Why Can’t an Adult order from the Children’s Restaurant Menu?

The other day I was out for lunch and I wasn’t feeling very hungry. When we were seated I asked for the children’s menu, only to be met by the waitress’s refusal to hand me one. Why? You cannot order a children’s meal for yourself if you are an adult.

Excuse me? I am well aware I am not a child, thank you very much. I’m just not that interested in buying a heap of fat-laden oversized meal portions when I want to consume two bites only! Why am I not allowed to order whatever I want in a restaurant? I know many girls who are on a diet, or who don’t eat big meals in restaurants, or girls who actually have the appetitie of a child. Are we supposed to consume more than we need or let the food go to waste just because of a menu title “techinicality”?

I’d understand the dilemma if the restaurant was a fancy one or had a minimum charge set and needs to meet it’s quota. I would have gladly ordered enough smaller appetisers or perhaps coffee and dessert instead. But not in the case of that restaurant I was in. I could have sat there, happily sipping from an overpriced bottle of mineral water from the menu and consumed nothing else, but they still wouldn’t budge and bring me the children’s menu. I should have said I had an invisible child joining us soon, perhaps that would have persuaded her!

Have you ever been unable to order from the children’s menu in a restaurant before? I have had some snickering from different restaurants when I asked about a children’s menu before but I always did end up ordering from it except for that last time. I wonder why that rule exists!