A mother has ignited intense debate online due to an incident where her toddler supposedly destroyed a $1,600 table at a café, and she was informed she couldn’t exit without providing her credit card information.
During a visit to Hazelnut Cafe in Lavallette, New Jersey, with her three-year-old daughter and 76-year-old mother, Kathy Denman experienced an unfortunate accident where one of the restaurant’s marble tables broke.
Security videos captured the moment when the toddler, seated on her grandmother’s lap, pushed against the table in an attempt to move it away.
Suddenly, it toppled over and broke as it hit the ground.
Kathy explained in a now-viral TikTok video about the ordeal that she was at the register paying for their coffees when the incident occurred.
‘I heard a loud bang. The table, which I later learned was 600 pounds, broke into a bunch of pieces. It was a stone table,’ she shared.
She said she immediately apologized to workers and asked, ‘What could we do to make this right?’
But she said things ‘went down in a way she never could have anticipated or expected.’
“Everyone had a tense atmosphere. I understand they were upset, and I completely comprehend. I was prepared to cover the damages, that wasn’t the problem,” Kathy explained.
The incident created an uproar online after it was claimed that her toddler unintentionally smashed the café’s $1,600 table and she was asked to hand over her credit card before leaving (stock image included for reference).
“When I spoke to the owner, I said, ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry and embarrassed,’ and the owner responded, ‘Well, the table is almost $2,000; it costs $1,600, so you can’t leave until I have your license and a credit card.'” she recounted.
Kathy explained that her priority was making sure her daughter was OK, as the youngster seemed completely terrified.
She wanted to go get her checked out by a medical professional, and asked if she could leave her contact information so they could send her a bill.
But Kathy claimed that the owner refused and said she couldn’t leave without giving them a credit card and a photo of her license.
In response, the cafe has said that it never ‘held anyone against their will’ and that Kathy was not charged for the table.
‘I said, “Well I have to leave to make sure my daughter’s OK, she’s surrounded by 50 people now, she’s three, and I want to make sure my kid’s alright,”‘ alleged Kathy.
‘”Let me go get her checked out and make sure she didn’t get hurt. Bits and pieces of this table broke off into a million directions, let me just catch my breath and make sure she’s OK.”
‘I gave all my contact information, my email, my husband’s information, our cell phone numbers, but I wasn’t allowed to leave.’
Security video in the café captured the moment that triggered the controversy, when the toddler seemingly knocked over and broke the table
Kathy claimed the owner kept telling her that their policy is ‘you break it you pay for it,’ and continuously reminded her that they had ‘everything on video.’
‘I gave you all my contact information so that I can make it right for you guys and your business. So for you to keep repeating that everything’s on video, I’m not disputing that my kid pushed your table,’ Kathy continued, addressing the owner in the TikTok video.
She added, ‘I was so surprised because not one time on the phone did [the owner] ask if [my daughter] was OK or if anybody got hurt. I was completely humiliated and embarrassed.’
It’s unclear whether or not Kathy gave her credit card in the end.
In a statement shared to Instagram afterwards, the eatery said it was ‘grateful’ that Kathy, her daughter, mother, and everyone else in the coffee shop at the time were unharmed.
‘We understand this incident may have been startling when the table fell with a loud noise, and our priority has been to ensure the family felt supported and cared for,’ it wrote.
‘Following the incident, we personally called the child’s mother to express our concern, offer our support, and share our direct contact information should she need anything.’
It said that as an ‘added precaution’ it has since removed all tables from its locations to ‘eliminate any risk’ of a similar incident.
‘We want to be completely transparent: We would never hold anyone against their will,’ it added.
‘The mother was not charged for the damaged table, even after asking how she could make it right given the table broke. We requested her contact information for insurance purposes.’
It vowed that ‘safety and hospitality’ are the ‘foundation of everything Hazel Cafe does’ and described it as an ‘unfortunate and rare occurrence.’
In her TikTok, Kathy immediately took her daughter to Urgent Care because she said the toddler still seemed ‘frozen,’ and was told by a doctor that her daughter was probably in ‘a state of shock.’
‘It was so loud, can you imagine a solid stone table dropping to the ground?’ she added.
In a follow-up video, Kathy pointed out that the table, Anthropologie’s Kanta Rectangular 48-inch Marble Console, which retails for $1,598, only has two legs, which makes it more prone to falling than tables with four legs.
‘Crafted of pure marble, this stately console lends a classical element to studies and living rooms alike,’ reads a description of the table.
Kathy’s original video about the situation raked in more than 13.3 million views and sparked an immense reaction from people all across the globe, many of whom took her side and brutally slammed the cafe.
In one last post, however, Kathy stated that the cafe had ‘reached out and apologized’ for how ‘her family was treated,’ adding, ‘We have accepted their apology and are satisfied.’
