Pizza Hut Buffet

Okayyyy. But I have a feeling you quoted me before I quoted you? I only ever entered the discussion to comment on the ridiculous way people had attacked OP… If you weren’t a part of that, I guess we have nothing to discuss?

I only veered into the ‘well, it’s not quite the same as stealing from Tesco’ area because some poster or other was pretending they thought it was exactly the same. Most sane people can see that it’s ever so slightly different.

Anyway, I’m sure OP is fine.

Jeez. As I’ve said repeatedly. I literally said that you and your crew are technically correct. The lengths some posters will go to to legitimise an attack on an OP!

I don’t have a “crew” and I certainly haven’t attacked the OP.

And it’s fine to laugh at her and call her poor, which she may or may not be.

You’ll have to take that up with someone who has done either of those things. I certainly haven’t.

@BernardBlacksBreakfastWine
FWIW, I for one completely follow your logic and I agree with your position.

I. Know.

Jeez. As I’ve said repeatedly. I literally said that you and your crew are technically correct. The lengths some posters will go to to legitimise an attack on an OP!

This is how I see it:
My position
The rules of the buffet are the rules. It’s annoying if you’re sort of being railroaded into it but won’t eat much. You can kind of see what OP means and she certainly won’t leave PH out of pocket in any real sense.

Your position
OP is WRONG and must expect page after page of abuse because she’s WRONG and you are also wrong. And it’s fine to laugh at her and call her poor, which she may or may not be.

There’s being right and then there’s being, well, something else.

At the buffet, a child could load up their plate and then realise they were full and leave three slices of pizza go to waste. By your reckoning, if a parent swoops in and eats one of those, they are stealing. Net result to PH - the exact same. Only difference is less food is wasted and someone who doesn’t necessarily have £15 to spare gets to eat something.
So that’s what I meant by getting the upper hand for once. Sure, PH wants you to pay £15 to eat that leftover pizza. But that’s them being dicks.

Jesus, what is so difficult to understand here? It is NOT ABOUT eating leftovers. It’s about someone not paying AT ALL. The net result ISN’T the same, as someone isn’t paying. It isn’t about the amount of pizza - as you point out yourself, the cost covers an unlimited amount. But it is a cost per person. It’s not “Turn up, eat what you want and then we’ll tot up the cost of the food you ate and then charge accordingly”.

This is how All You Can Eat works. It will always be better value for some than others. If you want to go somewhere where you can pay according to the value of your particular portion, there are buffet type places that give you the option of different size plates or boxes. Go to one of those. As for “not necessarily having £15 to spare” - tough luck. If you can’t afford something, you can’t have it.

People can only go by what OP says. If she says she can afford it but just doesn’t fancy paying because she doesn’t think it’s worth it, that’s what people are going to go on.

Especially on AIBU when the vast majority of people know how it works.

Maybe OP was going to pay all along and just fancied a laugh and some attention. Is that enough imagination?

There is no difference at all. Stealing is stealing.

The buffet cost is set as the price of admission to use the buffet, whether one eats nothing but a piece of lettuce, or 25 slices of pizza. Base cost of the food ingredients is only one factor in the price. The rest covers overhead, your use of the facility, and other factors. No doubt it's also deliberately set at a level that deters excessively greedy people from even showing up.

No one is forced to patronize the buffet, but scamming it no matter what whiny exucse one comes up with, from "big bad chain pizza places" to "my kid wasn't going to eat much anyway," is lowdown dishonesty.

Would you sneak into a theater without a ticket, on the justification that you might feel like leaving after a few minutes? Stow away on a train because you think the fares are exorbitant? Steal a bag of crisps because you aren't that keen on the flavour and might only eat half of the bag? Tell Tesco you're only willing to pay half the total at the till, because their merchandise is shit in your opinion, or that they are making too much profit for their shareholders?

Come on. Your power lies in the decision to patronize these places or not. Not to unilaterally steal as a means of protesting their prices.

However it's very clear you have never run a business, nor do you understand how businesses work. You apply that black and white thinking that justifies not paying for food you eat.

Not sure if this is to me or OP. No, I’ve never run a business. Not something I’d be interested in. But I think the ‘black and white thinking’ is on your side.

Life is more nuanced than that.

Look, I don’t really care that much. I just really hate posters who all pile on an OP. It’s worse, really, when they’re technically right, because the joy that emanates from their hastily typed bursts of venom is almost palpable.

But if you want to cheerlead for big, rubbish pizza companies, you’re of course welcome to. I just don’t get it.

For all those saying ‘OP can easily afford it - she said so’ - just think for a moment. Literally the first response was someone saying ‘You clearly can’t afford it love, stay home’ followed by someone telling her how embarrassed they were for her. FFS. If she was struggling for money she certainly wasn’t going to say it then!! So little imagination coming from some posters; just an iron-clad determination to clobber OP because they can.

If a parent swoops in to eat their child’s pizza at a buffet without paying for an adults price, it means that the intent was always to avoid paying an adults price and allow their child to get more than they will typically eat.

It just isn’t how buffets work or everyone would be avoiding paying the adults price.

If you don’t have £15 to spare, you don’t go. Just like you don’t go to a restaurant and help yourself to food that they may throw away anyway.

Its been 20 years since I had the pizza hut buffet (back when I'm sure it was about £6.99!) However it's very clear you have never run a business, nor do you understand how businesses work. You apply that black and white thinking that justifies not paying for food you eat.

You said that you don't factor in things like overheads. Which is frankly, stupid. There's also people that go to buffets like this (and olive garden in the US) just to film themselves eating as much as possible to get clout/money for views.

So businesses have had to reassess. If pizza hut haven't set out clear rules, that's on them. As I say, I don't know. But with most buffet options, every head at the table pays. Its a gamble for the business, some people eat more, some eat less. You simply cannot pinch some of your kids food when you haven't paid for food, without it being stealing. Otherwise everyone would go to the all you can eat Chinese and just pay for one plate, and the whole party keeps eating from that one plate.

I know you think it's funny, but it isn't.

Yeah, because there’s no difference at all between wheeling an unpaid for trolley of groceries out of Tesco and eating a slice of pizza that’s paid for off someone else’s plate.

Or maybe there is 🤔

At OP’s buffet, the price is a nominal price for an unspecified amount of pizza. In Tesco, every item has to be paid and accounted for.

At the buffet, a child could load up their plate and then realise they were full and leave three slices of pizza go to waste. By your reckoning, if a parent swoops in and eats one of those, they are stealing. Net result to PH - the exact same. Only difference is less food is wasted and someone who doesn’t necessarily have £15 to spare gets to eat something.

So that’s what I meant by getting the upper hand for once. Sure, PH wants you to pay £15 to eat that leftover pizza. But that’s them being dicks.

OP isn’t slightly struggling to afford things though and made that clear. She can afford it, she just didn’t want to spend the money.

Even if it was the case, it doesn’t justify not paying for something. That just isn’t how it works.

She posted in aibu, are you new here. If she had posted in any other section she wouldn't of got this response but that's what she wanted so I'm not going to feel bad for her about that. It's not a rare break it's stealing just like she admits to stealing from Tesco after repeatedly saying she can afford these things. People who steal put the prices up for others who are genuinely struggling. These are business and just because their successful it doesn't mean others can steal from them just like if you started your own business you would set prices and they are the prices.

"Turn the transaction to OUR favour for once"???

That's quite the euphemism.

You mean steal? Why not do it at Tesco and B&Q and the local garden centre, too, while you're at it?

No one is forced to patronize any business. That is how the consumer exercises control over the situation. Not by thieving, cheating and lying, once there.

I do get this, yes. I realise that, as a society, we have to abide by the rules or it all falls down.

It’s just the vitriol and the delight in the pile-on that I find hard to take. I mean, these huge companies will always win in these situations- they make money out of the vast majority of buffet-eaters. They will have all these tricksy terms and conditions that screw you over (not just talking about PH here - any huge multinational). So when someone slightly struggling to afford things (and that’s many of us in this economic climate) wonder if, perhaps, we might turn the transaction to our favour this once, whilst certainly eating no more than a fair-sized man might, is it really in the spirit of the site to take such obvious joy in shutting her down? People are weird. Everyone is suddenly prepared to defend Pizza Hut to the death against a slightly struggling mum trying to celebrate a kid’s birthday 🙄

Your comment about ‘Why is she so special’ is interesting. Is that what people automatically think when someone gets a rare break? So much ill feeling.

Exactly.

But they are paying separately.

But it’s only for one child and they are going as a group

I think its people don't like entitled people their has to be line. So op doesn't pay for a meal but everyone else should. Why is she so special. Then she doesn't pay for her shopping and everyone else does again because she thinks she's special. She's then setting this example to her child who then also think this is acceptable. Op has made it clear she can afford to pay and that she doesn't want to as she won't eat much as she's so teeny tiny. Most people don't get their moneys worth out of a buffet but you have a choice you either go or you don't. The business shouldn't have to change because op doesn't agree with it. I don't agree with lots of things I have to pay for but that's the price. I don't think I'm special and should be treated differently to any other person in this country.

In case you didn't see it, I mentioned several pages ago that this is a non conversation as your DD eats the buffet for free as long as you pay a minimum of £10 to eat something.

https://www.pizzahut.co.uk/restaurants/blog/kids-eat-free

I'm sure perceptions differ but at least you got a lot of attention.

🤣

I've lost my integrity many times in a Pizza Hut buffet 😢

The conversation continued because the OP wanted to continue to provoke the outrage. I'm surprised that it's taken so long for someone to nominate it for Classics. People are easily amused I suppose.