Diner owner not sorry for yelling at noisy toddler: 'It made her shut up, which made me happy'

A Maine restaurant owner said she had no regrets about yelling at an unruly toddler and angering the child's parents.

Darla Neugebauer, who owns Marcy's Diner in Portland, said the girl's parents ordered three pancakes Saturday but left them out of the child's reach -- which caused the toddler to cry loudly, reported WLBZ-TV.

The diner's owner said she asked the family to leave or take the crying child outside, but they refused, so she slammed her hands down on the counter and told the girl to quiet down.

"I turned to my daughter and I was like, 'Listen, this is how I'm raising you not to be as an adult -- like, you will never be like this when you get older,'" said the child's mother, Tara Carson, who stopped into the diner while vacationing with her family. "I felt helpless as a mom that, you know, I couldn't do anything to help her, because I can't explain why there's crazy people in this world that behave like that."

Carson complained on the diner's Facebook page about the experience, but Neugebauer was unapologetic.

"You are lucky I didn't get really f*cking nuts because being physical is not something I cower from," Neugebauer said, using the restaurant's social media account.

Some Facebook users vowed they would never visit the diner again, but Neugebauer stood by her actions.

"Life's full of choices and you've got to live with all of them," Neugebauer said. "I chose to yell at a kid (and) it made her shut up, which made me happy, it made my staff happy, it made the 75 other people dining here happy, and they left, they may never come back, other people may not come in -- their loss, really."

The restaurant owner said she had no reason to apologize.

"Sorry isn't the right word," she said. "I might have used poor judgement. I wouldn't say I was sorry, because it stopped. When things stop, it's usually a good thing."

Watch this video report posted online by WLBZ-TV: