Another Buffet Question.

[Thipu1]

Interesting. I see it as a fine line between being helpful and being a busybody who inserts themself in where they don't belong and being more discourteous than the original offender.

I thought that my original post was a simple question about civility at a buffet. Please excuse me if my post came across as one demanding an immediate fix. That was never my intention.

I  know that there are many people here who work in the food or hospitality industry.  I thought they might have good ideas about how to approach management regarding this issue.   

Some of the posts  are starting to sound like questions that would be brought up in the 'search and discovery' phase of a law suit rather than a simple etiquette discussion.

I ask the moderators to delete this thread because it's getting far beyond both my original question and the parameters of E-Hell. 

I thank the many posters who have been helpful. 

 

[SlitherHiss]

Interesting. I see it as a fine line between being helpful and being a busybody who inserts themself in where they don't belong and being more discourteous than the original offender.

I thought that my original post was a simple question about civility at a buffet. Please excuse me if my post came across as one demanding an immediate fix. That was never my intention.

I  know that there are many people here who work in the food or hospitality industry.  I thought they might have good ideas about how to approach management regarding this issue.   

Some of the posts  are starting to sound like questions that would be brought up in the 'search and discovery' phase of a law suit rather than a simple etiquette discussion.

I ask the moderators to delete this thread because it's getting far beyond both my original question and the parameters of E-Hell. 

I thank the many posters who have been helpful. 

 

Bringing it up to management is really simple, though. All you have to do is say "I noticed a lot of people using the provided serving utensils for different items, and I also saw several people taking tongs back to their table with them. I just wanted to let you know so you can address it."

And that's it. That's where your involvement ends.

[BeagleMommy]

Thipu, I ran this past DS and he said the best thing you can do is alert management that the tongs or other utensils have been mixed up.  They will usually bring out clean ones.  He had to take a food safety class as part of his culinary curriculum and this is what they recommend to prevent cross contamination or possible allergic reactions.  Most restaurants and other places where food is served are highly aware of ways to prevent allergic reactions.

As far as the person who took the tongs to their table, I don't think it would be impolite to say "Excuse me, but other patrons need to use the tongs as well.".

[Roe]

Tongs used for multiple dishes wouldn't bother me.  If I had an allergy or aversion to something, I certainly wouldn't be eating at a free hotel buffet. 

[rose red]

Tongs used for multiple dishes wouldn't bother me.  If I had an allergy or aversion to something, I certainly wouldn't be eating at a free hotel buffet.

I wouldn't even eat at a paid one.  I always assume buffet food will get mixed up.

[Yvaine]

My guess is that one of these issues led to the other! If one person took the tongs back to their table--either accidentally or on purpose--then some dish was left without tongs, and then people started using some other dish's tongs so they could get that dish. I think you could ask the hotel staff if you can get a pair of tongs for the French toast because they seem to have gone missing.

[Rohanna]

In fairness to the grabbing multiple boxes of cereal- many times when travelling we'll send one or two people to go gather breakfast to be eaten while getting the youngest and oldest members of the group going and packing up for the days outings. We also frequently have balconies or tables in the larger family rooms. You would have to wait even longer if we trooped all 8-12 members of our party down and took up tables as well as cereal boxes. It's uncharitable too assume someone is taking it simply to be selfish.

[jpcher]

Thipu1  -- I see absolutely nothing wrong with your question and I, too, would wonder how to handle it.

I'm not quick on my feet, so I probably wouldn't have said anything at the time, but now that I've had a chance to think about it . . .

For the people that brought the tongs to the table . . . Wave down a busser or wait-staff personnel that was near your table and point this out. I'm sure that this would have been taken care of immediately. Bringing tongs to the table, then back to the buffet? No. Any reputable buffet simply would not allow this, if they know about it . . . busy places don't always see everything. KWIM?


For the mixing of the tongs at the buffet? It wouldn't bother me at all because I'm not intolerant of any foods (other than what I don't like the taste of. )

But you do bring up a good point about the waffle tongs being used for bacon. There are many people that are bacon intolerant (due to diet, religion or what have you) and vise-versa -- GF people might be able to eat the bacon but not the waffles. In this case, I would talk to management about it, after the fact. Maybe write a letter just to notify them what you saw, you know . . . something to keep them on their toes so they don't get sloppy.

If you were, in fact, a person that doesn't tolerate bacon I think that you would be perfectly fine if you stepped out of line and waved over a staff person in order to ask for new tongs since the same tongs for the waffles were also used for the bacon.




Interesting question, Thipu1. I'm looking forward to other helpful responses. Thanks for posting!

[Curious Cat]

Interesting. I see it as a fine line between being helpful and being a busybody who inserts themself in where they don't belong and being more discourteous than the original offender.

That's ridiculous.  Who, exactly, is the poster being discourteous to? The managers who are apparently not aware that this is an issue? Any compotent manager would be *happy* to be informed of a problem that could be easily fixed (have 1 staff member patrolling the line to make sure everyting is where it should be.)

I think your post was really out of line.

[Roe]

Tongs used for multiple dishes wouldn't bother me.  If I had an allergy or aversion to something, I certainly wouldn't be eating at a free hotel buffet.

I wouldn't even eat at a paid one.  I always assume buffet food will get mixed up.

Absolutely! 

[cicero]

I have been to buffets where the tongs were fastened to the tray long enough to reach a plate, but not so to "walk away" or get into other food.  There must have been a way to unfasten it to wash.

This would make sense. Thipu 1- if you do intend to raise this with the hotel, you might want to suggest they try this.

[CookieChica]

This is sort of cause and effect, no? If people are taking serving utensils (which...really?) then most people will double up on using the utensils on dishes. I certainly have and it never even registered to me that this could be rude or problematic.

[Thipu1]

The resort was playing host to several family gatherings.  They were fine.  There was also a large and 'Rah-Rah' company retreat at the resort.  They were the folks who just about took over the place in the time we were there.  They paid well but weren't loved by the management.

We figured this out when Mr. Thipu and I stopped off at the bar for a drink before Dinner.  The bartender asked if we were with 'The X Group'.  When we said that we weren't, he visibly relaxed.  Apparently, this corporate bunch was a major PITA. 

We're sure that management was aware of the situation but it was off-season and there wasn't extra staff to see to the breakfast. 

It was a minor glitch but I thought the question worth asking. 

[dirtyweasel]

There is something about free food that turns some people into barbarian hordes at a free-for-all food pillaging extravaganza. 

My husband and I travel frequently so we partake in these quite often, but I would say 90% of the time there is some form of special snowflakery going on at these places be it kids running around, people taking ALL the sausage (yeah...one guest took ALL the sausage that had just been brought out) or some people just being slobs and leaving messes everywhere.  I've even seen this behavior being done in front of wait staff and nothing being done about it.