None from Column A

maxine in ri said:

Most of the Asian buffet restaurants I've been to (my daughter likes
them and gets to choose once in a while) do have signs posted to please
not waste food. This is the first I've heard that they've actually
done anything about it.

maxine in ri

Hey, we Iowans don't mess around. LOL.

N.

"Steve Wertz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

D.Currie said:

Management came over and explained that this was not a free dinner, this
was
appetizers, and they were expected to buy something significant. They
complained about it, but management somehow got the point across, and
they
ended up getting meals to go.

They still maximized their purchase. They each got two meals for
the price of one. What ignorant scum.

-sw

It was one of the strangest things I'd seen adults do. If it was a couple of
teenagers, I might have thought they just didn't get it. But these were old
enough to know what free appetizers in a bar are all about.

Thing is, they could have done it in a less obtrusive manner and management
probably wouldn't have intervened. They could have ordered drinks and
quietly gone up multiple times for small portions, and likely no one would
have noticed. Instead, they loaded up their plates like they'd never seen
food before, making it very obvious what they were up to. It was almost like
they were flaunting what they were doing.

Donna

Stacia said:

I don't know why anyone would take four egg rolls if they didn't know
if they'd like them or not. But our local Chinese buffet's egg rolls
differ from day to day. Some days I'll grab two and they're tough and
gross and inedible and all I have is a single bite.
Not sure that's what happened here, though. Sounds like they did it
every time they came in.
People loose their minds at a buffet. When I worked at a pizza
buffet, three tables (a busload) came in together. All got buffet,
except one person ordered their own pizza. The person who had the whole
pizza had leftovers which I put in a to-go box for them. Those who got
the buffet just went psycho trying to get their own boxes to stuff with
buffet pizza. They went crazy, 15 or so people literally running around
the restaurant, demanding boxes, insisting I said they could have boxes
(I hadn't), then stealing shakers and ruining food when they weren't
given boxes. The fallout from the incident was so bad the manager
reported the bus' plates to the state troopers and filed a police
report, and there was permanent tension between me and a co-worker who
accused me of being entirely responsible for the incident.

Stacia

Yikes! People always try to get something for free. My friend managed
a Pizza Hut and they sponsored a reading program for kids. Read X
number of books through the school year and you get a certificate for a
free personal pizza. The idea being the PARENTS should bring their
child in for pizza - and I think it said so on the certificates. Well
an entire school decided to make it a field trip to bring the
pizza-coupons in and feed the kids lunch - which was not the spirit of
the offer. The school called the manager, and the manager told them NO
- do not bring in the kids by the busload - we simply cannot handle
it, and the coupons are for parents to bring their children in. The
school came anyway, and it was a huge mess. I'm not sure what happened
in the end, but I think the kids got their pizzas. I don't think PH
sponsors that program any more...

-L.

D.Currie said:

It was one of the strangest things I'd seen adults do. If it was a couple of
teenagers, I might have thought they just didn't get it. But these were old
enough to know what free appetizers in a bar are all about.

Thing is, they could have done it in a less obtrusive manner and management
probably wouldn't have intervened. They could have ordered drinks and
quietly gone up multiple times for small portions, and likely no one would
have noticed. Instead, they loaded up their plates like they'd never seen
food before, making it very obvious what they were up to. It was almost like
they were flaunting what they were doing.

I'd bet that's a common occurrence at places like Golden Corral,
Ryan's, etc.. Places that offer a full service buffet with
dinner. You can usually buy a dinner for $1 or 2 more than the
buffet price, so why not order a dinner, eat the buffet, and ask
that the unfinished (untouched) dinner be doggie-bagged?

I was watching a "Cops" episode last night where exactly this
happened. A couple wanted doggie bags for their dinners, while
they ate from a buffet, despite a couple of signs saying "No
Doggie Bags on Buffet or Special Dinners".

The manager called the police (at the patrons request, even) and
the police were definitely in favor of the restaurant. They did
eventually get a small doggie bag (or box, rather) of french
fries and garlic bread, but not their mains. The manager said
they did this every week and the police said if they tried to
come back, they'd be arrested for trespassing.

When the couple heard they couldn't come back, the couple looked
at each other and were completely heartbroken. You'd have
thought the faithful family dog of 20 years had just died.

-sw

"Steve Wertz" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

I was watching a "Cops" episode last night where exactly this
happened. A couple wanted doggie bags for their dinners, while
they ate from a buffet, despite a couple of signs saying "No
Doggie Bags on Buffet or Special Dinners".

The manager called the police (at the patrons request, even) and
the police were definitely in favor of the restaurant. They did
eventually get a small doggie bag (or box, rather) of french
fries and garlic bread, but not their mains. The manager said
they did this every week and the police said if they tried to
come back, they'd be arrested for trespassing.

I saw that some years back. What a couple of losers. What's
difficult about the concept, you can't take leftovers from an all
you can eat buffet.

I did see that once in Atlantic City, some guy was being arrested
for stealing food from a buffet, the police were pulling food out of
his pockets, etc. They must have a huge problem with that, to have
called the cops about it.

Quoted message said:

When the couple heard they couldn't come back, the couple looked
at each other and were completely heartbroken. You'd have
thought the faithful family dog of 20 years had just died.

They were jerks.

nancy

Steve Wertz said:

I'd bet that's a common occurrence at places like Golden Corral,
Ryan's, etc.. Places that offer a full service buffet with
dinner. You can usually buy a dinner for $1 or 2 more than the
buffet price, so why not order a dinner, eat the buffet, and ask
that the unfinished (untouched) dinner be doggie-bagged?

For those not familiar with the Ryan's and Golden Coral type
places, I should note that the buffet is included with your
dinner for $1 or $2 more.

-sw

Nancy Young said:

I did see that once in Atlantic City, some guy was being arrested
for stealing food from a buffet, the police were pulling food out of
his pockets, etc. They must have a huge problem with that, to have
called the cops about it.

I wonder how the law reads on that charge. Considering the
number of buffets in Atlantic City, I'd bet that there was a
specific law for that one.

Technically and legally, most places advertise "All you can eat",
not "...in the NEXT HOUR" ;-)

-sw

Steve Wertz said:

Steve Wertz said:

I'd bet that's a common occurrence at places like Golden Corral,
Ryan's, etc.. Places that offer a full service buffet with
dinner. You can usually buy a dinner for $1 or 2 more than the
buffet price, so why not order a dinner, eat the buffet, and ask
that the unfinished (untouched) dinner be doggie-bagged?

For those not familiar with the Ryan's and Golden Coral type
places, I should note that the buffet is included with your
dinner for $1 or $2 more.

-sw

Oh dear. I have just remembered what I used to do when on holiday in
Fiji. (Haven't been for years now.)

Breakfast was a huge buffet spread, and you paid extra if you wanted
something hot. I used to make up ham and cheese bread rolls, wrap them
in a paper napkin and sneak them out for lunch. On our last visit the
resort had given in and opened a shop selling bread and cheese and so on
because guests persisted in going to the general store a couple of
kilometres away and stocking up with sandwich ingredients.

I am telling myself that my behaviour was not the same as the shameless,
greedy people we have been discussing, but I fear it might just be a
matter of degree :-(

Christine

"Steve Wertz" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Nancy Young said:

I did see that once in Atlantic City, some guy was being arrested
for stealing food from a buffet, the police were pulling food out of
his pockets, etc. They must have a huge problem with that, to have
called the cops about it.

I wonder how the law reads on that charge. Considering the
number of buffets in Atlantic City, I'd bet that there was a
specific law for that one.

Technically and legally, most places advertise "All you can eat",
not "...in the NEXT HOUR" ;-)

Probably all you can eat *there* ... not at home for the next week.
They run buses full of senior citizens to the casinos there, I don't
know if they do that in Las Vegas. The buffets are jammed with
them. This guy was elderly, I did rather think maybe he needed
the food. I wasn't close enough (I wasn't even eating at the place)
to see more detail. I felt bad for him, he looked so embarrassed.

nancy

-L. said:

My friend managed a Pizza Hut and they sponsored a reading
program for kids. Read X number of books through the school year
and you get a certificate for a free personal pizza. The idea
being the PARENTS should bring their child in for pizza - and
I think it said so on the certificates. Well an entire school
decided to make it a field trip to bring the pizza-coupons in
and feed the kids lunch - which was not the spirit of the offer.
The school called the manager, and the manager told them NO -
do not bring in the kids by the busload - we simply cannot handle
it, and the coupons are for parents to bring their children in.
The school came anyway, and it was a huge mess. I'm not sure
what happened in the end, but I think the kids got their pizzas.

You can't really specify "parent" on such a coupon because
not all children have parents who are still alive or are still their
guardian. You have to instead allow some broader category
of adult, and that might reasonably include school officials
who have the children in their charge.

Assuming the kids earned their pizza coupons, I see no problem
with making it a group event. It's the same number of free
pizzas. If anything, the Pizza Hut gains some economy of
scale by knowing ahead of time when a bunch of coupons are
going to be redeemed.

Steve

"Steve Pope" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

-L. said:

My friend managed a Pizza Hut and they sponsored a reading
program for kids. Read X number of books through the school year
and you get a certificate for a free personal pizza. The idea
being the PARENTS should bring their child in for pizza - and
I think it said so on the certificates. Well an entire school
decided to make it a field trip to bring the pizza-coupons in
and feed the kids lunch - which was not the spirit of the offer.
The school called the manager, and the manager told them NO -
do not bring in the kids by the busload - we simply cannot handle
it, and the coupons are for parents to bring their children in.
The school came anyway, and it was a huge mess. I'm not sure
what happened in the end, but I think the kids got their pizzas.

You can't really specify "parent" on such a coupon because
not all children have parents who are still alive or are still their
guardian. You have to instead allow some broader category
of adult, and that might reasonably include school officials
who have the children in their charge.

Assuming the kids earned their pizza coupons, I see no problem
with making it a group event. It's the same number of free
pizzas. If anything, the Pizza Hut gains some economy of
scale by knowing ahead of time when a bunch of coupons are
going to be redeemed.

Steve

They probably suppose many parents would make it an "event" for the kid. So
the whole family would go and eat and there would be one small personal
pizza for free. So they give away all the personal pizzas, but get a
boatload of extra business from parents and siblings.

They probably figure that some kids would come in and just get the one
pizza, but they wouldn't count on all of them doing so.

A busload of kids would be all free pizzas, possibly hard to control all of
them, and all of them dining during what might be a lunch rush. Which might
also drive away paying customers, if they saw the busload of kids there.

Donna

"Steve Wertz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

D.Currie said:

It was one of the strangest things I'd seen adults do. If it was a couple
of
teenagers, I might have thought they just didn't get it. But these were
old
enough to know what free appetizers in a bar are all about.

Thing is, they could have done it in a less obtrusive manner and
management
probably wouldn't have intervened. They could have ordered drinks and
quietly gone up multiple times for small portions, and likely no one
would
have noticed. Instead, they loaded up their plates like they'd never seen
food before, making it very obvious what they were up to. It was almost
like
they were flaunting what they were doing.

I'd bet that's a common occurrence at places like Golden Corral,
Ryan's, etc..

This place was a white tablecloth/cloth napkin type of place. It wasn't a
low-end restaurant at all. And the free food was appetizers. I have no idea
why mac 'n cheese was there, because everything else was dips and spreads
with crackers, cocktail breads and veggies. Finger food like wings and
riblets. Maybe little meatballs. Stuff you'd put on a little plate and munch
while you had a cocktail and waited for a table. I never even notices the
mac 'n cheese because I always went for the chopped chicken livers.

Golden Corral and places like that probably have a good share of people who
try to get around the system, but I found that behavior odd at the place I
was describing because it was a nicer restaurant.

What's weird is that there's a place here called SouperSalad that's a
soup/salad/bread buffet that also does carryouts. You can get carryout
plates and fill the plate with the salady stuff, get a container of soup and
then bag some bread, and it could easily be 2 lunches for someone like me.

Places that offer a full service buffet with

Quoted message said:

dinner. You can usually buy a dinner for $1 or 2 more than the
buffet price, so why not order a dinner, eat the buffet, and ask
that the unfinished (untouched) dinner be doggie-bagged?

I was watching a "Cops" episode last night where exactly this
happened. A couple wanted doggie bags for their dinners, while
they ate from a buffet, despite a couple of signs saying "No
Doggie Bags on Buffet or Special Dinners".

Years ago, there was a seafood restaurant that had two or three
buffets...something like cold food and seafood, hot dishes and hot seafood
and a dessert buffet...or something like that. Then you got your choice of
whole Maine lobster or steak. Place was pricey enough that they didn't care
if you took the "dinner" home and there was no choice for buffet without the
dinner. Seems to me the waiter even asked if the lobster should be served or
packed to go.

I thought it was odd, but that's what they did. But like I said, they
charged enough to make it work for them.

Donna

D.Currie said:

What's weird is that there's a place here called SouperSalad that's a
soup/salad/bread buffet that also does carryouts. You can get carryout
plates and fill the plate with the salady stuff, get a container of soup and
then bag some bread, and it could easily be 2 lunches for someone like me.

Of all the [semi]-national salad bar restaurants, SouperSalad is
the best by far, IMO. I've never gotten anything to go, though.

-sw

Steve Pope said:

You can't really specify "parent" on such a coupon because
not all children have parents who are still alive or are still their
guardian. You have to instead allow some broader category
of adult, and that might reasonably include school officials
who have the children in their charge.

I odn't know what the exact wordsing was but it was to the effect of
bring your family and get a free pizza for yourself.

Quoted message said:

Assuming the kids earned their pizza coupons, I see no problem
with making it a group event. It's the same number of free
pizzas. If anything, the Pizza Hut gains some economy of
scale by knowing ahead of time when a bunch of coupons are
going to be redeemed.

I think the idea was that PHut gets extra business when the family
comes in to eat. That aside, it's sort of rude to show up with 40 kids
with coupons when the manager tells you not to bring them in, and that
they can't honor the coupons in a manner outside of the rules of the
coupons...
-L.

D.Currie said:

They probably suppose many parents would make it an "event" for the kid. So
the whole family would go and eat and there would be one small personal
pizza for free. So they give away all the personal pizzas, but get a
boatload of extra business from parents and siblings.

I think that was the idea.

Quoted message said:

They probably figure that some kids would come in and just get the one
pizza, but they wouldn't count on all of them doing so.

A busload of kids would be all free pizzas, possibly hard to control all of
them, and all of them dining during what might be a lunch rush. Which might
also drive away paying customers, if they saw the busload of kids there.

IIRC it was 12 noon on a weekday - probably the worst time of day to do
something like that.

-L.

"Steve Wertz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

D.Currie said:

What's weird is that there's a place here called SouperSalad that's a
soup/salad/bread buffet that also does carryouts. You can get carryout
plates and fill the plate with the salady stuff, get a container of soup
and
then bag some bread, and it could easily be 2 lunches for someone like
me.

Of all the [semi]-national salad bar restaurants, SouperSalad is
the best by far, IMO. I've never gotten anything to go, though.

-sw

I picked up from there a couple of times when I worked nearby and had no
time to eat out. Now that I work from home, I just eat here. Cheaper,
better, easier, quieter.

Donna

"-L." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

D.Currie said:

They probably suppose many parents would make it an "event" for the kid.
So
the whole family would go and eat and there would be one small personal
pizza for free. So they give away all the personal pizzas, but get a
boatload of extra business from parents and siblings.

I think that was the idea.

Quoted message said:

They probably figure that some kids would come in and just get the one
pizza, but they wouldn't count on all of them doing so.

A busload of kids would be all free pizzas, possibly hard to control all
of
them, and all of them dining during what might be a lunch rush. Which
might
also drive away paying customers, if they saw the busload of kids there.

IIRC it was 12 noon on a weekday - probably the worst time of day to do
something like that.

-L.

If it was a planned event, they could have capitalized on it by taking
photos and getting some local media to write it up, but having the school
call and say "we're coming" didn't even give them time to do that.

Donna

Bigbazza said:

Hi there...Ophelia..<g>...I also back up your 'Agreed'..I know that kids can
be a problem..especially young one's ..but that's a responsibility for the
Parents to sought out and not let happen...

When I go to a new buffet, I usually go through the first time and take
a bite or two of things hat look good. Then, once I know what I like, I
can go back and get only the things I like, in larger quantities. The
next time, I can go straight to what I like.

I'm surprised that parents don't do something similar to see what their
kids like. And I can't imagine why they would load up the same things
that they already tossed out, unless they were intentionally trying to
hurt the business.

Steve Wertz said:

Technically and legally, most places advertise "All you can eat",
not "...in the NEXT HOUR" ;-)

One local place does have a time limit of an hour. You don't have to
leave within the hour, but no more trips to the buffet. I can't
remember how it was worded, but they told us about 10 minuted before
the hour was up so that we would have a chance to go through again if
we wanted to.

Quoted message said:

Steve Wertz said:

Technically and legally, most places advertise "All you can eat",
not "...in the NEXT HOUR" ;-)

One local place does have a time limit of an hour. You don't have to
leave within the hour, but no more trips to the buffet. I can't
remember how it was worded, but they told us about 10 minuted before
the hour was up so that we would have a chance to go through again if
we wanted to.

We used to go to a Thanksgiving Buffet at the Sheraton hotel in
Pittsburgh, PA (1975-1980). You were charged different prices
depending on how much you weighed.

I don't see something like that going over too well these days.

-sw