UPDATED Cafe doesn’t allow nappy changing!

A cafe in my city has come under fire for posting this sign on their toilet door. I saw it when I was there recently and thought it was very rude but didn’t say anything. Now somebody else has posted a review online calling them out for it, leading to other parents pitching in and saying it’s not okay.

Instead of apologising the owner of the cafe is attacking people and calling them awful names. He’s claiming they don’t want people throwing out nappies because they’re a “zero waste cafe” and they wrote a huge long (very unprofessional) post on their business page about how they shouldn’t have to clean up other people’s messes. The post also included a rude comment about how they only have sanitary pad bins because they “legally have to”.

Now I’m not debating that it’s inappropriate to leave a mess after changing your baby, but I do believe they’re being rude and hypocritical here. They have never provided a changing table or nappy bin, so their experiences of nappy changing leading to messes is based on people having to make-do with a hard floor and no bin.

I’m not lucky enough to be a mama yet but I know that when I am, I would find it really hard to not be allowed to change my baby at a cafe. The sign says “30 seconds away”, but the closest toilets with changing facilities are actually a 10-minute walk from the cafe.

The whole thing has turned into a total shit show (no pun intended 🤣). In my opinion the original sign was rude but the owner has made it even worse by posting passive aggressive things on social media and attacking customers who share their opinion on the matter. I’m really heartbroken because this is the only vegan eatery in my little town (although ironically the rude owner isn’t even a vegan) but I’m not sure how I’d feel supporting them knowing they’re this rude to customers. For some reason the majority of people are supporting the owner, saying he has the right to make choices about his business and that the parents are the rude ones!

I’d love to hear some opinions from parents (and others!) about this. Do you think it’s rude?

EDIT: here is an example of the cafe owner replying to one of his paying customers on Facebook