Family Kicked Out Of Buffet Restaurant For Wasting Food

[The Straight Story]

Family Kicked Out Of Buffet Restaurant For Wasting Food

POSTED: 6:50 am EDT May 5, 2006
UPDATED: 7:07 am EDT May 5, 2006

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Wendy Dershem may think twice before leaving that egg roll on her plate at her next Chinese buffet.

The Des Moines woman, her boyfriend and her two children were kicked out of a restaurant last week after management accused her of leaving too much food on her plate.

"They told us we are not welcome there anymore," said Dershem, a repeat customer at the Dragon House buffet. "We waste too much food. But the buffet is all you can eat. And you know kids. They won't always eat everything and they want something else."

Dershem said she paid her $5.95 fee but was abruptly told to leave after eating one plate of food.

"They just take one bite and throw it away," said cashier Lin Huyen. "They take four egg rolls and crab rangoon, take one bite of egg roll and throw the whole plate. That is wasting food."

http://www.local6.com/news/9164772/detail.html

[Puglover]

1. Good for the restaurant.

I don't do buffets alot but when I have I've seen people be utter pigs.

[dogday]

2. What are these people?

The food nazis... Since when did the staff at a restaurant watch what you put in your mouth... One of the reasons for the buffet is to eat as many different foods as you want....

[El Fuego]

69. Bid-ness people

At my favorite all you can eat sushi place, I once saw a woman take an ENTIRE PLATE of tuna from the buffet(easily $50 worth), when every one else was only taking a few at a time. I wish they would have thrown her out.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

3. It's all you can eat.......not all you can throw away!

:P

[marmar]

4. But isn't a buffet inherently a waste of food?

How much food do they have to throw away at the end of the day? :shrug:

[Divernan]

8. People who work in restaurants say buffet food recylced to next day.

and they will never eat at a buffet line for that reason. One friend who is now a med student said the restaurant he worked at recycled food whenever possible. He will not eat in restaurants at all anymore.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

12. fastest way to get sick IMO

Salad bars, buffets, smorgasbords...I try not to think what goes on in the kitchen, but I'll be damned I'll make it worse by eating food picked over and breathed on by every galoot who walks in the front door.

[Sugar Smack]

17. "galoot"

:rofl: :yourock:

[anarch]

64. I like to eat at restaurants...it's like a workout for the immune system!

Gotta keep it in shape, you know....

[redqueen]

74. hehehe... same here actually.

Germs, do your worst! :P

[Random_Australian]

13. nyah nyah nah-yah nah! Recylce food? Not here.

If you tried that here, you would get shut down on the spot. As soon as you take it out of storage, you have 4 hours to sell it, max, provided it is kept hot or cold in the intermediary time. If it is between 5 and 65 degrees, you have 2 hours.

And if you can't show that not only do you not do this, but have good systems for preventing it happening, you may get shut down on the spot. From a snap inspection too.

We have very, very high food standards.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

33. Those are actually the same standards we have in the US.

They're not always enforced. I've worked in a bunch of different food places. The cleanest one I've worked at got conditionally satisfactory twice. I also worked at the Starbucks in that town (also very, very clean) and they got conditionally satisfactory once. The health inspector in that town is basically a nazi. If you ever come to NJ, Denville is a very safe town to eat in. The dirtiest food place I worked in (as in I wouldn't eat most of the stuff there) always passed health inspection. The health inspector just didn't give a fuck.

So just because you have the high standards, doesn't mean that they're always going to get enforced like they're supposed to.

[Random_Australian]

43. Actually, we have higher standards across the board. It was part of

my Hospitality Operations. (No by much).

The big difference is in the enforcing. If you cannot prove that you, at no time, produce unsanitary food, you will get screwed. Also, I heard in America, you only need the place to be good enough in the present to pass... is this true? Is there no need for proof of procedure for past & future?

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

45. I'm actually not sure.

Somehow I've managed to avoid taking a food handlers' course for years.

[Blue_Tires]

48. my thoughts exactly

plenty of eating establishments (especially the disreputable chinese ones) seem to have a way of sidestepping regs on food handling and general cleanliness...

i guess i should be scared, because in my experiences, the MORE filthy and fucked-up a chinese place was, the better the food! lol

[Random_Australian]

52. That probably answers that other question, becuase the main reason

for past & future proof of procedure was to eliminate that.

Also, you never know when they are to turn up, and they have the right to enter premises, to take smaples, to (xyz).

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

54. They can show up anytime here, too. nt

[Deja Q]

37. So you're not in Burger King then?

If, in 1990, I saw some unsanitary things occur... Lord only knows what's going on today...

[Random_Australian]

44. 1990 was different. Now you'll get freaked over if you try it.

[sendero]

5. This is a tough one..

... when I eat buffet, I feel compelled to eat what I load onto my plate.

However, sometimes you load something on your plate that after one bite you deem inedible. If something is really awful, I don't feel bad about leaving it. I won't get any more either :)

I have definitely eaten at a couple Chinese buffets where there was a reasonable chance of putting something on your plate that once tasted you'd decline to finish :)

[REP]

7. Yes, But This Family

would go back and load up more of the thing that they had just tasted and not finished. According to the manager, they came there often and always did the same thing - wasted plates and plates of food.

[sendero]

23. Well...

... if that's the case I'd have kicked them out too. Aside from the business implications, it's just wrong to waste food.

[redqueen]

76. I wonder if the manager talked to them before...

I think, were I in that position, that I'd have warned them... take smaller portions, not large ones, that way not so much is wasted.

I have kids and we go to buffets, so I know of which this person speaks. And while sometimes it really is inedible, I'm gross enough and feel guilty enough to finish the food my kids don't. Don't always get to eat what I'd prefer, but at least I don't feel bad for wasting food. :)

[Crankie Avalon]

6. Take what you want...but eat what you take.

"YOU GOT THAT, NUMBNUTS?"

[lpbk2713]

24. A jelly DOUGHNUT!?

[TheFarseer]

9. that's awesome

from reading the article, it looks like it's not the first time that's happened with this family. Good for the cashier.

[Canuckistanian]

10. Good for the owners

I see this as a metaphor for the North American society. Waste is everywhere. Not "convenient" for you to save something? Throw it in the trash.

Food is wasted. Energy is wasted. Products are wasted.

I heard Guy James say something last night that I totally agree with. He said that future archaeologists who will be going through our trash heaps trying to study how we lived back in the 20th century will be amazed and appalled at our tendency to throw away perfectly good food or items.

And the Chinese owners of this restaurant are probably only two generations away from having relatives who starved to death or never had enough food. In some societies it's considered almost criminal to waste food.

Even if you use the argument "well, I paid for it, so I can do whatever I want with it", realize this.
It took energy to produce that thing you're throwing away. And energy to haul it to the dump. If it never gets used, that's in effect throwing away all that energy.

And from a charitable point of view, think about people who who could use this stuff. Spend less on things for yourself and donate to a food bank if you're throwing so much away. You'll be helping someone as well as reducing the garbage burden we already have.

[tigereye]

I suspect that most foodstuffs won't last that long

we do have that great environmental clean-up crew called bugs and bird, etc. I think a lot of foodstuffs from the past that lasted were preserved well, I don't think that is true now. Well, maybe all the plastic....

(of course I'm not an archaeologist, I just know a few...) :)

[Canuckistanian]

11. And futhermore, I object to this post being shuttled off to the Lounge n/t

[The Straight Story]

14. hear hear - me too

Seemed a general discussion type news item to me.

[Canuckistanian]

26. I sent a message to admin.

I've seen far more frivoulous posts at GD and this one has a serious issue behind it, IMO.

[redqueen]

77. No kiddin... the thread about Simon's salary stayed, but this was moved?

Um... okay.

[Random_Australian]

15. Good for the owners. Implicit code of conduct of the premises.

Simple.

[NewJeffCT]

41. A lot of buffets I've seen

Have signs that say to please not waste food.

I mean, I can see leaving food on your plate if you don't like it... but, to do it consistently and repeatedly means something is wrong.

And, if you have a fussy child, give them small portions of things you know they like. It's a frackin' buffet, if they eat a small portion of something, you're free to get back up & get more of that small portion. We have a 3 year old we bring to our local Chinese buffet a lot and we have no problems with her - we just don't load up her plate with huge portions.

[Sugar Smack]

16. My father and I went to an all-you-can eat Chinese Buffet

last night. In this particular case, the customers around us were very respectful of the portions, which I find to be rare. Usually what I see is people piling their plates with the crab rangoon, the eggrolls and other fried foods, a token sprig of broccoli (broccoli's not a garnish *lol*) and taking way too much from the buffet just because it's there. If they are repeat customers and they do this frequently, I completely understand the impatience the staff had with them.

I see this at Golden Corral when my best friend and I go there. It's criminal how much food gets thrown away. I can see the temptation to get a second plate but people should know what their limits are. I like to do the bicentennial "carb frenzy" myself- mac-n-cheese, potatoes and a roll, but I put limited portions on my plate just in case I want to go back. I wound up with extra roast beef once. Snuck it home to kitty. She loved it.

[pstokely]

86. Must be an Chinese thing

[NorthernSpy]

18. I wouldn't be surprised if the Dershems were disruptive in other ways...

"They told us we are not welcome there anymore," said Dershem, a repeat customer at the Dragon House buffet. "We waste too much food. But the buffet is all you can eat. And you know kids. They won't always eat everything and they want something else."

Gee... Besides wasting plate after plate of food, I wonder what else she can't figure how to stop her kids from doing? Being nuisances to the other patrons, perhaps?

Might be wrong about this, but I'm tempted to say that I know the type.

[Sugar Smack]

19. BLAME THE KIDS!

:bounce:

[Deja Q]

25. No.

For one thing, that emoticon suggests making kids. :evilgrin:

Blame the kids... but the parents are the ones who teach the kids how to live in society... or in this case, not teach them that food doesn't come out of a solar-powered Replicator and can readily be discarded.

[Sugar Smack]

30. That was me being ironic ; )

I'm also really impatient when it comes to waste. My dad taught us early too that wasting food is ignorant. And I reckon the kid wasn't the only person doing it.

[NorthernSpy]

32. oh, I know...

I was just taking the opportunity to clarify my remarks re the buffet outlaws.

:)

[NorthernSpy]

28. I am blaming their mombie

She's the one I suspect of spacing out at the steering wheel o' parenthood.

She needs to MAKE her kids siddown and eat their dinner, already! How else are they going to learn reasonable behavior?

[Deja Q]

38. "mombie"? Not "mommy" or "mompie"?

:hide:

Quite right, though. Reasonable behavior doesn't grow on trees. :D

[NorthernSpy]

40. you know that blank, "nobody's home" expression on the faces...

... of some mothers as their little darlings run amok in public?

mommy + zombie = mombie

[LostinVA]

51. Oooh! I'm stealing that!

[NorthernSpy]

56. not sure who came up with the term...

But you may use it freely!

[Sugar Smack]

21. Your observation was spot-on, by the way.

:)

[Left Is Write]

88. Umm...my children don't always want to finish something

they have sampled at a buffet (and, frankly, sometimes I don't care for something I've sampled at a buffet), but that does not mean that I allow them to be nuisances to other people. What a conclusion to draw!

Children not finishing their food = children are disruptive nuisances?

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

20. Ugh...buffets freak me out.

Kids and gross people and gross food. Ugh. Everyone acting like gluttons (except apparently for this family...they're just asshats). Large quantities of food freak me out and I'm slightly germophobic. Buffets are a nightmare.

[Deja Q]

27. I go to buffets frequently...

20 times a year, at least.

In the last 6 years, I got ill only once.

And I scope out the places so I don't piggy out entirely on the grease pizza or empty carbs; get a mix of proper food as well. (though I'll occasionally, or when really depressed, eat the junk food... but then I feel better so I don't. For a while. :D )

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

31. I know other people like them.

I'm not one to go by on normal eating patterns. I almost never eat full meals. I eat mini-meals every couple hours. I know that my buffet paranoia is partially in my head but it grosses me out. I also get paranoid about trying new sushi restaurants if I don't know anyone that's eaten there before.

[Patiod]

83. Although I confess to LOVING breakfast buffets at hotels

When I travel, I'd much rather go to the buffet than order. These days, most offer made-to-order omelets. At Marriotts, they often have lox!!!! Life is damned good if you can have a tomato-and-mushroom omelet & a half a bagel piled high with lox before your flight.

I don't care how many germs I get - unlimited lox is unlimited lox!!!!!

[Deja Q]

22. That twit is allowed to raise children?!

My parents taught me how to not waste food.

Early on.

It's a simple enough concept.

You take something, you eat it. Unless it's so poorly cooked, then you have a right to complain or confront.

And this "mother"'s take on it is disgusting; her own words indulge the childrens' indolence. Yes, indolence. That is no way to raise children. (I also know I wouldn't make a good parent, but now I'm digressing too far.)

And, yeah, the buffet is "all you can eat". The key word here is "eat". It's not "All you can shove onto a plate then dump it into the bin because you're a fickle fart." x(


If this article was about some guy who could eat a house and home and still be hungry enough to eat an entire apartment complex, it'd be different... but then, "The Simpsons" already tackled that prospect...

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

29. I can't believe you used the term...

"fickle fart."

Somehow I find that incredibly amusing.

[Deja Q]

36. I have that effect on people...

:D

[Bill McBlueState]

57. yar, 'tis no man,

'Tis a remorseless eating machine!

[Rabrrrrrr]

34. Good for the restaurant!

if we really wanted to fight terrorism, we'd get bovine fatass America to give up some of its food, stop throwing humdreds of tons of it away every day and share with the rest of the world.

Wanna combat terrorism? Feed the world! Don't throw food away!

We should make it illegal to throw away food when at a buffet, and decide as a society that being a goddamned, classless (and probably tackily dressed) pig is no longer an acceptable behavior for an American. We need to start a movement of people verbally accosting food wasters at buffets - and frame it in the language of patriotism, Christianity, stewardship, and just gosh-darned good naturedness.

[Sugar Smack]

35. Ha! I was wondering when you'd show up!!

:rofl:

[Misunderestimator]

39. LOL! So, next time I get some absolutely horrid piece of fish at a buffet

that I just KNOW is going to give me food poisoning, I should eat the whole damn thing. That's the ticket! :thumbsup:

(Not that I eat at buffets very often... they repulse me.)

[Rabrrrrrr]

42. Well, no, clearly if something isn't safe to eat, or is just horrid

that's one thing.

I'm talking the intentional waste: if you have a number of chicken bones, all with plenty of meat left on them but you were to jowl-cheeked to get it close enough to your cheek to chew it off; or just too lazy to do it, then you should be fined.

[Misunderestimator]

47. Personally, I don't like eating the chicken closest to the bone.

:P

[Deja Q]

50. If the food looks and tastes bad, then you have a right to complain.

But being indolent is disgusting in this manner.

[Misunderestimator]

59. I'm not disagreeing that this particular family was ridiculously wasteful

In fact, I agree completely.

I was just responding to Rabrrrrrr suggesting a fine for not eating everything on the plate. That would be silly, now wouldn't it?

[anarch]

65. Fish from a buffet:

pretty much guaranteed to be horrid. :puke:

Not that I eat fish at all, but still....

[begin_within]

46. You go home now. You been here four hour. You eat all our food. Said by

[NewWaveChick1981]

55. John Pinnette!

That's hysterical! :rofl: I was thinking the same thing when I opened this thread!

[begin_within]

66. I thought it was Margaret Cho.

[giant_robot]

72. He a big boy!

:rofl:

[Crazy Dave]

49. Last week...

...two women at the table next to us asked for two to-go boxes after they finished their buffet dinners, went back up the the buffet and filled them to the brim and actually thought that they could take it out free without paying anything additional. They acted like the restaurant owners were being unreasonable and were trying to rip them off.

[Sugar Smack]

53. How did the restaurant owners react to that?

[Crazy Dave]

71. They were polite but insistant....

...that the two women (late 50's or early 60's) could not leave without paying for the extra food they loaded up so the two women left all pissed off and left all the food which was the equivalent of four normal plates to go to waste. I was really disgusted with the women's actions, the waste and the way they treated the owners who run a great restaurant and are very nice people. I can only imagine what those two are like with everybody else in their lives. Demanding, arrogant, it's all about them, etc.

[Patiod]

84. That sounds like something my mother would do

If a restaurant has breadsticks, she'll put them all in her purse. It's probably a Depression-era thing.

Not excusable, though.

[Crazy Dave]

85. Mine (mom)...

...always takes three little bite sized pieces of meat home for our three little ankle biters. In consolation I always leave big tips as it's all family owned and operated.

[LostinVA]

82. OMG -- I can't imagine doing that n/t

[Bill McBlueState]

58. I was at a mongolian barbeque restaurant

You know, those places where you fill up a bowl and they grill it for you. On the menu above the cashier, there was a separate line for

"Waste Food.....$2.00"

Seemed like a really tacky solution to an altogether real problem.

[Bridget Burke]

60. The Mongols have a tradition of being "direct"....

Genghis Khan was not known for his subtlety.

[philosophie_en_rose]

63. Probably just to deter people.

Sometimes, people get full. I think the idea is to just prevent people from piling things up and going back for more and more without eating.

[RedSpartan]

61. "And what did you do after you left the restaurant?"

"We went home."

"Mrs Simpson, you're under oath."

"We drove around all night, looking for another all-you-can-eat fish restaurant."

"And when you couldn't find one?"

*sobs* "We went fishing."

[philosophie_en_rose]

62. Blatant False Advertising! SHE SHOULD SUE!

Mr. Simpson, this is the most blatant case of false advertising since my lawsuit against the movie The Neverending Story!

[RedSpartan]

80. "That man ate all our fish, and two plastic lobsters!"

"'Tis no man. 'Tis a remorseless eatin' machine!"

also...

"'Twas a moonless night, dark as pitch, when out of the mist came a beast more stomach than man."

[Gormy Cuss]

67. Over sixty posts and no one has mentioned the Mother of All Buffet Cities

Vegas. Gluttony and waste as far as the eye can see.

[Sugar Smack]

68. That reminds me of how much must be wasted on cruise ships.

I've never been on a cruise, but I hear so many stories of that nature.

[LaraMN]

70. Heh! At a local Thai restaurant, when they saw my husband coming

for the lunch buffet, they used to put out an extra bin of sesame chicken. He's an oink, but defninitely not a food waster.

[Shakespeare]

73. Good. This is partially a cultural thing, too.

The Chinese consider it incredibly offensive to leave food on your plate (wasteful & also insulting to the cook).

[giant_robot]

75. Having grown up, I no longer take "all you can eat" as a ...

...personal challenge. Even in my younger, more gluttonous days I never wasted food, though. That's just ignorant.

[Left Is Write]

78. Maybe they should just stop offering an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Unless they intend to drive away all of their customers.

[Debi]

79. I just want to say that there are many Iowans who are members of

the Clean Plate Club. That is all

[bumblebee1]

87. I'm losing my membership in the Clean Plate club!!!

Thanks to Weight Watchers and my hubby. If he sees me getting full, he'll pull my plate away from me.

[AtomicKitten]

81. Some people should eat at a trough with the rest of the animals.