But that's not what you wrote:

Quote:

In other words, if you find that the chafing trays are temporarily bereft of simit, peynir, and kaymak, you can blame me.

Simit is a pretzel/bagel thing (which does not go in a chafing tray).

Peynir - soft cheese: same
Kaymak - soft cheese: same

We hit up the grocery store salad bar for ingredients we need for something we're making - onions, celery, carrots, mushrooms, etc. They're pretty much chopped and ready to go and cheaper than the same stuff in the produce section. We can take exactly how much we need, and it just gets weighed at the cashier and we're good to go.

Ours has a bulk prepared vegetable selection in bins. I think they run about 1/2 the price per pound of the salad bar. Sliced or diced onions, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, etc. No bacon though.

I never thought about that!

If someone is right behind me in a buffet line and it's clear they want some of what I'm serving myself, I won't take it all if there's enough to share. I know I don't have to, it just seems to be a common courtesy.

Everyone here seems to be missing the point... 1 person, at 2 separate hotels ?? There's some serious stalking going on here. Or it's the OP's partner!

I did miss that point. Who's following whom?

The stalking aspect is indeed troubling. Setting that aside there are a few solutions to the rest of the issue that I think would really fix the concern.

Get there 5 minutes earlier
Don't eat at the buffet
Ask the staff for more of whatever

I'm pretty sure the OP means one person steals all the good stuff, in the Lord of the Flies scenario that is the hotel buffet, but not the same person.

But do you say anything to them/did it work? like fighting over middle armrest which I experienced/ lost. Re: precious item, like caviar...In theory one should take "some" and come back, as its a "shared" buffet. I guess just bad timing, like 2 cars come together at intersection.

My wife and I were staying at a hotel in Croatia and drove up to find it full of German bikers. Told her we had to go fight them at the buffet (she had booked half board). Pretty much came down to that as some stuff was not replenished. Her saying about German (she's of recently Austrian-descent) attitude to buffets, "there are 12 eggs, I will take 10".

Life is too short to stress over it. Some days you get the last piece, other days you�re too late.

Sure, go ahead and say something. You'll be ignored or laughed at, hopefully nothing worse. One thing it certainly won't do is "work".

If I'm getting a quick breakfast before running off to my meeting, I'm not concerned with counting the people in line behind me and rationing the sausages out. I want to get my plate of breakfast, eat quickly and go. The hotel's job is to refill the tray. If you politely said something to me, I would politely tell you that the hotel will bring more, and if I'm in a particularly good mood, I may even point out the empty tray to staff for you. If you were impolite, while I'd certainly never resort to any type of physical altercation (others might so be careful), you're going to get it right back at you...if you're one of those people who relishes confrontation over stupid things, then go for it!