A man with a facial disfigurement says he was asked to leave a restaurant in south London because staff said he was “scaring the customers”.
Oliver Bromley has Neurofibromatosis Type 1, a genetic condition that causes non-cancerous tumours to grow on his nerves.
Speaking to the BBC, he said when he had gone to place an order at a restaurant in Camberwell, staff told him there had been complaints about him.
“It’s a horrible thing to happen. I took it very personally on the day,” he said.
He said they had told him that although it was a hate crime, it was “unlikely” officers could pursue it further.
That’s messed up.
Welcome to British policing.
“We have determined that this was indeed a hate crime, and therefore we’ll be doing nothing. But if it happens two more times we’ll congratulate them on the hat trick and offer to enroll them in the police academy.”
I’ll take a restaurant full of disfigured people over 1 misbehaving toddler.
As a parent of younger kids, we’re sorry. We come armed with as many activities as possible and will take our kids outside if they’re too excited until food gets to the table. That will help them focus on eating.
We very rarely went out to eat when they were toddlers due to fear of our kids bothering others and understand that our desire to experience some level of normalcy shouldn’t come at the expense of others.
All that said, if the parents are trying to keep their kids occupied, please extend some grace. Being a parent can be extremely isolating and we’re simply trying to pretend like we still get to do normal things once in a while.
This is fine, and we thank you for your efforts.
What were talking about here is a rogue crotch spawn running around or under tables, occupied or not, and generally acting like they’re in their own living room rather than a shared community space.
Honestly IMO if you can keep them at the table, I can put up with the noise. Sure, it’s annoying, but so are kids. It’s a package deal. And everyone was a kid at one point in time and therefore has no excuse to complain too loudly. That’s reserved for when I have to drag a screeching rug rodent out from under my chair and haul it back to the absentee sperm and egg donors.
Haha, our kids do go under our table at times but they know not to go under other people’s tables.
I don’t have much tolerance for absentee parenting either, especially if the kids wind up seeking attention from others, by say going under someone else’s table, because they’re not getting enough attention from their own parents.
If you’re trying, the ire isn’t for you. It’s for the shitty parents that feel entitled to not teach their children to behave, don’t feel it’s their job to or act like they are a victim of a life choice and take it out on the child or others. There are plenty of those type out there and I’m sure you don’t want to be lumped in with those ones, you also don’t have to defend them.
As someone who formerly worked at a restaurant, I agree.
We were located in a fenced off area owned by the same company that had a string of bars/clubs, so after 8pm only 21+ were allowed in, but on Saturday afternoons the stroller crowd would roll through and let their kids run around making a mess of all the tables.
I’m not against parents bringing their kids out for a meal, but if they’re just sitting there pounding beer after beer and ignoring their chaotic unleashed children then it gets really old really fast.
Then don’t look at him? The man was just trying to eat. Poor guy.
I feel so bad for this guy. Imagine the shit he has to put up with all the time. I used to work with a lady who had a big tumor on her face. She was so sweet, but I’m sure she had to put up with all kinds of horrible shit. I honestly really liked her. I would have asked her out if I hadn’t been in a relationship because we got along really well. I don’t care if you have a big tumor on your face. I’ll get used to it after I’ve seen you for more than a minute or two.
It isn’t that simple. A worldwide measles outbreak is in the news, as is the fact UK is dealing with a surge in far-right BS. As a layman all I know about measles is it has spots as a glaring symptom and is dangerous for children.
This dude would have made me worried about a measles exposure, but a simple query assuring the proprietors it was not contagious would have resolved my concern. This dude has my sympathy because this is not the only hassle he has been forced to endure, as if the condition wasn’t enough suffering.
This looks nothing at all like measles, to even bother the person enough to ask such a ridiculous question is revolting.
Yes, yes we all know everything you wouldn’t do is repugnant. Must be nice. I am not a doctor, and 99% of the population isn’t either. This could also be that new pox variant gathering steam. Point is, you see something like this reminiscent of a serious and contagious illness, in an eatery, and there are reasonable concerns for the public beyond politeness.
Like, someone walking in to a restaurant coughing like crazy with hollow eyes and pale skin wouldn’t trigger any alarms? Be realistic.
That’s not an excuse. No questions were asked, nor were there any follow-ups to clarify what was happening to him. People just didn’t want that sight while eating.
LOL this is a pretty common condition. You’re projecting your ignorance without taking a moment to look up the wikipedia article on this disease.
Sorry, I’m in the middle of dinner at a nice restaurant. I’m not going to try looking up every known contagion with spots or bumps as a symptom when the person could just do a public courtesy and alleviate everyone’s concerns by just stating “I’m not contagious”.
Edit: better yet, it’d nicer if the world wasn’t full of selfish assholes willing to spread their suffering to others intentionally so we wouldn’t even be worried in the first place.
I wouldn’t want to look at that while I was eating… SO I WOULD AVOID STARING AT HIM. Complaining about the guy is not the answer. Self control and respect are.
The article says he thinks there wasn’t enough time for someone to complain, the restaurant staff was using it as an excuse.
“He said: "After entering I noticed a cash-only sign, so went straight back outside to withdraw my money.
“I went back into the restaurant to place an order, and they told me to ‘please leave’, because in their words I was ‘scaring the customers’, and there had been complaints about me.”
He added: “There had not been enough time between the time I had been there first, and the time I went back, for anyone to have made a complaint about me so obviously the restaurant staff were not happy with the way I looked.” “
Yeah, I read the article. I was just imagining a hypothetical situation where he and I were eating in the same restaurant.
“at that”… If you don’t want to eat around other people that exist then just don’t go to restaurants.
I know judging people on their appearances isn’t right, and he shouldn’t have been kicked out regardless of what he looked like.
… but it doesn’t even look that bad? Like, “I’ve got one eye and a skin condition”, is that really what the restaurant is willing to kick people out for?
Hope he gets some sort of justice out of this.
