Considerate children in classy restaurants are apparently cherished enough to warrant discounts.
Laura King, 28, was delighted when four dollars were deducted from her receipt at an Italian restaurant in Poulsbo, Wash. for “well behaved kids.”
“This was definitely a random act of kindness,” King told the Daily News. “We didn’t go to the restaurant expecting a reward. We expect our kids to act this way whenever we are out and about. This was just a small surprise.”
Servers at Sogno di Vino had a lot on their plates Feb. 1 when King and her husband Chris, 33, brought their three young children to the sophisticated spot, with a wine bar and picturesque fireplaces.
Owner Angela Scott, who was also serving that night, and the two other servers were so impressed with the kids’ manners that they wanted to congratulate them somehow.
“You would never even know that children were in the dining room,” Scott said. “We just wanted to say, ‘Awesome! You guys were so good!'”
So they agreed to give the kids free ice cream.
“The mother was obviously beaming,” Scott said. “She was very happy.”
King was so pleased that she snapped a picture of the kindhearted message and shared it on her private Facebook account the following day. But then her friend took the image and posted it to Reddit, unbeknownst to King.
Soon after, the picture exploded in popularity. By Feb. 4, the friend contacted King and told her that people were asking for more information about the receipt.
“They are always pretty well-behaved so it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary from them,” she said.
But the night was somewhat extraordinary for Scott who still recalls how much easier three polite children made her job that evening.
“We see the opposite a lot of time,” Scott said. “Sometimes children are not the most well-behaved. It was nice especially because they are so young.”
“I am grateful to have well-behaved kids,” King said, “but it doesn’t come without effort so you get out what you put in. We talk with our kids a lot about being respectful.”
mwalsh@nydailynews.com
