Advertisement
Home REAL LIFE

Mum who complained to Brisbane cafe over lack of highchair is hit with abuse

Well that escalated...
Mum Kylie Lindsay with her partner and son. CREDIT: Facebook

An argument between Brisbane mum Kylie Lindsay and a local cafe has erupted into a war of words, with Lindsay now saying she’s been subjected to abuse from members of the public.

Advertisement

It started last week when Lindsay visited The Low Road Cafe in Brisbane with her young son and was unhappy to find they didn’t offer highchairs. Taking to Facebook, Lindsay then sent the cafe a message explaining why she was displeased with their lack of seating options for babies and toddlers. 

‘We were very disappointed to find you didn’t have highchairs,’ wrote Lindsay ‘It’s the first cafe I’ve come across that doesn’t. Appreciate it’s your business and your choice but it’s means young families like ours can’t appreciate your hospitality.’

In what was still a polite exchange, the cafe replied to Lindsay’s message saying: ‘We don’t have high chairs because our space is small and we’ve had accidents where people trip over them. Also people leave them covered in crap and it hurts our feelings…You are welcome to bring your pram in…we even have colouring materials and a kids menu.’

But Lindsay says that after that is when the abuse started. Penning an essay on the incident for the Courier Mail, she wrote: ‘It stopped being about the highchair and became a shocking litany of abuse and bullying online.’

Advertisement

She claims the cafe owners and other people online began calling her names and referring to her as ‘Karen’, a joke name known widely on the internet for an irritating and difficult woman with a sense of entitlement.  

Lindsay says she was called ‘a massive sh*tface to small business’ and a ‘sook.’

‘They also looked at my social media profiles and attacked me for my politics, which as far as I am concerned has no relevance to my feedback,’ wrote Lindsay.

After comments on Lindsay’s post raged for a day, she then took to the cafe’s Facebook page to write a now-deleted one-star review and shared the comments she’d received from people on a mums’ group. 

Advertisement

She claims the cafe then called her ‘racist’ and an ‘arsehole’.

‘I wasn’t going to take that bullying behaviour lying down,’ she says, which is why she decided to write about the furore for The Courier Mail.

xx
The owners of The Low Road say they’re cheeky. (Credit: The Low Road Facebook.)

The cafe has tried to remain jovial throughout the incident which has seen them named across the Australian media.

Advertisement

Although they haven’t commented on Lindsay’s recent essay, last week cafe owner Naomi told The Courier-Mail they believe their first answer was appropriate, before Lindsay shared it in mums’ groups.  

‘She’s trying to make us out to be anti-family. We are a small mum and dad business, we are cheeky and we’re not professional by any stretch,’ she said.

The owner said she deleted posts after people who weren’t even customers began weighing in and leaving comments and it became  ‘a group of strangers yelling at each other.’

Customers have also posted positive comments to the cafe’s Facebook page saying negative reviews should be ignored. 

Advertisement

‘It’s very funny that the bad review from that person is a serial bad reviewer, some people need to get a life and look closer to home like at themselves before chucking out bad reviews. Amazing staff food and service keep up the great service and amazing atmosphere,’ wrote one regular. 

Related stories


Advertisement