Breakfast at AJs-editorial

BY: Sandra Slover

My daughter and I, with her 3 young sons, went to AJs for breakfast. We were seated at a table, with a high chair placed at the end of the table, pushed in under the table, between the wall to the kitchen and the buffett. My grandsons were at the vending machines by the door, and my daughter and I were talking. A man (which I noticed later had an aluminum walking cane sitting next to him at his table) passed by with a glass in each hand, one was orange juice, and the other may have been apple juice, I'm not sure. Apparently, he tripped on the leg of the high chair, stepped back, then fell on his back. I was not sure if he was having a heart attack or what at that point. OJ went flying all over the table, in my daughters purse, and would have been all over my youngest grandson, and he may have fell with the gentleman, had he been it it. The first thing I did was to tell the man not to try to get up until we knew he was allright. My daughter of course, started to tell him "I'm so sorry", not that we had done anything wrong, and kept asking him if he was ok. A bunch of the staff came out, just stood and looked, some kindly customers helped the gentleman up, but he acted like we had pushed the high chair out in front of him. None of the staff even approached the gentleman, we never saw a manager, my daughter was so upset and started crying, so we left. I believe the staff needs to be educated in emergency procedures. I don't blame the staff, I blame management for failing to train them. What if it was a heart attack? What if he had (and he may have) injured himself in the fall? It's not unplausible. I called AJs about an hour ago, the manager I spoke to did not offer an apology, and sounded quite unconcerned. Didn't even ask for my name or phone number. This disturbs me. What if it were your father in a medical emergency here? Or anyone you know? I would like to know this will be addressed, and the staff will be trained in the proper response in any situation like this.