Why I Avoid The Buffets

[Laurabearz]

What does not kill you only makes you stronger

 

[mpls_mm]

I'm thinking not many people here have ever worked in a restaurant kitchen.

 

[DLBDS]

What does not kill you only makes you stronger

Amen to that.

 

[douglisa]

My little one, who is younger than a boy at the buffet that was tasting everything and said, "Ugh! Mom, look!." The mom was over at another area and I said to her. "Hi, I thought you would like to know that he is using serving spoons for tasting." She was super embarassed but she needed to know so she could teach him differently.I told the attendant and he replaced everything. I think it helps to tell the parents. Otherwise they do not know that it is not okay. However, I never had that conversation w/ my 7 yr old and he just knew better.

 

[inkkognito]

I'm thinking not many people here have ever worked in a restaurant kitchen.

Makes me think about the Fox reality show I saw recently where they videotaped gross and embarrassing things. One of the best was a security videotape from a Chinese buffet restaurant. One of the workers dropped a pan of food as he was putting it onto the buffet table. So he bends over, uses his hands and SHOE to push as much as possible back into the tray, and PUTS IT OUT!! There was a customer on the other side of the buffet who didn't bat an eye; she must not have realized what was happening.

When management saw this, they fired him but Fox tracked him down and interviewed him and he insisted he had done nothing wrong. He kept arguing that his shoes are very clean and that he doesn't see why he was fired because he showed the manager his clean shoe. Yikes! I wish they would have revealed if he is currently working in food service.

I won't go into the other restaurant footage they showed...suffice to say it was not an appetite-inducing show.

 

[DLBDS]

Makes me think about the Fox reality show I saw recently where they videotaped gross and embarrassing things. One of the best was a security videotape from a Chinese buffet restaurant. One of the workers dropped a pan of food as he was putting it onto the buffet table. So he bends over, uses his hands and SHOE to push as much as possible back into the tray, and PUTS IT OUT!! There was a customer on the other side of the buffet who didn't bat an eye; she must not have realized what was happening.

When management saw this, they fired him but Fox tracked him down and interviewed him and he insisted he had done nothing wrong. He kept arguing that his shoes are very clean and that he doesn't see why he was fired because he showed the manager his clean shoe. Yikes! I wish they would have revealed if he is currently working in food service.

I won't go into the other restaurant footage they showed...suffice to say it was not an appetite-inducing show.

Sounds like they should have given him an IQ test before hiring. Duh. What an idiot.

 

[LilyLake]

I don't worry about it, either. I know gross stuff goes on at any restaurant. I did have a memorable experience at a buffet several years ago. It wasn't at WDW, it was in Hawaii. There was a couple that appeared to be newlyweds. They were on our flight, and the guy made an impression on me as being somewhat uncouth. Well, lo and behold - they're at our hotel. The place had a free breakfast buffet. So this guy is ahead of me in line and I notice that as he places each item on his plate, he puts the serving spoon back, adjusts the food on his plate, LICKS HIS FINGERS, then picks up the next serving spoon! ewwwww! It was so gross! I can still picture it, years later.

The moral of the story: It's not going to do any good to set age restrictions on who can go to the buffet line by themselves!

 

[airhead]

I'm thinking not many people here have ever worked in a restaurant kitchen.

Yup. I was thinkin' that too. At least at a buffet you can see what's happening to the food in front of you and make the decision to pass on a particular tray of food. You just don't want to know what things go on in the kitchen,believe me...

 

[Tricia1972]

In retrospect, I wish I would have told one of the CMs. If I ever see anything that blatantly disgusting again, I am going to alert them so they can change out the food (although with Taste Boy they would have had to change almost everything...he was quite the prolific little taster). On the cruise ship, when I eat at buffets I make sure that I am one of the first to arrive at opening time. That minimizes the chance of prior contamination. I do the same thing at Ruby Tuesday...I LOVE their salad bar but make sure I arrive early for lunch before the food is touched by "unclean" hands, lips, etc.

I wonder is Taste Boy is related to the kid I saw in an IL Ponderosa many years ago. The rugrat at Pondo had his mouth on the ice cream spigot...I nearly lost my cookies right there, and to this day I rarely will have any self-serve ice cream.

You remind me of Chef Mickey's breakfast back in October. I was going up for my Krispy Kreme donut and there was a lady standing there by the donuts flagging a CM. She stood there and waited to tell someone that a child picked up a donut, licked it and then put it back.

My question is "Where are these children's parents?!?!?!"

 

[augusta]

I seem to have lost my appetite and interest in planning ADRs. How do you cope with knowing this happens?

 

[Tricia1972]

I seem to have lost my appetite and interest in planning ADRs. How do you cope with knowing this happens?

Honestly when I see or KNOW that these things happen it bothers me a lot. However, my logical side knows that this happens many times that I don't see. I take comfort in the fact that really our immune systems are stronger from being exposed to germs and I don't get sick very often at all from going out to eat.

 

[mpls_mm]

I personally quit eating anything off a grill when I was serving at a certain seafood chain when I saw the cook scratching boils on his back with the spatula, no one else cared. The grill gets pretty hot and kills everything i was told. I didn't even know people still got boils.... It was deep fried for me after that, thank you.

 

[SamSam]

It's not just the kids! I was at a buffet restaurant many years ago and saw a grown woman take the serving spoon from one of the puddings, taste it and put it back. Gross! That a grown person would do this, completely put me off of buffets.

 

[Stittsville]

I seem to have lost my appetite and interest in planning ADRs. How do you cope with knowing this happens?

Keep in mind that every time you go out in public every railing, doorknob, ride, etc. has had someone's snotty (or worse ) hand touching it. Germs are everywhere. Unless there is something really bad going around (like SARS), it's best not to worry about it!

 

[melomouse]

Honestly when I see or KNOW that these things happen it bothers me a lot. However, my logical side knows that this happens many times that I don't see. I take comfort in the fact that really our immune systems are stronger from being exposed to germs and I don't get sick very often at all from going out to eat.

Tricia, you are soo wise! ITA!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Ok we love buffets but we go right when they first open so we are usually the first one to touch the spoon and serve the food. I have never seen anything like that before, normally I see the parents serving the food not the kids, even at the kids food section.

Its not just on buffets, you have no idea what goes on behind the kitchen door.....who sneezes, who has a cold, who isnt using gloves, the 3 second it fell on the floor rule....

 

[Mom2Punkin]

While at a All-Inclusive Resort, our group (at least 50 of us) became very ill. They traced it back to the serving spoons at the buffets. Needless to say, that was not the greatest trip. I personally had to be hooked up to IV so get rehydrated. Not fun!

 

[eliza61]

I think in August, we'll skip the buffets. But then again, I used to wait tables and any present or former waitress can give you horror stories from the kitchen.
u!

That's me, I was one of the kitchen staff and I could turn your hair blue with horror stories. I try not to worry over much about it. I love the crystal palace buffet and will probably go there on my next visit.

 

[branv]

While there are some buffets I'm still willing to dare (Boma, pizza, nicer brunches), I'm finding that more and more the concept grosses me out. What corners get cut trying to get that much food out, how many hands were on that serving spoon before mine, etc. have simply started to nibble at my mind. I don't want to live in an antiseptic bubble, but even I have limits.

That being said you will never, ever find me at a Golden Corral again. I went one time when we were visiting DH's family and this was their dining spot of choice. The mess and the chaos were very disturbing. The coup de grace happened when I asked the carver for a slice of "prime rib". He asked me which I wanted, medium-rare or well done. When I said "I'll take the medium one," he grinned wickedly and said, "Oh, you must have health insurance!" I said, "Never mind!" and that was it for me.

 

[100 acre wood]

Thanks for reminding me of our trip two years ago, we were eating at Hollywood and Vine in them MGM. Enjoying our mediocre food, when all of a sudden a kid behind where my DH was sitting blew chunks, in plain view. Ok, lost what little appetite I had. Fast forward a day later and my youngest was fighting naseau, which at the time I thought was his reflux so we spent the day going to the pharmecy to pick up his meds which I hadn't brought. Next day we drove to Disney Vero and then my DH got sick, well you can see where this is going.....That kid had probably touched every utensil in the buffet and then we did! Lesson learned on the buffets, by the time we got home, everyone but myself had gotten sick. BLECH