhere knocking about with an NRL footy, getting in the way of the poor staff who were just trying to do their jobs. He nearly made a poor server drop food she was taking to tables multiple times.

The coffee shop employees asked the kid many times to please at down and stop throwing the ball. Grandma was just scrolling on her phone actively ignoring him and the pleas from the staff to please have him stop being int the way.

This kid then throws the ball to bounce it off the bench (I guess?) where the barista is trying their best to make all the coffees quickly. Unfortunately there was about 8 (maybe more) coffees on the bench waiting to be taken to tables or for people to pick up for take away. Mine included. The kid miscalculated and the ball wipes out pretty much all the coffees on the bench. Coffee flies everywhere, the cups and saucers waiting to be taken to tables smash. The kid laughs. Grandma laughs too.

We all turn to grandma with shocked/angry expressions. She looks from her phone, shrugs and says the old “kids will be kids”. I reply that “saying kids will be kids is just an excuse for p**s poor parenting and now this shop is out of money for you ignoring the child you are meant to be looking after and that the right thing to do would be to reimburse the shop for the coffees your grandkid spilt”.

She just roles her eyes and goes back to her phone. Some of the other customers vocalised that she should also reimburse the coffee shop. One man was very insistent and angry about it (I think he was really needing his caffeine). She just starts screeching like a banshee calling everyone f**king assholes and storms off with child in tow saying she just wanted a f**king coffee. Like same, but you and your grandchild spawn wiped out my coffees before I could grab them off the bench.. So am I the AH?

Here’s what Redditors had to say:

Secret_Sister_Sarah −  NTA. People like her should be banned from public places. If I had been there, I’d have filmed her little tirade and Karen’d her.

BlueGreen_1956 −  The store should have called the cops and them both removed after telling them ONE TIME to stop.

Ok-One-9817 −  NTA. She should have paid of the spilt coffees. She is responsible for the child’s behavior.

VirtualMatter2 −  I’m pretty sure here in Germany they would. 1 have kicked her out before this happened. 2 if it happens actually made her pay for the coffee. Kids will be kids isn’t really an excuse here. Parents are liable for their kids here and pay for damages. 

DangerousAd1986 −  NTA that disgusting behavior! The coffee shop should have pressed charges. That could have seriously hurt someone of that hot coffee hit someone.

You_Sick_Duck −  NTA. That’s crazy! I can feel the frustration radiating from your post. It sounds like the kid was being a handful, and grandma was totally checked out. I get why you’d call her out on it – “kids will be kids” isn’t an excuse for not supervising your child, especially when they’re causing chaos and damage.

Your response was pretty blunt, but considering the situation, it seems justified. The kid’s actions did cause a significant mess and financial loss for the shop. It’s not unreasonable to expect grandma to take responsibility and offer to reimburse the shop.

The fact that other customers agreed with you and grandma overreacted by screeching and storming off says a lot. It’s not like you were being overly aggressive or unreasonable. You were just stating the obvious – that her grandkid’s actions had consequences, and someone should take responsibility. What do you think would have happened if grandma had just apologized and offered to pay for the damaged coffees? Would the situation have been diffused, or was she always going to be defensive?

Trin_42 −  I would’ve put my foot into the back of that kids knee to make him go down to the floor.

Strength_and_wonder −  Honestly thank you and others for speaking out and highlighting her and the kids behaviour!