Buffet abuse

[Grenadier]

Reminds me of the standup comic who tells the "You go now!" jokes about the Chinese buffet, but this one is for real.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319688,00.html

HOUMA, La. — A 6-foot-3, 265-pound man says a restaurant overcharged him for his trips to the buffet line, then banned him and a relative because they're hearty eaters.

A spokesman for the restaurant denies the claim.

Ricky Labit, a disabled offshore worker, said he had been a regular for eight months at the Manchuria Restaurant in Houma, eating there as often as three times a week.

On his most recent visit, he said, a waitress gave him and his wife's cousin, 44-year-old Michael Borrelli, a bill for $46.40, roughly double the buffet price for two adults.

Houma accountant Thomas Campo said the men were charged an extra $10 each on Dec. 21 because they made a habit of dining exclusively on the more expensive seafood dishes, including crab legs and frog legs.

I actually side with the restaurant on this matter.

It's really no different than fat people having to pay for two seats on an airplane if they cannot fit in a single one.

Furthermore, it's a private business. They do have the right to refuse service.

 

[michaeledward]

I think there should be 'truth in advertising'.

If they offer a buffet for $15.00 ... then customers should be able to eat from the buffet for $15.00. If there are certain foods that are too costly to include in the $15.00 buffet price, the Resturant should remove those items from the buffet line.

I can't imagine that it is good business to piss off a regular customer.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

A buffet I ate at in Ohio had an extra charge for some items, including the crab legs. If there was a sign signifying such then I side with the resraunt. If not, then they should change their policies and put up such signage, and eat the bill in this case.

 

[CoryKS]

I'm going to side with the customer on this one. If you're going to have an "all-you-can-eat" buffet, you need to be prepared for anything that walks through the door. IMO, size isn't even a factor; I know two regular-sized guys who put a major hurtin' on the Pizza Hut lunch buffet twice weekly. If their taste for the high-end dishes is cutting into the profit margin, then make the dishes a la carte. I suspect that that isn't what's happening here, though. I doubt the owner ran the numbers on what these gentlemen were costing him, but rather had a visceral reaction to the two fat guys at the feed trough and felt emboldened to do something about it. And why wouldn't he, with the way people dump on overweight people these days?

 

[crushing]

I think the restaurant should put up a sign like Bob says, or remove the items like Michael says to help protect themselves from people who will game the 'system'.

Just as there should be 'truth in advertising', there are reasonable expectations of the parties involved.

 

[MA-Caver]

The obese guy should just simply find another restaurant to eat in, because there's gotta be more than just ONE chinese buffet restaurant in the city... and the restaurant should do what Mike and Bob said... make it an additional price should they include high end items.

Unfortunately life isn't that simple for some people.

 

[newGuy12]

IMO, size isn't even a factor; I know two regular-sized guys who put a major hurtin' on the Pizza Hut lunch buffet

Yeah, I've seen this happen myself!

 

[elder999]

The obese guy should just simply find another restaurant to eat in, because there's gotta be more than just ONE chinese buffet restaurant in the city... and the restaurant should do what Mike and Bob said... make it an additional price should they include high end items.

Unfortunately life isn't that simple for some people.

6'3", 265 might not be particularly obese-I mean, he's a big guy, but not necessarily obese: a 6'3"frame might easily support 265 lbs. with a fair amount of that being muscle.

The restaurant is wrong, pure and simple, and should advertise this practice before they initiate it-or, at least have told the patrons of their establishment before serving them. The whole waiter-patron conversation constitutes a legally binding contract: "What'll you have?"
"I'll have the buffet special."
"So will I."
"Two buffet specials, then."

Springing an additional charge on them afterward constitutes a form of fraud.

Hell, I've done some serious damage at the seafood buffet at the Rio, and no one ever looked twice-or told me to lay off on the lobster tails (ate close to twenty, once...)

 

[tellner]

This is a lot like the viatical benefits companies. They bought life insurance policies for pennies on the dollar from AIDS patients. The contract which they wrote stipulated that they would pay a certain amount per month or a certain percentage of medical bills until the customer died. When people started living longer and costing them money they tried to cancel the contracts on the grounds that it interfered with their business model. Note that I said "tried".

The restaurant wrote the contract. It accepted a fee that it set in return for certain goods. If they don't like the results they can change the contract next time, or they can change their prices. They can refuse to serve those particular people. But having customers arrested because they didn't make their projected profit on a particular sale? No.

 

[Kacey]

The customers are the wronged party here - unless, as has been said, there was a clearly visible sign stating that certain items cost extra. The restaurant erred - badly. This type of negative publicity could easily kill the restaurant, if enough people object by avoiding it.

 

[Stan]

A buffet's business model is to figure out what the average person eats, and price it accordingly. Do they give money back to someone who barely eats one plate of food? Of course not. That's the point of a buffet. Two people, no matter how big of an eater they are, shouldn't effect the average that much.


It reminds me of the fallacy of saying that a car model that is rated very reliable is actually junk because you know someone who had a lemon. The average takes into account the lemon, and still says that the average car of that model is reliable.

 

[Ray]

I also say the customers are the wronged party. The business may loose on one customer and make a healthy profit on other customers. If the price he charges doesn't cover his expenses, then he needs to raise his price or stop having a buffett.

Some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you.

 

[stone_dragone]

6'3", 265 might not be particularly obese-I mean, he's a big guy, but not necessarily obese: a 6'3"frame might easily support 265 lbs. with a fair amount of that being muscle. quote]

You beat me to it. For example, the US Army's max weight for over 40 and 6'3" is 220. 45 more pounds is only 18% over the weight allowance and can easily be adjusted based on muscle mass.

 

[Bigshadow]

Yeah, I've seen this happen myself!

I have seen average teen-age boys put a hurt'n on a buffet bar.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I'm not a particularly large perosn here but I think that buffet's are scared of me. I would have to side with the customer's in this case. They should not have been over charged. However, I also feel the restaurant has the right to refuse service but in this case they really handled it poorly.

 

[shesulsa]

I also side with the customer and echo the idea that an offshore worker (have you seen these guys??) is not necessarily obese at the weight given.

These guys are regulars, pay for their food. It's not as thought the manager or owner didn't have the opportunity to have a conversation with them or put a sign up before the next time they came. They couldn't have been surprised at how much these guys put away after witnessing it three times per week for EIGHT MONTHS.

If they weren't forewarned, and there was no posted sign, the restraunt owes them a refund, a policy, and a notification of a change in price.

 

[arnisador]

I have seen average teen-age boys put a hurt'n on a buffet bar.

My ears are burning. I'm no longer a teen-ager but I can still Kenpo a buffet bar with the best of them.

No sign, no extra charge. Simple matter.

 

[tellner]

Which brings up another topic...

Is it possible to have a successful martial arts school that isn't near a good Asian restaurant?

 

[FearlessFreep]

I go to a local Chinese Buffet quite often. "Super Chia Buffet"*

It's interesting because they charge an adult rate and a kids rate; the kids rate is based on age (so much per year). There are items there tin the latter afternoon that are not part of the "lunch buffet" but they are marked as such (they cost extra.... mostly the pricier seafood). I go there with my kids maybe once a month and I'm very strict with them that they do not take anything unless the eat it, and that does not include multiple trips to the desert buffet.







*It's actually "Super China Buffet" but the 'n' is burnt out on their sign so at night it says "Super Chi a Buffet" so it's become a running joke with the family

 

[Xue Sheng]

Which brings up another topic...

Is it possible to have a successful martial arts school that isn't near a good Asian restaurant?

It is in China and Japan