A New Rule...

There has not been a new rule of the buffet in some time. Not that there have not been really outlandish things observed. More and more I have been seeing something happen at various buffets that needs to be noted and a new rule made. The new rule is -

If you take a plate, bowl, cup, or piece of silverware and you decide you don't want it, do not put it back on the stack of clean dishes or back with the clean silverware. Take it back to your table or put it on the side of the stack where it will not be taken as clean.

Why? I have watched people of all ages - this is not just kids, though kids do this too - take a plate and then put it right back on the top of the stack of clean plates. So, you ask what is the big deal? Well, the big deal is that where ever that person's hands have been, I do not want to have to eat from a plate that they touched.

Here is an example - Mr. X blows his nose before going up to the buffet server. It is bad enough that he will be touching the serving pieces but he takes a plate and then goes back and puts it back on the stack. You take that plate and are eating directly off the surface that his hands held right after blowing his nose. Another example - Little Susy has been to the restroom. As many children in buffets seldom are, she was not accompanied by her mother. She did not wash her hands. Little Susy goes up to the silverware and takes a spoon - and then decides she does not want that spoon and back it goes into the cup with the clean spoons - just waiting for you to take it next. Better yet, Little Susy puts the spoon in her mouth and then decides to put it back. I have watched these happen and more. Again, this is not just about kids - adults do this - and frequently.

Come on people. If you take it or touch it - and you don't want it, it is simple - bring it back to your table and put it on the side and the server will take it away- no extra charge.

So here are our rules now in total - including our new #30.




RULES OF THE BUFFET

1. All you can eat is not a challenge. It is an offer!

2. There is no limit to the number of times that you can go up and get food.

3. Take your food in courses - as you would be served if ordering from a menu.

4. Everyone must pay!

5. No food is permitted to be taken out of the restaurant.

6. Take only what you will eat - do not waste food.

7. For a more social meal, it is polite to wait for the others at the table to finish their plates and then go up together to get more.

8. Take a clean plate every time that you go up to the buffet tables.

9. If you put it on your plate, leave it there. Never return food to the serving tray.

10. Never eat at the buffet tables!

11. Children under 12 should not be going up to the buffet tables alone.

12. The buffet table is not a cafeteria line.

13. Tip the server.

14. Never take a serving piece from one item and use it for another item.

15. Never place your dirty plates on someone else's table.

16. Never use your silverware to serve yourself from the buffet trays.

17. Once you have gotten what you want, don't stand around the buffet tables. Move on back to your table.

18. Children should remain seated through the meal.

19. Do not fill community plates for the "table". Each should take their own plate of what they wish to eat.

20. If you cough or sneeze into your hand, please do not use that hand to pick up the serving utensils.

21. In the buffet, as in any restaurant, children (and adults) should use their inside voices.

22. Don't talk on your cell phone while you are getting your food at the buffet tables.

23. Never bring an animal into the buffet. (this is not referring to medical guide dogs)

24. Never put your hands into a serving tray.

25. Tell your children not to put their hands into a serving tray - and make sure that they do not!

26. Do not carry on a conversation throughout dinner with the people at the tables around you.

27. Do not put anything back into a serving tray that has dropped onto the serving counter - and never put anything back into a serving tray (whether from the counter or your dish) with your fingers.

28. Never put the serving utensil, whether it a spoon, fork, or tongs, up to your nose to smell the food that you have taken out of the serving tray.

29. Do not eat while walking with your plate back to your table.

30. If you take a plate, bowl, cup, or piece of silverware and you decide you don't want it, do not put it back on the stack of clean dishes or back with the clean silverware. Take it back to your table or put it on the side of the stack where it will not be taken as clean.