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AIBU?

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Original poster

Was this acceptable cafe behaviour or a big faux pas??

217 replies

AHardDaysWrite · 18/03/2014 20:45

We're having lunch in a busy cafe (me, DH, two dcs). We ordered a main meal each plus two sides of chips to share. All the chips were soon polished off. On the next table was a woman and her son. She ordered chips for him, but when they arrived he only ate a couple and refused the rest. They left soon afterwards. My DS wanted more chips, so I gave him the (largely untouched) portion from that table. DH was aghast but my reasoning was that the waiter was only going to bin them anyway - why waste food? Was I BU?

OP posts:
Sirzy · 18/03/2014 20:47

well its not something I would have done personally!

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 18/03/2014 20:47

I'm just perplexed at the idea of a child who only eats a couple of chips. Was it some kind of cyborg, do you think?

WorraLiberty · 18/03/2014 20:48

But you and your family wouldn't have been wasting the food because it wasn't yours to waste.

It's the kind of thing I'd allow my kids to do if we were starving/on the bread line I suppose.

But not after eating a meal with a side order of chips - no.

iliketea · 18/03/2014 20:49

I think YWBU, but that's more a gut reaction of taking uneaten food of someone else's table a bit bleurgh. And having someone else's fingers in the food and then you take it and eat it

Original poster
AHardDaysWrite · 18/03/2014 20:49

No idea, Jesus. Sirzy, I wouldn't normally get random leftovers from a table, but I knew these chips were barely touched.

OP posts:
SaucyJack · 18/03/2014 20:49

Respect.

pussycatdoll · 18/03/2014 20:49

Cheeky ! And unnerving that you were watched the other people so closely
Because you wouldn't have taken them if you'd seen anything untoward going on with them like loads if salt etc

TeaAndALemonTart · 18/03/2014 20:50

Eww.

KnittingRocks · 18/03/2014 20:50

Grin @ Jesus!

Yuck - no, wouldn't have done it myself!

furlinedsheepskinjacket · 18/03/2014 20:51

big faux pas

hth

expatinscotland · 18/03/2014 20:51

How do you what they were going to do with the chips? Totally unacceptable.

SackAndCrack · 18/03/2014 20:51

I used to regularly go to the pub with my friends on a sunday. On arrival if my friend saw any roast dinner left overs on a table near by she would eat them.

That I couldnt get my head round. What if they gobbed/sneezed/retched into it?

At least you witnessed the previous owners of your second hand chips.

Despite this, it made me love my crazy friend even more.

Its not for me. Neither strangers, cold, left over, retched up roast dinners, nor unloved and rejected chips.

But if thats what you want to do, then go for it.

Ive eaten food from skips before though, thats a proper waste.

dyslexicdespot · 18/03/2014 20:52

I admire you for taking them, although I would not have done so myself!

Original poster
AHardDaysWrite · 18/03/2014 20:52

Why eeew, though? They were chips in one of those pretentious little baskets. It's not like a half-chewed sandwich or something. He literally had two of them (I wasn't watching obsessively, but he made a big fuss about not wanting them and pushing them away).

OP posts:
Beamur · 18/03/2014 20:53

My first reaction was yuk, but then I can see the logic of your decision! Don't think I'd do it myself though.

WorraLiberty · 18/03/2014 20:55

So while you were eating your own meal and a side order of chips, you never took your eyes off the child's food on the other table?

No wonder they left Grin

Original poster
AHardDaysWrite · 18/03/2014 20:56

Expat, what else would a cafe do with leftover chips? I rather hope the only other option is that they would have been thrown away!

OP posts:
Latara · 18/03/2014 20:56

But they were breathing on them... yuck!

ArtexMonkey · 18/03/2014 20:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AdventColander · 18/03/2014 21:10

I would polish off family members' leftovers but not those of total strangers. You don't know anything about these people, if they've got a virus, if they washed their hands after using the loo. YABU.

YouStayClassySanDiego · 18/03/2014 21:12

Really?

I think it's appalling that you helped yourself to leftover foid from another table.

Not only have you given the green light to yoyr children to carry on eating regardless [ after a full meal each] you've made it clear to them there are no limits.

I'm stunned at your boldness.

phonebox · 18/03/2014 21:13

Lol. I've done similar before, just not for quite some time.

FGS I hope people aren't being serious about the potential "germs". Everyone encounters far worse in their daily lives out in public.

Kif · 18/03/2014 21:13

I wouldn't.

The price of eating out being what it is compared to buying the same food in Iceland it's more about the experience and the style than the nutrition. Nicking food is a bit uncouth and it would take the shine off the treat for me.

vestandknickers · 18/03/2014 21:14

Bit disgusting. Not a hugely big deal though.

FlumpieWumpie · 18/03/2014 21:14

Couldn't you have just ordered your table more chips?
I do see your point completely. Yep the chips would have been bin-bound. BUT, they would have been breathing on them (YUCK - I remember being offered my nannies roast potatoes when I was little and although I said YES PLEASE, they always smelt different/weird). And surely they would have been cold? Chip/fries not an issue here as DC not big fans.
We wouldn't have done. But can't argue - you were there.