I went to an Old Country Buffet, once.
ONCE
Posted on 10/06/2012 4:50:36 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
George Dalmon, a former rugby player, and his friend Andy Miles were banned from all-you-can-eat restaurant, Gobi, In Brighton, after the manager branded them "a couple of pigs".
The men would each eat five bowls of stir-fry during their regular meals at the Mongolian barbecue, which invites guests to create their own dishes from the buffet.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I'm a VERY generous tipper. 20-25% MINIMUM. It breaks my heart when I get really crummy service, because then I "only" leave 10-15%. I never stiff for this reason.
In my worldview, all-you-can-eat means, literally, all one person can stuff into his maw. Remember, for every human hog that threatens to break the bank you probably have three or four others that can’t come anywhere near eating enough to make up what they’ve paid, and that includes kids, who are interested only in the desserts.
There was this "Best of" show about Las Vegas, and they listed the Sunday "Sterling Buffet Brunch" at Bally's as the best buffet in Vegas. Though ridiculously expensive, it was also the best meal I've ever had. IIRC, it was $52 at the time, but well worth it. It included pretty darned good restaurant champagne, a really mind boggling selection of appetizers (including caviar & sushi - blech, stone crab claws, lobster stuffed roma tomatos and really HUGE shrimp) and wild entrees - I had never had Beef Wellington before, and it's now my favorite! They would only bring small amounts out to the buffet at any time, so nothing had a chance to get cold or stale, there was this constant stream of runners to the buffet. And the deserts were simply works of art. Holy cow!
Mark
It’s not my job to pay the server, the restaurant should pay employees.
Yeah, like I said, I wish more people understood the whole tipping thing..
I was at a Golden Corral one time, where there was an oriental gal working. And when I say working, this gal was WORKING. I was very impressed.
When I left, I stopped her (and if I recall correctly) gave her $10 (for 2 people) and told her that I saw how hard she was working and what a great job she did. I then stopped and told the manager about the great job she was doing.
I worked in restaurants when I was younger. Nearly all the time, all managers hear is "this was wrong" or "that was bad". There is a time and place for that. But I also feel that managers need to hear when one of their staff is exceptional. I'll tell the manager so that the manager can then tell the waiter or waitress.
Who knows, that one comment can be what that person needs to hear on a very bad night. That one comment can also be a seed, that planted in the right soil, can develop that persons attitude towards hard work and excellence.
A buddy took me to Cascade Mountain in Wisconsin and taught me to ski. On the way home we stopped at a Shakey's in Madison. That became a habit for us.
So, one time about 4-5 of us went to Cascade to ski, and on the way home we all stopped at Shakey's.
Well, there was a laundromat right next door. Actually there was an open doorway directly from Shakeys into the laundromat. So, my friends and I are waiting for our food, and my buddy comes up with the idea for drier rides. (Now I was about 27 at this time and he was about 30, so this wasn't us as kids). Well, we put the money in to one of the big industrial sized ones, and at least 3 of us took a spin. (One at a time of course)
There was a father there with his daughter, she was pobably 6-7, she had an incredulous look on her face. Her dad thought it was funny.
That Shakey's will always stick out in my mind.
I've only been to Vegas once. Would like to try it again, but next time I need to go with a group of people. I was there for about 24 hours by myself, and was very turned off by it.
I decided I should try it again, but do it with AT LEAST one other person. But figure Vegas is really the place for 4 or more people.
If I ever make it back there I'll look up the Sterling.
PS-Just did a Google search of it. Looks good-definitely thanks.
By the way-Now $85
PS-Just did a Google search of it. Looks good-definitely thanks.
By the way-Now $85
I did a search on it too after my post... It looks like it's changed radically since I was there, but looking back on it, I just realized that it had to be at least 8 years ago, probably even longer.
Mark
Thats me exactly.
My thought in my mind if I have pretty bad service is "PLEASE, give me good service. I really do WANT to give you a good tip" .
I was at an Olive Garden in Dubuque, Ia. Had a fairly new waitress. She was just TRYING her hardest. Problem was, the steak dish I had, the meat was almost raw inside. So, I had her take it back. I never send food back. It came back and I can't remember if it was still raw or if it came back well done, but either way, it was OBVIOUSLY bad.
The girl got the manager, and the manager got me another meal and picked up the check for the 2 of us. You could see the waitress was just destroyed. I thought she was about to cry.
When we were leaving, I stopped by the manager and asked her if they did tip sharing. She said"no", and I made sure to let the manager know that the tip I left was for the waitress and the waitress alone. I also told the manager what a great job the girl did, and that she (the manager) needed to tell her. I wanted that girl to know that I KNEW how hard she tried and her tip was based on her work, not the cooks problem.
We went to an Old Country Buffet. Once.
ONCE
Those folks just don't give a poop. Tipping really does make a person go the extra mile.
And I disagree on "tipping jars" at Starbucks and other "just give me my order" places for this reason. They haven't really done anything special except hand me my food. I WOULD tip if I had something special or intricate or difficult that I ordered.
Exactly. Why should I tip someone, simply for doing their job.
I worked at a hotdog joint and never expected or thought of a "tip". I also worked at sit down restaurants where tips were part of the pay.
We used to travel from Connecticut to Syracuse in the 70’s to see the grandparents. Always stopped at the HoJo’s after crossing The Newburgh Bridge. Great memories, don’t recall getting ill. Thanks for your comment ! :)
I tip everywhere that service matters, not just restaurants. If I go where I’m not known and the service REALLY matters, I also tip in advance.
Tipping is optional but so is exceptional service. If you never tip, whoever helps you will only do the bare minimum that they can get away. No hourly employee in any service industry cares about keeping you as a customer unless you tip well. They simply see you as another cheap client to get rid of as soon as possible.
If you’re fine with that attitude in all the service you receive, feel free not to tip. As for me, I prefer to be a ‘regular’. In some places, employees fight over who will get to service me.
Mark
No business is immune to losing a little on individual transactions, but those losses are generally offset by the vast majority of profitable ones.
"All you can eat" is a draw, and will bring in lots of folks who really can't eat as much as they think. There will be a few who can consume relatively large amounts of food, but they will often bring other customers in who cannot.
LOL! A priest told me that once at a parish dinner. I was on my third plate of fried oysters, turkey, country (stuffed) ham, and the trimmings...
I was getting pretty full and didn't argue..
You seem to have it in for "fat slobs", for whatever reason. What you may have missed, but I have noted is that sometimes the guy who can really put the food away is a little skinny guy.
If your business is so on the ropes you can't absorb the (should be) relatively small loss from a couple of people who can eat a lot at the buffet, you likely have more serious problems.
Maybe they should give Gordon Ramsey a call...
I don't get the bit about putting a limit on "All you can eat" and not being hammered for false advertising.
If it just said "Fill your plate with your choice of food for $X.XX", that would be okay (but some here would gripe when they did a really good job of stacking the food on).
Here, people work hard for a living, mostly, and with that and our winter climate, 3600+ calories a day just maintains body weight, it doesn't put fat on at all.
It may be different in a more urban setting, but here, if you advertise "All you can eat", you'd better be ready to get hit with some eaters. The other side is that you can charge accordingly, and make money.
bump
“Forget the Pre Marital Counseling, get to a Dietitian ASAP.”
You seemed to have missed the point. We were young, dumb and in love. He was a Dem, I was a Republican. He had no problem with being “entitled” to spend all afternoon at the all-you-can-eat buffet. My thinking was spending 45 minutes to an hour at best, then leaving a really good tip. If we’d discussed or discovered theses issues prior to marriage, it would have saved a huge amount of pain for us, our children and our extended families.
We went to the HoJos for their weekly fried clam special for months in a row before my 1 bad experience. Continued to go the HoJos occasionally, I haven’t had fried clams since.
___________________________________________________________________
I loved HoJo’s clams as a kid, until the one experience. I’ve also never had fried clams since. Something about throwing up for hours....
“There was this “Best of” show about Las Vegas, and they listed the Sunday “Sterling Buffet Brunch” at Bally’s as the best buffet in Vegas.”
About two years ago, I had a very obnoxious person next to me on his cell phone at a sushi bar. He was talking about all the Las Vegas buffets, and hitting them seemed to be his recreational past time. I’m not stupid. I listened in to his recommendations. He thought “M” had the best buffet. I think The Bellagio was his second choice. Nothing like listening to a local. Maybe I’ll try Bally’s for Thanksgiving this year. “M” is a bit of a drive.
No, I have it in for people that can’t hold up they’re half of the social contract. This pair of people going out of their way to take advantage of a business just happen to be fat slobs, they could have been skinny bastards, they’d still be jerks that deserved to be kicked out.
It’s not about how well the business can absorb the problem, it’s about the problem. These guys not only eat a ton of food while keeping their bill as small as possible, they also empty entire bowls of product keeping it away from the other customers. They’re bad for business in two repulsive ways. The business made the only call they needed, kick the losers out.
You advertise all the rock or fill dirt you can haul away, and I'll be there with a payloader and a dump truck, if you have that much and I can use it.
A deal is a deal.
If you don't want to hold up your end, don't advertise, no matter what business you're in.
Otherwise, you're dealing with the public, and if you're in that business you'd best be ready for all they can dish out.
Well they take everybody out to the field in a wagon and let them loose. People find their pumpkin and CARRY it back.
I'm 5'-11, wear a 54" jacket. My buddy is MAYBE an inch taller than me, and makes me look SMALL. I'll wear xxlt or xxxl shirts, he puts a stretch on 5xl.
And trust me, it ain't all fat.
Occaisionally, I'll have somebody ask me if I ever played pro football. My buddy can move me around almost on a thought.
Back to the pumpkin farm. Everybody else is carrying 10-15 or 20# pumpkins, my buddy found one that weighed well over 100#, came back with it on his shoulder. The tractor driver kinda thought my buddy did the over kill, but it was "whatever you could carry". On the other hand, my buddy had 3 kids. He got 3 normal size pumpkins for each of them, and just got the one monster pumpkin for the entire family.
“I’ve only been to Vegas once. Would like to try it again, but next time I need to go with a group of people. I was there for about 24 hours by myself, and was very turned off by it.”
I live in Vegas. If one gets it’s mind out of it only being about gambling and casinos, we have some amazing entertainment, attractions, sight seeing and other venues here. I took my daughter to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay a few months ago. It was awesome, and I’ve been to a lot of zoos and aquariums around the world. We have some amazing art and culture here if you take the time to look for it. I had to kill time one day and did The Atomic Testing Museum. I could have easily spent a few hours more there. Wynn has an art collection I’ve yet to see. I still want to hit the auto museum, but decided to give a pass on the new mob museum. A recent guest was disappointed not to be able to go to Red Rock Canyon for a horse riding, sight seeing trip. My husband used to fly sight seeing tours to The Grand Canyon from here. We have a lot more than just gambling and casinos. I just wish Obozo would quit coming back to the city he told people they couldn’t take a trip to. If you look beyond the drinking and gambling in Las Vegas, you can find a pearl.
Before I went, I had checked out the Las Vegas advisor. Made it over to Ellis Island for a very good steak dinner for $6 IIRC.
I work in construction and have been intrigued by all the buildings in Vegas. I wanted to go and just check them all out. I didn't even make it to my hotel on the shuttle, before I was turned off by everything. Still, I walked aroud and checked out some of the buildings.
Once again, I think if I was with other people, I could have shared and absorbed and released the energy of the city.
I'd love to see some shows there. Celine Dion would be at the top of the list. I saw Danny Ganz right before he started in Vegas. He was phenominal. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago.
“I’d love to see some shows there. Celine Dion would be at the top of the list. I saw Danny Ganz right before he started in Vegas. He was phenominal. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago.”
The only people I’ve wanted to see were them and Wayne Newton. It’s so schizophrenic living here. My daughter goes to UNLV, started at 13, so I have to cross the Strip multiple times a week taking her to school. It’s like venturing into another world. She had a professor that was a published author. One of his short stories was about the MGM sculpture- hollow...a hollow town. But all things work together for good for those who love God. (Romans 8:28)
I’ve been on a few cruise ships. I am pretty easy to please.
The sit down dinners are usually very good and they will
get you whatever amount you want. The buffets are so-so
and the deserts are like in the GC, they look great but
have little taste. If you go on a cruise, I’d suggest you
take your first one for 3 or 4 days. The best thing about
cruise are the excursions to sightsee if you do not like
to gamble. It’s always more fun with friends on board.
I always went with 3 or more friends.
Regarding the rest of your Post, I agree. We used to expect people to have “manners”. In this day and age, manners mean nothing.
Now it's get what you can and screw the other guy. We have a President and a Political Party who thinks that way, so nothing surprises me any more.
Sorry you had such a bad situation to deal with. With Soetero in the White House, I'm finding out what Relatives and Friends really think life owes them and it ain't pretty.
“I was just joking around. Didn’t think it would get a response.”
No problem. I just wish someone would have b@#$% slapped me into recognizing who/what I was marrying. He was all smiles, flowers, chocolates, glad handing with family.... I was star struck and didn’t ask about politics.
Actually you DID sign a social contract, by not becoming a mountain man. When you decide to be a member of society, to benefit from what society has to offer like restaurants, you sign on to not be a scheming conniving greedy annoying rude jackass. If you can’t handle that, then don’t be shocked when people kick your out.
The restaurant did hold up their end. They let these fat jerks patronize the restaurant for 2 years. Then the decided enough was enough. Everybody reserves the right to refuse service.
You mean like the people who advertise something and then kick people out for doing just that?
Let's get something straight. Society doesn't offer restaurants. Restaurant owners or franchisees (business people) offer restaurants, so they can make money.
Let me repeat that--
The reason I go to a restaurant is to get something to eat. If it looks like adequate fare, reasonably well prepared, in surroundings which give me reason to believe I will not contract a disease from eating there, and the price is right, we strike a deal. Offer to sell me a 16 oz. prime rib with the trimmings and come back with a cheezeburger and we're going to have a problem.
You see, the only contract is when the person there accepts the offer of food for a price.
If the offer is "all you can eat", the semantics generally are accepted to mean all you wish to consume on the premises in a single sitting. Fair enough.
No cheating, no filling up a doggy bag at the buffet and eating for a week, just what you can consume. No binge and purge, keep it down.
All understood.
But when the offer is to feed me all I can eat, that limit should be decided by me, after all, it is all I can eat, not the average person, the average anorexic, nor am I under any obligation to help the restaurant owner profit--that is between them and their business model.
Not "society", it is a business deal, not a social contract.
I live in North Dakota, which is fairly far off the beaten path, loathe cities, and don't even like crowds. I conduct business with a handshake and have an impeccable reputation in that regard. Again, If you don't want to stick with the deal you offered, don't offer it.
If someone is being genuinely disruptive, excessively profane, etc., that is another issue to be dealt with, and cause for removal from the premises. Simply eating "too much"? No.
They didn’t kick them out for “doing just that” they kicked them out for being rude and lowering the value of the restaurant for other customers.
Hey you finally said something right. Yes, restaurants exist to make money. And when you have customers that not only eat more than they spend but ALSO engage in behavior which discourages other customers these guys are inhibiting your ability to make money. So out they go.
But then you go wrong. The generally accepted semantics of “all you can eat” include “within reason, and without inhibiting other patrons ability to do the same”. 5 bowls a visit really isn’t within reason, and regularly emptying serving trays before other patrons get a chance to sample from them inhibits other patrons.
No both you and the restaurant get to decide. Because, as you said, they exist to make money, and if leaving the decision all up to you costs them money we’re now going against the very reason the place exists.
It IS society, it IS a social contract. In a society we understand that businesses exist to make money and if our patronage costs them money they can decide they don’t want it anymore. That’s part of the social contract of living in a capitalist society, the knowledge that all these business deals are voluntary in BOTH directions.
They WERE being generally disruptive. Read the article. It wasn’t just about them eating too much, they also felt the need to race other patrons to new food and take it all before anybody else got some. They broke social contracts, both with the restaurant AND with other patrons. So now they’re banned, that’s how society deals with people that aren’t potty trained, we kick them out.
As for the treacly 'social contract' crap, keep it. We used to just be considerate of others and have manners.
Most of the weasels who push 'duty to society' are just trying to get their foot in the door to shaft someone.
There’s nothing treacly about the social contract. It’s a concept that’s been around a long time, and we back when we were a polite society that held doors open for each other and didn’t stage flash mobs to vandalize and rob each other was when the social contract was strong. Just being considerate and having manners IS the social contract, the difference is my way of saying it is 15 characters to type and yours is 38 characters. I didn’t say anything about a duty to society, just pointed out how and why these guys are douchebags who got what they deserved. They proved they couldn’t handle life in polite society (aka couldn’t follow the social contract) and got kicked out of it.
So...
False Advertising is a Virtue.
Taking someone at their word, is a Sin.
And You’re a conservative.
Clear as mud.
being a waitress, I sure would appreciate more customers like you...
Do we have a problem???
And lying about what somebody said is... what you just did. If you’re gonna whine about somebody not being a conservative you should probably not do it in the same post where you lie. Out here in reality we all know “all you can eat” is within reasonable limits, it’s not false advertising, and it’s not violating anybody’s word. But of course as a filthy liar you wouldn’t understand that.
Love me some mountain men, they know they’re uncouth. My mantra when family is starting to be stressful is “Jeremiah Johnson was right”.
Wow. How impressive.
Tell me...were you ever actually a man, once upon a time?
Or did you fake it in the old days, better than you’re faking it now?
LOL
For the most part, though, people only behave out of fear of legal complications, not out of a moral (heartfelt) obligation. Such a society is only waiting for the monitors to go around the corner.
I have found that what is legal is seldom correlative with that which is moral, albeit with a broad brush you can paint it thus. It's the fine print in that 'social contract' that screws you--it looks good from a distance, but up close and in focus, its ugly as sin.
Me, I'm d@mned picky about the people around me, and if they aren't one to run the river with, they need not apply.
Not at all. Calling it a contract is just acknowledging that on some level there’s an agreement. When we form a society we agree that certain types of behavior are encouraged in the public square, and some are discouraged. All the social contract is doing is attempting to codify the rules, and the rewards for following those rules, that most of us already know if we stop to think about.
For the most part NOW people only behave out of fear of legal repercussions. A major reason for that is we’ve lost the concept of the social contract, because the social contract included a major form of punishment: ostracizing. Society is your shield against a cold and cruel world, getting kicked out of society is a major thing. We don’t do that anymore, because we’ve lost the idea of give and take, we’ve lost the contract. Just look at this, these jerks were abusing this business for 2 years before the owner finally had enough. If people still believed in the social contract they’d have had 2 visit, first time they behaved that way they’d have been “reminded” that we don’t act that way here, second time out.
What’s treacly is that we’ve allowed ourselves to devolve to the point where malls need to write down these rules that we just used to follow. What’s treacly is NOT believing in the social contract and wondering why people have no manners anymore.
Oh, that still exists. But what we see now is the dark side of that. Where people are ostracized and worse for not fouling their nest, preying on their fellow humans, etc. There are racist undertones to that as well. The crab basket mentality prevails in some circles.
Frankly, FRiend, those who know God will behave well, those who do not will go by some codified set of rules, or write their own for themselves and whatever social microcosm they inhabit, for good or ill, reflecting whatever motivations are important to them.
As for the business owner, if he'd had a problem, letting it go on for two years hardly seems like he was notifying someone of their 'breach of (the social) contract'. I reckon that if you're going to have something like that, then some responsibility for the problem lies with the owner for not piping up sooner.
Religion was at one time considered far more important by a greater proportion of the population than it is today, and the expectations engendered thus were reflected in the rest of society. That has changed, and now the mass media seem to be racing toward the bottom of the behavioural scale, rather than striving for better.
Hence, people have become more crude, more vulgar, and less considerate.
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