Recently on a RS tour, I observed that one of my tour mates, after consuming a substantial breakfast, returned to the buffet. He loaded his plate with meats, breads, cheeses, fruits, cookies and containers of yogurt. He proceeded to make several sandwiches. And then took them with him. My tour buddy said he did it every day. His "lunch".
I was appalled. I would have thought it would have been a no-no in the tour guidelines.
Thoughts?
Rude, at best. Many hotels we’ve stayed at even post signs requesting people to NOT do this and offering to make a packed lunch for a low price. Tour guide should be advised as his actions reflect poorly on the entire group and Rick Steves’ organizations.
Cheapskate.
There is no accounting for how people will behave in different circumstances. Perhaps the other tour member had mistakenly thought this was acceptable behavior.
What I find almost as strange is the need to complain about him here. If you had a concern you should have dealt with him directly.
To be honest, while "rude" and frankly, inappropriate, the hotels almost expect this behavior, especially from some nationalities. Even the amount of food some eat at a morning breakfast is a bit beyond expectation, many are never shy to take advantage of "all you can eat" and multiple trips to the buffet, so they can then resort to a "light lunch". So it is sort of "pay me now or pay me later", the effect is the same.
Even worse are those who take food from the breakfast buffet for their lunch and then unpack it at restaurants to eat, while others order their food. I was shocked. This is more than rude and totally lacking in any kind of class. Amazed that the restaurant didn't say anything. I couldn't say anything because of who the person was.
I do think that taking food from the Buffett for other meals is inappropriate. However, when we were in Croatia, we were told that it was a cultural norm there to buy something somewhere (like a bakery) and then sit at a cafe, order a drink, and eat what you had purchased elsewhere. This is what locals do. There was a distinction between cafes and restaurants with this only being acceptable at a cafe.
I know people that have done this, but they only made a small sandwich. Still, it is wrong to take buffet food for another meal.
I stayed in a small inn, in either Germany or Austria, where the innkeeper encouraged us to “take some for later”. Knowing how quickly their fresh baked goods go stale, maybe this is the “norm” there, unlike here?
Since the RIck Steve’s company promotes being mindful, respectful tourists, you probably should send a note to them, too, vs. just posting this in our travel forum audience. Many of the people on the tours aren’t aware of this forum. And, it’s a good note for many of us who travel independently. We’re a representative of our home country regardless of our travel method.
I stayed in 18 hotels this summer in Italy. I noticed a few had the more expensive items in the breakfast option situated where the staff served them instead of having the traveler overfill their plates with them or think they could build a sandwich to-go.
on an interesting take on this from the other side - a hotel that I stay in frequently near the German Black Forest has a decent spread for breakfast including pastries of various sizes and types.
After breakfast they bring out a many tiered stand and put the left over pastries on it, encouraging people to take what they'd like and replenishing it into the evening until all gone, to repeat the next day. Not stale, and a nice gesture... BTW - napkins provided but no plates or silverware (but I know where they are)
I do think that taking food from the Buffett for other meals is inappropriate.
It's called stealing and no matter how you trying to justify it that is exactly what it is. You paid for breakfast - not lunch and if I saw you do it I call you out on it in very loud voice so no one is unaware of your behaviour.
Imagine spending thousands of dollars to travel to Europe, and then just eating a smushed up cold sandwich of breakfast leftovers for lunch every day, I think the joke's on him 😅
Way back in the backpack days, RS did suggest this so maybe the guy thinks it’s still ok?
Yes, it's in one of RS old videos. I found it strange, but it was years ago. Thinking about it, wasn't it apples or oranges for a snack?
Well, there's a quantitative and qualitative difference between grabbing an apple to go, and making a plate of sandwiches for lunch.
It was two large sandwiches plus other goodies, pastries, yogurt, cheese, fruit.
If the tour director didn't want to say anything about his behavior, it wasn't up to me.
I was just curious as to other opinions.
Several years ago I was staying at a Sheraton in Anaheim California. There was a woman there who apparently had purchased lounge executive lounge access for part of her party. she would come in and she would take trays of food out of there. it was obviously they were feeding a lot of people. After about the third day when she started loading up manager came over to our have a discussion with her. She made quite the scene that it had not been posted that you were supposed to consume food in the lounge. But there’s no way she was consuming that food. They would bring out like an entire container of about 50 chicken strips for example and she would take them all. If you got to the lounge after her there was literally no food left
I’m always amazed at what people will do.
Thanks for the multiple examples of tacky behavior, including here at home. I have been known to pocket a banana or such on the way out of a motel breakfast room, but that's about it. The fact that I'm surreptitious means I know it's at least a minor sin.
The trouble with putting a no-no in the RS tour guidelines is raising the profile. if they prohibit this, shouldn't they also prohibit spitting on the bus, loud talking while the guide is talking, and other rudenesses that wouldn't occur to refined people like us?
Personally, I think packing lunch from the breakfast buffet is tacky and classless. But I have learned that most of the world doesn't really care what I think.
I was in Munich this summer and the hotel encouraged us to take food for later. My son isn't much of a breakfast eater, so on the days that he didn't come to eat breakfast with me, or only had a small bite to eat, the staff brought me a waxed bag and told me to make him a snack! And they put any leftover pastries out at the check in desk for people to take as they walked by. Not the same as stuffing things into doggie bags, though.
Why should the tour company or guide be responsible? This kind of behavior is between the guest and the hotel. It doesn't effect the tour one bit. Were you denied anything because of this person's behavior?
And for those who claim they would say something...what business is it if yours? Do you own the hotel? Are you being deprived of anything? It seems some are more worried that others might think of them based on what their tour mate does.
I've seen guests take food to their rooms for their travel companions who didn't feel like going down for breakfast. Some hotels offer takeaway containers for those who don't have time to sit down for breakfast. Others, as has been stated, will put out leftover pastries or fruit for people to help themselves.
It's stealing. If the deal was a room and breakfast, then taking food for later consumption is theft. Of course, if there are perishables such as fruit or pastry and the hotel indicates that a guest is welcome to take some with them, that's an entirely different situation. Taking food back to the room for a guest who didn't make it to breakfast might be ok, but in better hotels the staff isn't going to be pleased with people carrying over-flowing plates up the elevator.
I remember years ago encountering a tour group of US citizens in a rather formal hotel breakfast room. They all wore their travel gear. Water bottles hung from belts and lanyards, various containers and tools dangled from everywhere. Everyone had at least one fanny pack, and they all wore multipocketed pants and jackets. After taking over the room by calling back and forth to one another, they ate heartily. When their group leader told them they were soon leaving, they descended on the breakfast buffet again. By the time they left, they had removed all the food and drained the bottles of water and juice. The formally attired staff stood by and watched but never protested. After the group left, the staff went to each of us still seated in the room and apologized for the group's behavior and then quickly restocked the buffet.
Of course the poster was denied something; The hotel is a rational profit-making business, and calibrates the breakfast menu to lose as little money as possible.
Unfortunately, this is something of a social "class" matter, something we're very reluctant to talk about in the US. Throw in a dash of "It's all about ME, and my Participation Trophies", and it's every person for themselves. Season with "OFF the bloated corporation" and "Shut the door, I've got mine!".
I actually thought there were some benefits to the predominance of old-money Legacies when I was in the college population in the 1960s. They provided a baseline of socialized behavior. (And they had heard the term, "Noblesse Oblige", a word unknown in today's Mini Mansions.) And actually, I found their excessive self-confidence to be helpful in building my own, not intimidating at all. Now that the proportions have reversed, First-Gens are setting the standards of adult behavior. Opinion.
Since this was on a RS tour, you can see how egalitarian RS is with his tours. All segments of traveler society can be together on a tour. While we all think that others are more or less like us, obviously you can also find the crass, the rude, the entitled, and the bores. All in one bus.
Bravo Tim. That's how the airport lounges have become because...out of the population that pays 5-600 for a credit card, there will be a few who stuff their pockets and backpacks with the free Oreos and chips. Saw it and asked myself what was going on. Why would someone boarding a transatlantic need a backpack of chips and cookies? Oh, they're free.
Two sandwiches, and large ones at that? That’s a bit excessive. Plus yogurt, etc.? Did he take a spoon for the yogurt?
A hotel in Zermatt almost 20 years ago, during ski season, had a hand-written sign that said , “No Pik-Nik” above the morning buffet. Pastries that are going to go stale certainly wouldn’t cause much harm, unless the proprietor had some other purpose for them. A banana or orange on the run, not much harm. But a full spread for what sounds like more than a single serving? That’s going to drive up the price of a room for the rest of us, if too many people start treating the breakfast table like a free supermarket!
"Are you sure it was for lunch and not instead a plate for a companion who didn't want to eat in the breakfast room?"
If you are on a tour as the OP was, you know by the second day who is traveling with whom so you'd know who made it to breakfast and who isn't there.
I guess I look at this sort of behavior like this: “Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean that you SHOULD do it. Staying out of prison is not the same as getting into heaven. “
In the US some hotels have afternoon receptions with nibbles and free wine and beer. I've seen guests bring "big gulp" cups of 64 oz and fill them up with the free beer.
My wife and I do not take out food for our lunch from the free breakfast buffet.
We eat enough at breakfast to where we're not hungry until mid afternoon--after lunch. We'll get some snacks at a 7-11 and we're good to go until the one paid meal of the day--early supper by European standards.
For those who consider this stealing, please keep in mind that "stealing" is a legal term. It's only stealing if there is a specific law on the books in that location that prohibits removing food from the buffet and taking it to another location. If there is no law, it's not stealing. It may be unacceptable behavior but it's not a criminal action.
And I'm curious if you would you consider it stealing when a person takes the small toiletries that hotels offer with them? Obviously those are for use on the premises, but many people take the extras with them, including those that have not been opened.
Regardless, I agree with everyone who said it is the hotel's business only. If the hotel is bothered by it, they can put up a sign prohibiting it. If they don't have such a sign, then they probably expect this behavior from occasional guests and are willing to accept it.
We bring a cup, utensils, and plate for environmental reasons.
I pass on the pastries and such as sugar is quite unhealthy and the empty calories packs on the fat.
Is it acceptable anywhere to take food from a buffet to eat later?
Is this typical behavior of RS tour members to steal from the breakfast buffet?
@continental, no this is not typical RS tour behavior. Its how some people were raised. I've seen it done many times when not on a tour. Just usually not that greedily. Not just Americans, and not everyone at a RS tour hotel, is on the tour. I've seen families on vacation in the US do this more than anyone. There are many people who are not embarrassed by doing this. I know some people who still think taking hotel towels and ashtrays is acceptable.
I would have talked to the RS guide and asked her/him if they thought it was ok or not. If not, the guide should talk to that person.
If not, the guide should talk to that person.
Why? Does Rick Steves own the hotel? Is the guide responsible for everyone's behavior on the tour? Has the glutton broken any specific tour rules? Is the guide
also responsible for everyone's morals?
Are you being hurt by his actions? Or are you worried someone might think you're like that?
The only time the guide should speak to a tour member's actions is if those actions affect the group.
BigMike: "Is it acceptable anywhere to take food from a buffet to eat later?"
Just ask the hotel host. Chances are they will say okay. I recall asking if it was okay to take some food for later because we would be on some long tour ride, and the hotel was more than agreeable. Some of the perishables may get thrown away or eaten by the staff if not consumed by the guests. With a buffet, you can usually eat as much as you want, subject to possibly time or availability. What is real difference between a glutton who can eat several huge helpings in one sitting and somebody who eats a single helping and takes away a sandwich for later? The person in the OP's post is an exception, but I think hotels factor those type of guests in the daily food plan. Leave it up to the hotel to enforce the breakfast rules, if there are any, and let the blocked coronary arteries take care of natural selection.
I usually don't like adding the paid breakfast option. They can be pricey for what you get. Moreover, it really cuts down on your opportunities to try out different venues and local foods. There are only so many meals in a day and so few days in a stay, and there are hundreds and hundreds of places to try. If we stay five nights in one hotel, stuffing ourselves with the same included breakfast everyday will mean we will probably eat a limited lunch, and realistically can only try five restaurants for dinner during our stay.
This is a personal pet peeve of mine.
These are 2 of the worst examples but I see other less extreme examples on most every trip.
At my hotel in Lisbon a couple of years ago, my stay coincided with a group of 4 people traveling together. They had a system: Each had a canvas shopping bag with them. They went to the buffet and initially got mostly items to eat but with a couple of items to also put in the bag. By the time they made the 3rd trip to the buffet mostly everything went into the bag. Sandwiches, fruit, bottled drinks. You name it. When more items were stocked that had been low, they went up yet another time.
Another occasion, same trip, in Axe-en Provence a youth futbol team was staying at the hotel. During breakfast the staff struggled to keep up with the group, which is understandable. When they finally caught up and restocked after all the team had gotten the breakfast, the group, led by the adults proceeded to all make sandwiches and more, wrap them up and put them in bags or packs before finally leaving with another empty buffet in their wake.
On both of these occasions it was a hassle to get my breakfast from the buffet because the items I wanted were being taken for lunch as fast as the staff could replenish. Somebody is paying for the extra food and staff. Ultimately it is likely the other guests indirectly through higher rates as versions of the grab and go are pretty widespread in some places. I too have been to places where I have been offered items to take away. That is a completely different situation. It is lovely when it happens but is not the norm.
Years ago, in the days of automatic" free" bread served to every table, I owned and operated my own restaurant. We had some regular customers that only came when we ran promotional coupons. They "ate" an inordinate amount of that" free" bread. Turns out they were ordering more bread and surreptitiously putting it into a bag and then ordering more. We suspected this but hadn't confirmed it. Finally, we caught them and ultimately banned them. So, I guess its personal.
As mentioned, this not a crime. It is, however, a micro test of a person’s morals and ethics. I worked for a man who invited his employees to join him for golf at his country club. It was a test to see if you could be trusted. If you cheat on the small things, you can’t be trusted on the big ones. I despair for your buffet double dippers.
Here's a test for those of you who think snitching lunch from the breakfast buffet is just fine and dandy. If you think it's okay, then go ahead and ask. "Good morning, I'd like to make a sandwich and take some fruit and yogurt for lunch. Is that okay to do?"
Also, every time I go to Europe one of my primary goals is to eat every darn delicious thing possible like a crazy person. If I pack up a ham and cheese sandwich off the breakfast buffet, what kind of awesome lunch am I missing? I'd rather spend a couple bucks and have the opportunity to be delighted by my food than economize with dull eats.
I actually thought there were some benefits to the predominance of old-money Legacies when I was in the college population in the 1960s. They provided a baseline of socialized behavior.
There are jerks in all classes. I have some old money people stories that I'm not at liberty to share and they're not pretty.
Yes, i do believe, as Laurel said, this person taking food for later is part of the RS Tour group and his behavior is unacceptable imo, and many other’s opinion, and it is up to the leader of the tour to speak to him.
How would the guide even know about this unless a tour member complained to them? On tour, breakfast is on your own time. People come to the breakfast room when they want.
I am surprised none of the hotel staff said anything to the offender. I was on a RS tour once where a tour member made a sandwich and wrapped it up in a napkin. A hotel staff member came over and said there was a fee of x Euro to take food away and pointed to a sign with this info. The tour member unwrapped the sandwich and ate it there.
Being a tour guide is a hard job. I don’t think it is the guide’s job to police the behavior of tour members unless it occurs while they are actually engaging in a group activity (e.g. in a museum or on the bus).
The reason I reacted to this is two-fold:
1) I've been a tour director and had situations like this;
2) Members of the tour who appoint themselves the "moral police."
When on tour, there are certain rules that tour members must abide by. These are explained by the tour company. If someone broke one of those rules, I would speak to them.
How people behave otherwise as long as they don't disrupt the tour or negatively effect other tour members is their business. A tour is not kindergarten and I'm not a kindergarten teacher explaining right from wrong. You're an adult. (If that tour member was taking so much food that others were deprived, I would first talk to the hotel about supplying more.)
If you don't like the fact that someone takes extra food is your issue. It has nothing to do with the tour. If the hotel has a problem with it they will either post signs or talk to the guest.
As part of the tour, you are provided a hotel room each night and a free breakfast the following morning. There is nothing stated about how much you can take.
As previously stated it is not stealing unless the person involved was told otherwise.
Any hotel that offers a free breakfast buffet has seen this type of behavior. It's not just RS tour groups, but other tour groups, independent travelers, and all different nationalities. The hotels plan not just fot this but also the waste of non-eaten food.
I have to wonder if some people are more concerned of what others will think of them rather than the actual activity.
Frank do you ever take away items from the hotel buffet to eat later? Curious about this context to your above post.
OK, you make a couple sandwiches at the breakfast bar. For later. That’s OK by a lot of people posting here.
How about you take 6 yogurts. Is that also OK? Or is there some sort of allowable limit to this food removal? Is food removal limited to only be perishable unwrapped items?
Suppose you take all the yogurts. All, you say, that is too much. Leave for the next guy. But according to many, the hotel should just restock.
I realize that none of the posts here will do anything at all to dissuade the people who max out any free stuff. Those people are beyond the norm.
It is good that it is hard to wrap up these things so as to even leave the dining room. That is a limiting factor. Although the transgressors may well come prepared with their own wraps and containers. What say you when you see that, bringing your own plastic wrap for sandwiches and your own covered container to take a half pound of olives.
Where the line?
“What say you when you see that, bringing your own plastic wrap for sandwiches and your own covered container to take a half pound of olives.”
Unless I’m working in the hotel in question, I say nothing. I don’t believe it’s my job to police my fellow hotel guests.
Frank do you ever take away items from the hotel buffet to eat later? Curious about this context to your above post.
Yes...after I ask and the hotel says it's okay.
I never said that I thought what the person who took all the extra food did was okay, I just said it's no one else's business unless they work for the hotel.
My outrage gland has been so overworked by the state of the world that I just can't get excited about this.
I am actually a bit impressed that so much outrage is available.
I certainly don't recommend that anyone in a breakfast room speak loudly (obnouxiously) to another guest about the other guests behaviour unless it is endangering somebody. If you try that around here, you may get shot. Plus, that type of disruption is doing just as much harm to other guests (making their meal unpleasant) as the guy taking extra food.
I also didn't read any hostility in Frank II's opinions that I think he has just as much right to as every one else on this thread....right?
I just wish I was in a European breakfast room watching a guy take food for his lunch right now....sigh....back to work.
I second the thoughts of @Vandrabrud.
However ..... I AM using my last morsel of outrage, to be really outraged, about all this outrage. :)
We can talk about Salad Buffets next, if you like. Bad behavior there is just as prevalent.
Vandrabrud's anti-outrage post is the most outraged post yet, perceiving hostility in anti-sandwich-snitching opinions and walking us into shootings. I'll stay out of Ohio at breakfast time :)
Frank thanks, wasn't accusing you of petty criminality, just wondered if your considered opinion came from the perspective of a lunch-lifter as well as tour guide.
I'll highlight my earlier assertion that on holiday I'd rather buy an awesome lunch (even an awesome sandwich) than eat a leftover breakfast bar sandwich. Maximal stuffing yummy foods in mouth is a primary reason to travel.
"We can talk about Salad Buffets next, if you like. Bad behavior there is just as prevalent."
Fun!
I was staying at a fantastic gastro-hostel in Luxembourg recently with a fine salad bar. 10 minutes after I'd made my measured but hearty pass through, the Basso bikes junior team walked in ruddy faced from their 10 hour hilly windy training day. Locust lined up to take notes on how these six thin 18 year old boys destroyed that salad bar. I'm surprised they didn't eat the utensils. and that was just the start. It was pretty awesome to see these future pro athletes desperately crush calories in an attempt to not whither away :)
But the well fed pig who takes all the smoked salmon or shrimp because they are expensive ... not so nice
I think there's a fear of "guilt by association" factor fueling this concern. No one wants to be embarrassed by their group members. I would consider an intervention successful if it doesn't amplify the embarrassment of the group.
It's another situation altogether if it's strangers in the breakfast room whose behavior is offensive. Never assume you know the particulars in their actions and leave intervention to the proprietors.
I wonder why the Staple Singers "Be Careful of the Stones That You Throw" will not stop playing on my mind's tape loop.
Basic premise. Generally speaking, the description of the meal offered for free or for a charge is:
Breakfast Buffet.
I have never seen it as Breakfast/Lunch Buffet
While I am not suggesting saying anything to random strangers, I do think that if you are going to publicly complain about someone you know on a public forum, you owe them the courtesy of speaking to them first. If that seems ridiculous ( why would anyone confront someone over this behavior?), then it is equally ridiculous to complain about a specific person publicly.
I realize others may feel differently, and that is ok.
Having been on 6 RS tours now, I wouldn't be concerned about the level of conspicuous consumption described by the OP.
How would I know the reason for It? Diabetic? Or maybe like my friend who had to eat so frequently that the 2nd thing she and her husband did after getting their rental car when they arrived by plane was to get a cheap styrofoam cooler and stock it with food for her. That was because when she needed to eat, she needed to eat immediately. Her metabolism was so high that she burned up anything she ate very rapidly.
As an example, I spent a day with her when she had a late lunch of a huge salad with lots of chicken and bread that would last most people at least 6 hours. We met our husbands about 3 hours later and she had a large pasta meal. She was slender, but not skinny.
Based on my RS tours, if she was on one she'd have to supply herself some way like the guy described because there simply wouldn't be enough breaks or decent meal stops for her.
As a person who doesn't consume alcohol, I'm a bit more put off by what seems to me to be a very high level of alcohol consumption on RS tours. I've often been the only person who didn't drink and in some situations there has been nothing else served that I could drink.
I'm talking about at wine or other kinds of alcohol production facilities, not group meals. I know it's cultural and people are on vacation, but booze at lunch and dinner whether with the whole group or not? Really?
I'd never say anything to anyone about that because it's none of my business and has no reflection on me. Most have held their liquor well, and I must admit that their behavior has sometimes been rather amusing.
Likewise, I wouldn't say anything to or about the breakfast buffet hunter-gatherer. Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Hear, hear, Carol now retired! I completely agree with you. There are several posts of people coming to this forum to complain about the behavior of a fellow tour member and in one case we even learned the medical history of a tour member as a result. I don’t understand the purpose of doing so. If a fellow tour member is endangering others or doing illegal things, the people to inform are the guide and/or RS staff. If the behavior is just something that you yourself wouldn’t do, you should just shrug your shoulders and carry on enjoying your tour instead of turning to the forum to snitch. This may sound harsh, but I believe that in the end you will enjoy the tour (and life in general) more if you just focus on all the great beautiful things you see and do while on tour instead of focusing on the behavior of others.
So taking something is only stealing if the owner specifically tells you not to do so? That's the kind of legalese thinking that resulted in fast food restaurants needing to print warnings on their coffee cups that coffee may be hot, and for hair dryer companies to include warnings that their electric hair dryers should not be used in the shower. Using that same legalese thinking, then I guess hotels, b&b's, etc., need to stick little notes on their linens, clocks, hair dryers, etc. People take those items, too. I think we all know it's stealing--even if there wasn't a sign or fine print in the rental agreement telling customers to not take these items.
I stick by my opinion that if you've paid for a room and breakfast, then the food provided at breakfast is intended to be consumed then and there. Room and breakfast is not half board, full board, or breakfast and a box lunch. And it does impact other guests because they're inconvenienced by those who hoard at the buffet, and ultimately we all pay more to cover the cost of those hoarders.
The sanctity of medical privacy is not quite a slam-dunk. We were on a high-end East Africa safari small group that had a diabetic and a much older woman who had extracted a required permission letter from her concierge (?) physician. But their separate failures to observe prudent practices (e.g. the tour company packed juice and snacks, which the diabetic studiously refused to ask for) ended up having dire results for each that harmed the experiences of everyone else. Is it still none of my business?
The medical history of the tour member whose coughing was reported to this forum wasn’t any of our business and neither is the behavior in the hotel breakfast room of another tour member. Since members usually also post other topics or questions it’s pretty easy to find out about on which specific tour the poster is traveling. And since the RS tour groups aren’t that big, other members on that tour might know who the complaint is about or worse, recognize themselves!
To me, snitching on a fellow tour member on this forum isn’t in line with the “no grump” policy nor with the forum rules.
I've been racked by guilt for years over my one night stay at the budget Shaky Stilts Motel in Kissimmee. Too much heavy cream in my large bowl of Captain Crunch at breakfast had me full soon enough, and I poured over half of it into my wife's handbag....for later. She wasn't too happy about it, I can tell you, especially when she needed to wring out a tissue to blow her nose.
It's a more common problem than you might think. I have it on good authority, from a reliable source at the palace, that the Queen and Paddington ate breakfast at The Savoy on the same day they had tea together:
Above, from Gail: Is the offensive that grievous to warrant this public shaming?
So, Gundersen, this heavy cream you dumped on your wife’s purse … was it, at least, Organic cream, from grass-fed happy cows? Or just regular cream that was close to its expiration date?
If you’re going to pilfer it, make it the Good Stuff! That is, if you’re helping yourself to more than they intend to provide. 😊
And your wife’s tissues … what, doesn’t she keep them in a cream-proof storage dispenser?
Funny you should mention that, Cyn. I kept the cream carton as a souvenir, seeing it has an amusing logo of a big smiling alligator dressed in tophat and tails, leaning on a walking stick. "Gator Bob's Tastes-Like-Cream" is the brand. Local, I'm guessing. I'm reading the ingredients as I write and it's no wonder I got full so quickly. It contains water, blush food colouring and blended swamp vegetation. So yes, it is organic and grass-fed to some extent.
Gunderson - LOL! My husband laughed at your pouring cream in my purse comment, too, picturing what would happen if he did it!
Susan.. you're entitled to your opinion but you don't want to hear anyone counter your opinion.
You see that as hostile.
This board is full of people with different opinions. There is nothing wrong with that. I've had what I've posted in other threads countered. Sometimes it's led to an interesting debate and sometimes it was another fact.
Interesting debate.
As far as harm such behavior can affect for others, it might come down to price? If the habit of making two meals out of a breakfast buffet becomes more widespread than not, the owner/manager of the accommodation would likely need to raise nightly tariffs to cover the expense. That may be in addition to covering current rising energy prices.
They might also start charging a per-guest breakfast fee for what had been included in the tariff. They might even decide to dispense with the convenience altogether to keep tariffs within a desired range OR take a more aggressive stand, "dogging" their clientele and confronting the behavior as they see it occur. My guess is that having to babysit overly aggressive breakfast-room pilfering is absolutely last thing they want to have to do!
So harm, sort of speak, would fall on their guests, who would end up paying more than they'd like or be able to, or having to do without the convenience entirely. Having to go elsewhere for the morning meal wouldn't bother everyone but it's probably a factor when needing to get an entire tour group organized, fed and on the bus in reasonably short order?
Guilt by association--hmmm.
How does that affect the group? What if others from that group think it's a good idea and everyone starts doing it? What happens when a nationality is stereotyped as being over-consumers, hoarders, bargain seekers? What happens when the hotel decides it's not worth hosting that company's grooups anymore?
Whose business is it: fellow tour members, the group leader, the company, the hotel, no one? Who should or shouldn't take responsibility?
This is the perfect scenario to discuss in a beginning philosophy course. Or here.
FYI: I would have said it's a tour from another company and happened a while back to keep focus away from our host and any recent tour participants. Tiny white lies to protect others.
Wow, this thread!! 76 responses on buffet snitching! I bet Seattle Rose has turned off the email response if she had it turned on in the first place.
Yes, diveloonie aka Tammy. I did turn off the email responses.
I've been gone, and I just caught up.
Very fun discussion. Though I think it got a bit far afield.
Guess I should have made it clear. I was appalled. Me. I was also appalled about 20 years ago when I blundered into a nude beach. But, I was in the wrong in that situation. I was the outlier.
One more point: There is no free lunch. (except in this guy's case). The room, the food are all factored in and a contract is made with the RS Tours. One lunch maker won't make a difference. But 26 lunch makers might. Or maybe its OK. Again, I could be the outlier.
As far as the tour guide maybe making a gentle reminder, I would mention that I'm sure the guide lets the tour know, for instance, that shorts are not acceptable in the Cathedral they will be visiting.
He could say that it is ok to take an apple or a cookie, but not an entire meal. Not singling out anyone.
I mean, he didn't have any trouble telling us not to use the restrooms on the bus.
I haven't done multi-day tours, but I confess, I HAVE taken a banana or an orange with me from the breakfast buffet on occasion. I've done this for a few reasons:
Full-on lunches or sandwiches? No.
As to point 3, I was much more outraged and horrified at a hotel in Spain when a family's children were picking up items, such as pastries, from the buffet and then changing their minds and putting them back. At least one of these kids had a seriously runny nose. (This was pre-pandemic, but still...)
I don't do RS tours, but like BB I do sometimes take something out with me. It's something I would have eaten at bfast if I had a larger stomach-one piece of fruit or one croissant or one small box of cereal. (Never all 3) Considering how much more many people eat than I, I don't see anything wrong with this. I agree about the person in the original post and anything taken that prevents other people from getting the bfast they paid for.
Why should the tour company or guide be responsible? This kind of behavior is between the guest and the hotel. It doesn't effect the tour one bit.
Unless the hotel decides they need to charge Rick Steves (or whatever tour operator) more for its guests since they are costing the hotel more in food expenses.
In other words, I would think that RSE would have an interest in limiting this type of behavior in order to avoid yet another escalating cost that they of course have to pass on to the consumer.
In Norwy, hut to hut tours commonly include full board meal programs in the tour package -- breakfast, lunch and dinner. After finishing breakfast, the breakfast board would remain open for guest to pack lunches for our mid-day meal. It is also common for the kitchen staff to full our vaccum bottles with hot drinks.
When a hotel offers a free breakfast. They estimate how much food they need to have available based on occupancy. Not all guests eat the same. Some eat a little. Some eat a lot, some don't come down at all.
Sometimes the food is all eaten, sometimes there's a lot left over.
Tours don't book rooms like you do. They negotiate a large block of rooms based on the number of tours coming through for the season. This is usually done a year or two in advance. It can mean income of thousands of Euros to the hotel.
So now everyone is upset because one person has taken extra food. Are you also concerned if food is not eaten and has to be thrown out?
So let's look at extra charges. The tour company and the hotel have a contract regarding prices. The hotel can't just start charging more because a few people overeat. And do you really think a hotel is eager to lose a tour company's business over a few gluttons.
When hotels offer a free breakfast they factor in the cost in their room rates. It's a average cost per room based on expected occupancy.
One overeater is not going to raise rates.
Since there is so much moral indignation about this do you really think everyone on a tour will start acting this way?
It's the cost of doing business.
The effect of this, and I have seen it on several RS tours, is the hotel starts giving you your breakfast. No more self-serve buffet.
At one hotel in Switzerland, we each received a plate of cheese and salami, and there was a breadbasket and cereals on each table, enough to feed 3 of the 4 people seated. If more food was needed, it could be requested. Same with beverages; they were delivered individually. I didn't eat the salami and would have preferred fruit/muesli, but that wasn't offered. I had enough to eat and managed to survive until my next meal.
I've taken many RS Tours, and only once were we invited to take extra for lunch. This was part of the plan and the hotel provided plastic wrap for our use. Beyond that, I wouldn't feel comfortable taking more than I would expect to eat at breakfast (like the rules at a buffet restaurant). I wouldn't inform the guide if anyone was taking extra as it isn't my business. The hotels know about this type of behavior and handle it in their own fashion.
It's easy enough for someone to call or write RSE and ask if they would want their guide to be informed if one or more members of the group were filling backpacks at breakfast with food for the day without clearing it with the hotel first.
Simple enough--ask them.
I’m opposed to packing a lunch from the breakfast buffet. A few years ago I did a bus tour (not RS) where it was common practice. Very embarrassing. There is currently a thread on Cruise Critic advocating for it 😉
I dont like to see it, but not because I worry about the hotels' profit margin. I dont like to see that straggler who shows up late and finds all the good stuff gone. That's discourteous to fellow travelers.
So how much should you tip at the breakfast buffet?
Just kidding. I thought I'd crank it up a notch.😏
I don't know if I'm more amused or surprised that this thread is still going. I've never packed a lunch from a buffet but I won't look perfect in some of your eyes. At our hotel in Arles there was a juicer where we could make our own freshly squeezed orange juice, however the glasses were hardly larger than a shot glass, so I may have made five or six ounces worth of trips to the juicer. If bananas are available I almost always grab one to-go because they're never ripe enough for me and so I collect them in my room until they're perfect (showing some brown spots and no green) I may even take the ripe one down to breakfast the next morning. On both cruises we took, we usually ate in our room because my wife needs an hour to get ready and we wanted to be the first off the boat. I'd drop by the buffet and load up a tray with juice, fruit and yogurt. The ship's staff frowns on this because if you want to eat in your room they want you to pay for room service and so it could become a cloak and dagger operation.
But to the topic, I'm not going to worry about what other people do. In my opinion it's not a good look, but it's none of my business.
If bananas are available I almost always grab one to-go because they're never ripe enough for me and so I collect them in my room until they're perfect (showing some brown spots and no green) I may even take the ripe one down to breakfast the next morning.
Allan, that made me laugh. 😆 I'm just the opposite. I can only eat bananas when they still have some green on them. Once the first brown spot appears, I won't eat them. And I'm not averse to grabbing an extra green banana or hard-boiled egg for later either.
