All restaurants should have changing tables in the restroom. That still doesn’t mean that if they don’t, you can change your baby at the dining table.

Going out to eat with a baby can be a total pain. Not only do you have to schlep a gigantic diaper bag full of baby supplies with you, but you have to worry how your baby will behave in public and whether or not they will disturb the other diners trying to enjoy a meal. I think babies should be allowed most places — especially newborns, who are usually no more disruptive than your average oversized handbag. I’ve even taken babies to bars more times than I can count and to first-run matinees where they slept through the entire movie and the sound of my popcorn crunching was more annoying than the kid sleeping on my chest. This being said, just because you have a baby with you doesn’t give you the right to plop them on a chair and change their diaper in the middle of a meal just because there’s no Koala Kare Station in the bathroom. But that’s exactly what went down when Miranda Sowers from Texas discovered there was no changing table in the restroom.

She was alone with her baby Reagan, 4-year old daughter Lauren and 8-year old daughter Katelyn. She didn’t want to take everyone back to the minivan to do the diaper change. Miranda said her next decision was a last resort. “I thought, you know what, I’ve got my own changing pad, she’s tiny, she fits right here on the chair.” she told us. “So I laid her down quickly and quietly changed her diaper.”

According to the article, the owners said this was no slightly damp urine-filled diaper, but a full-blown feces-filled event that caused the patrons of the pizza parlor to complain. Staff brought out the family’s meal in to-go containers and asked them to leave. Sowers has filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

I’m all for babies being allowed in public, especially in places that serve pizza, because that seems pretty family-friendly to me. I’m all for moms breastfeeding in public because babies need to eat, too. But there is never a circumstance where I feel any parent has the right to subject paying customers to their baby’s poop, and I don’t care if there is no changing table in the bathroom.

Repeat after me, people: poop should never be around pizza. Ever.

I feel for this mom, because I have a pile of kids too, and dragging them out to a minivan to change a diaper sounds like a pain to me… but suck it up. Or change your baby on the restroom floor after you put down a diaper pad. Or do it outside. Just not around the other people trying to enjoy dinner. If adults don’t defecate in the middle of restaurants, babies shouldn’t be allowed to, either. Take that shit private.

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