It finally happened.

Tonight we went to a surprise birthday party for a friend of ours at Alfy's pizza. Michael was in a pretty good mood and actually managed to make it through the door without completely freaking out. Once we got inside, he sat down on the waiting area bench and made himself comfortable. He didn't really want to move from there so when we started toward the party room in the back, we thought it might excite him if he could pick his drink and carry it back to the room. This worked for all of 3.5 seconds. He picked his drink and then was carrying it around, spilling it everywhere. Not only was the spilling itself making him upset, but also us trying to help him stop spilling was making it worse. This led to an all out meltdown. I had Rory and 100 other baby items such as blankets, sippy cups, and treat cups in my hands so I took them back to the party room while James tried to deal with Michael. He ended up taking him outside twice. A few minutes later he came back in with him and got all the way to the party room before he was startled by a person welcoming him into the room. He flipped out and screamed all the way back to the door. I followed him out and picked him up. He was screaming loud enough at this point that probably everyone there could hear him a mile away. I went to the furthest table of the restaurant, away from as many people as possible and tried to hug him tightly. This is when the fun began.

There was an older guy, probably in his 60's that was sitting a few tables down. I saw him motioning me to take Michael outside, which I wasn't about ready to do. Michael FLIPS out when we deal with doors. It would be pointless because it would all start up again dealing with getting in the doors. So I just ignored the guy. A few seconds later, he came up to me and told me I needed to take him outside. I said I wasn't going to do that and that my son could not help his screaming. He kept badgering me telling me it was "disrespectful" for me to bring my son out in public if he was going to scream like that. He told me that he belonged in the pit they had there for children (mind you this pit was closer to his table than I was currently sitting!) I wasn't about ready to bring my already overwhelmed son into a pit full of chaos and children. That would not help him calm down one bit. He told me then that if I didn't take my son outside, or to the bathrooms, or as far away from him as I possibly could, that he was going to complain to the management and tell them to make me leave. I looked him straight into the eye and said "DO IT!"

One of the friends from our party asked if he was asking me to leave and I told her that he was and that he went to complain to management. They went back and told James what was going on and that's when he came out to meet the guy. By that time, the guy was talking to the manager or whoever it was that was in charge at the moment. The guy again told us that we were being disrespectful for bringing our child out to a place where he was trying to have a "quiet" evening. He said that "children need to be trained to not cry in public". We told him my son has Autism and he can't control it. He said "I don't even know what that is! You can't use that as an excuse for him to bother me during my dinner!" James said "Well if you don't know what Autism is, you really have no place to be telling me anything on the matter now do you?!" He was probably 2 inches from the guy's face at this point, but surprisingly restraining himself.

I have to hand it to the guy that worked at Alfy's. He was completely understanding and basically told the guy we have every right to be there just as he does. Then another parent from the child pit came up to me and said "Just so you know, none of us mind your child screaming at all". Basically everyone in the establishment was on our side against this one A-hole. I was so riled up and upset by the end of this that I was shaking. Especially because he freaked Michael out so bad that he had cowered into a corner under a candy machine. Who does that to a 3 year old? Even if Michael didn't have Autism, he had no right to treat us that way!