That this does not constitute stealing?

[6079SmithW]

We recently enjoyed a self catering holiday. On the way we decided to break up the journey by stopping for breakfast at a well known chain pub/restaurant/hotel.
The menu was very complicated with only certain things being available to hotel guests rather than others.
My partner and I ordered a cooked breakfast, the DC just wanted something simple so I ordered them a bacon sandwich. I enquired about the small boxes of cereal on display as that was what the DC really wanted. I was told it was part of the hotel guests only breakfast and if DC wanted it it would br £6 each (£12). I ordered that too. My bill was over £30!
The hotel guests additional breakfast was basically the small boxes of cereals plus bread/crumpets to toast. The DC ate a box of cereal and one crumpet each.
Feeling aggrieved that I had spent over £30 on breakfast, and mindful that we were going on a self catering break, I decided to get my monies worth by taking with us a few additional individual portions of jam and Nutella (about 10-12) total. My partner accused me of stealing! WIBU?

Where does it say they offered all you can eat?

That's the nature of a buffet meal. I've never seen anything at hotel buffets that prevents people from making total pigs of themselves if they want.

I must say, OP, in your shoes I'd have told the DC that they'd have to wait till you'd reached your destination to have cereal. Surely they could have filled up on toast etc?

No, you were getting your money’s worth. I take the sachet of sauces we don’t use in restaurants. They already have my germs on them so I take them and use them for our self catering holidays.

Well, your husband is now an accessory after the fact and he is harbouring a criminal. If you go down, take him down with you

I wouldn't class as stealing

A couple yes - 10-12 is taking the michael.

• memberofthewedding

Re the hospitality lady who stated that hotels allowed for this. If the hotel has a buffet I often quite openly take a couple of rolls, jam, butter etc for later. Last time I was in an Italian hotel the waitress brought me a bag for them. If the buffet is included in the price of the room then per se you have already paid for it.

Some years ago I was on a group course at a residential college and the university paid for a buffet style lunch for us. Some of us took fruit, cheese and so on for the journey back. The waitress got a bit snippy with one girl she saw doing this. I was pretty quick to remind her that our employer had paid for the meal on our behalf and we were free to eat as much or as little as we wished. On the way out I complained to the manager who asked if we would like bags for what we had taken. No doubt the waitress intended to help herself to what was left as part of her perks!*

No doubt that is what the waitress was doing? More likely she was just following what her supervisor trained her to do.

In this scenario, it appears the manager appeased you because you mentioned your employer. A few doggy bags is a cheap way to get positive feedback and repeat custom!

I’ve been known to discretely slip a piece of fruit or a couple of jam portions in my bag at a continental breakfast buffet, but I know fine rightly that it’s not encouraged.

Some places will offer to pack a picnic breakfast for you to take away, but who really expects both?

Zzzzzzz

It wasn’t just six quid for a box of cereal it also included crumpets, and as the bill was thirty odd quid then the op and her husband had a fully cooked breakfast for approx 9 quid each.

They chose to eat there. They didn’t have to. They could have looked at the menu and said no. Or said the kids had to have the bacon sandwiches they originally ordered.

I am not sure it’s stealing as such, but I think it’s quite iffy behaviour to choose to eat somewhere, choose what to order, then stuff your bag with Nutella and jam as you don’t like the price.

Swear I saw you at the premiere inn on Monday morning! Was a woman with two kids encouraging them to stuff jam and Nutella packets in to their pockets
They even contemplated a yoghurt or two at one point!

Surely the £6 each price was for a continental breakfast not just cereal and a crumpet? Did they also have juice and choice of other food?

Taking 10 to 12 packs is just grabby

My mother always leaves cafes etc with sachets of everything tucked in her handbag, it was mortifying when I was a child and totally pointless. She still does it now, plus she never ends up using them, says they are for her caravan. Last time I saw her she presented me with a large sandwich bag full of loads she had amassed. Salt, pepper, vinegars, milk, sugar, mustard etc, mostly out of date. It's not even as if she is financially badly off.

Plus I've seen my mum barter in Asda ffs and get things reduced!

Why didn't you just stop off at a supermarket and buy a multipack of the mini cereal boxes? Your kids could have waited 15 minutes.
I'm struggling to believe you paid 12 quid for two, really... Both that they charged that much, and you were happy to pay it. Or not, as you felt "aggrieved" having done so 🤨

My MIL does this she has drawers full of little packets at home that FIL chucks away periodically.

Of course it's stealing! It's not their fault that you're daft enough to overpay for the other bits.

Of course it's fucking stealing. What do you think the word means?

I'd say that taking 2-3 would have been ok, 10 is pushing it. We also sometimes take a couple of bits from a buffet. We stayed at a Holiday Inn last week and rather than stuff ourselves silly at breakfast, the kids took away a muffin each.

Stealing or not, it’s chavvy.

Nothing looks worse in these places than people stuffing a load of packets and even croissants etc into their bags.

Some of us took fruit, cheese and so on for the journey back. The waitress got a bit snippy with one girl she saw doing this. I was pretty quick to remind her that our employer had paid for the meal on our behalf and we were free to eat as much or as little as we wished. On the way out I complained to the manager who asked if we would like bags for what we had taken. No doubt the waitress intended to help herself to what was left as part of her perks!

I bet you were ‘quick to remind her’. Poor woman. I agree with a PP that the manager decided that he could buy future custom from your employer cheaply with a few bags of food, but you shouldn’t have put him, or the waitress, in that position.

Would you have considered it acceptable to load up a shopping trolley with food from the breakfast buffet? By your logic, you were free to eat as much as you liked whenever you wanted, not just at breakfast.

As for suggesting that the waitress wanted to take a load of breakfast food for herself as a ‘perk’…where to begin with this? She challenged you for being greedy and, no doubt, breaking the rules of the hotel so now you have to paint her as a dishonest employee who is ‘helping herself’ to leftover bananas and bread rolls to presumably sell down the market? Christ.

@Waspsarearseholes 😂 long stretch?

Of course it’s stealing. Worse than that, it’s unbelievably bad form. I can feel my toes curling just thinking about it.

What you did was take the piss, what they did was daylight robbery!

I remember some of those all you can eat restaurants that used to be popular putting up signs telling people not to take food out with them and reserving the right to search people’s bags on exit. I went to one once, and one of the staff told me that people would bring carrier bags and load them up with fruit from the pudding section. Not just that, some of them would bring Tupperware containers to fill with eg chow mein for the week’s dinners. It’s barmy. Who does that?

@AlternativePerspective

Stealing or not, it’s chavvy.

Nothing looks worse in these places than people stuffing a load of packets and even croissants etc into their bags.

I just find it so mortifying, I refuse to go to these place with her now. My mums a bit hoity toity at the best of times, just don't get why?

I couldn't get worked up about this.