Dealing with hotel buffet hogs?
 

At 2 separate hotels, 1 person hoarded/took multiple of specific item I wanted and didn't let me get any on more than 1 day. Do I talk to them directly? Hotel staff isn't paying attention.

My experience of hotel buffets is that there's a bottomless trough of each of the items and you merely need to ask a member of staff to refill any empty platter. The whole point of buffets is that greedy people can have as much as they want - that's why it appeals to them so much.

I hate buffets, but if the other person is in front of the OP in line, the other person can take whatever he/she wants subject to whatever rules might be imposed by the hotel/buffet (can't fill cooler chest, etc.). It's a commercial transaction between the "guest" and buffet/hotel, not at all like being among invited guests in someone's home, where politeness would suggest offering to share the last of a dish with others.

I have to agree. Unless it’s written somewhere, any guest is entitled to take what they please with no regard to the other diners. If a particular dish is emptied, you best bet is to locate an employee and ask if it will be replenished soon.

I'm talking lack of decency- several days, not 1 day. Restaurant staff unaware same person is emptying it.

It is none of the staff's business nor is it any of your business. Why does it matter to you whether the 10 people in front of you each took 1 of the item and there were 10 in the dish OR there is 1 person and he takes all 10?

The staff's business is to refill the empty dish and your business is to take what you want from that refilled dish.

If a dish is empty and staff are not moving to refill it, point that out to the staff.

Some people are inconsiderate and greedy. I can’t believe you’re just discovering this.

Ask them to bring you a plate of your item. Never had a problem using this method.

I used to think Southeast Asia had the monopoly on good breakfast buffets...until I visited Turkey.

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

And if that does happen, ask one of the ubiquitous aloof waiters, the trays will get restocked momentarily.

It's not a good breakfast buffet if they are putting bread/cheese in a chafing tray.

Say something to the restaurant staff about the empty dishes or time your visit to the buffet so that you visit before the "offending" person.
This.

There's a salad bar at one of the local grocery stores. It has many fine ingredients and almost always there is a container of bacon, the finest bacon I've ever had. My salad can be as much as 15-20% bacon and sometimes that means emptying the pan. Does that make me a hog? If there's a store employee nearby, I will alert them to the empty pans. If not, I do not go out of my way. I figure their job is to check regularly.

Absolutely. This is a business deal between you and the store. If you want to fill a container with the bacon that's fine too.

Unless the merchant places a limit on quantity, there is none.

I don't disagree. Our local taproom has a $5 flight night. One of my friends asked for 4 glasses (4 ounces each) of the same beer. The price of a pint of the same beer is $18. TBH, most flights would be valued well above $5 at the 4 ounce glass price X 4. The owner grimaces and pours as requested. Most of us are there for a combination of variety and economy. Every once in awhile, there is a customer who is only interested in economy. There is nothing posted telling you it is forbidden. The same guy probably comes in on $8 growler fill night and orders the same beer.

Those weren’t the things in a chafing tray, but ok.

come to think of it, Turkish buffets are my favorites also because they don’t generally have those trays.

But that's not what you wrote:

Quote:

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

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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. :mad:

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.

dealing with buffet hogs
 

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!