I like buffets.

In addition to the obvious opportunity for gluttony, I like the fact that you can see your food before you commit to it, and you can sample several different dishes without having to buy an entire serving. Although there's often a quality deficit, which is reduced if the buffet is busy or with certain kinds of cuisines (curries) designed to simmer, and there's the temptation to eat even after your marginal utility is negative, I like buffets.

One advantage of a buffet is the fact that you can get in and out fast....you're not hostage to the kitchen or the server.

Unless there's a grazer. I don't mean someone who nibbles away in line (although that can be gross). I mean someone who takes 20 minutes to decide what to eat! Fer cryin out loud! If you don't like it, don't eat it! Leave the plate on your table and go through again! They always bring a Nutritional Anthropologist, and the Nutritional Anthropologist always feels the need to tell them what's in the dish and where they were the first time they tasted it.

Today, I was trapped behind a couple to whom the phrase "Move it or put a house number on it" applied....I probably spent twice as much time waitching my hair turn gray behind them I did shoveling my own gaping maw....

OK. I feel better now. I'm sure I will see them again at the airport this afternoon, when they will no doubt insist on standing on both sides of the moving walkway.