Joseph Gibson figured, of all places, he'd get treated with respect at a St. Louis establishment called Friendly's Sports Bar & Grill.

But his Father's Day outing was thoroughly ruined when he received the bill for his meal, only to find he had seemingly been charged for having "fuckin' needy kids."

Gibson says he called in advance to make sure he could bring his young son to Friendly's, despite the restaurant's strict policy of admitting only customers above 21 years of age.

"Normally, we don't let anyone in who's under 21," general manager Denny Domachowski told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "But the guy said he was with his kid for Father's Day and they were just leaving the (Missouri) Botanical Garden, so I said 'Sure.'"

After ordering a fried chicken dinner for himself, Gibson asked his waitress if she could add an extra chicken leg for his boy.

The meal was pleasant enough, but when it came time to settle the tab, Gibson suddenly noticed an extra item on his bill: "1 FUCKIN NEEDY KIDS."

Domachowski explained that the waitress had made a joke for the kitchen staff's eyes only, and simply forgot to delete it before printing out Gibson's bill.

But the joke excuse didn't sit well with Gibson.

"So customers with children are a joke? This place isn't so friendly," he wrote on Facebook.

Domachowski said he apologized to Gibson twice, and says he "made sure" the waitress understood that what she did was wrong.

But Domachowski also stuck up for the employee, telling CNN she "didn't mean to offend the gentleman and his son," and was "just in a hurry and forgot to take that off."

He added that Gibson was "making a mountain of a mole hill" before acknowledging that he "wouldn't want anyone calling my granddaughter, who is four, that."

[photos via Friendly's, Facebook]