Rude behaviour at buffets

[ChopstickNovice]

We are in Gran Canaria and it's been LOVELY. Not actually encountered any cheeky fuckery at all until this morning.

I was at the hot drink machine (one of 3 in a row) dispensing hot water into a teapot. A man came up beside me, paused my hot water, made himself a cappuccino and then walked off! Not a word. Didn't even look at me.

I mention that he was very old only because it maybe explains that he didn't realise I was there? But he was aware enough to stop the hot water, so....? Also there were two free machines right there!

I was so surprised I didn't say anything.

Please tell me your stories of buffet (all inclusive or otherwise) cheeky fuckery!

Indeed they are, i had the misfortune to stay in a hotel in Sharm-el-sheik that was full of Russians, they applied scorched earth tactics to the buffets, clearing everything as if they had never had a meal in their lives. They also took up all the seats when there was in hotel entertainment and on the snorkeling boat trip. Us poor polite Brits never got a look in. Nightmare. The rudest most aggressive people I've ever had the misfortune to be around.

Once a hotel we were staying in put on special themed nights complete with wines of that country.
We were shown to our table, wines were brought and poured, then husband and I went off to pick our food. At the buffet I glanced back and saw the woman at the next table, which was crowded, turn around and put all her dirty plates on our table.

I put my own food down on a counter (no room now on the table) stacked her plates up, said "Excuse me", and put the lot back in front of her. She said not a word....ignorant cow.

We run a local junior football club. A few years ago we had our end of season presentation. Around 250 people attended and we did not charge a penny - instead we asked for donations to the club funds. The buffet cost round £1.5k.

People literally fought like animals over the buffet as if they'd starved themselves all week for it (It was amazing I'll admit, and there was more than plenty) and we received a grand total of £20 in donations (and one person put a tenner in!).

Needless to say we are charging this year 😂

.....and another one. I once went to a funeral of a distant family member. We were all invited back to a pub afterwards and had a typical funeral buffet.

Towards the end of the afternoon, the deceased's next of kin came round and charged us all £5 each....

I am in my 50s and have never done all-inclusive holidays and never will. These buffets sound an absolute nightmare. I want to punch every CF mentioned on this thread!

A few years ago me, dh and mum-in-law attended her great nephew’s wedding, and the reception afterwards was in a marquee in the grounds of the bride’s parents’ house (very posh!). One of the guests at each table had been chosen to carry in the roast beef joint to their table and carve slices for each of their fellow diners. My husband was the one for our table. He duly did what had been asked, passing plates each side for me and mum-in-law to pass round. Obviously we were the last to be served our roast beef. Only to find that all the other guests had taken all the vegetable sides and most of the roast potatoes! We asked the caterers if there were more vegetables to be had - no, all tables had had their allocated amounts. So the three of us had roast beef and a couple of the tiny roast potatoes that had been picked over. We didn’t know the other guests and none of them even looked embarrassed at their CF-ery.
Thank goodness we’d had the most delicious canapés earlier in the afternoon, and also the caterers did fish and chips in the evening. We made sure we were nearly first in the queue!
My mum-in-law was very close to her great nephew and his bride and made sure to tell them what had happened, they were horrified.
We did enjoy the wedding though, I’ve never drank as much good champagne and Pimms as I did there!

Bloody hell that sounds like a faff having to serve everyone else! Well done for bossing it with the fish and chips though haha!

I also witnessed a man at a carvery-type buffet who took the entire crackling off a leg of pork. The whole thing. Loaded it on his plate and walked away with a big satisfied smile on his face. What a total c---.

Mind you, I've noticed the pig people who behave like this at buffets are usually the sort who don't know how to use a knife and fork.

It's bonkers when people are so desperate to triumph over ordinary folk who are just doing their job to earn their wages, or enjoying a holiday - as though they had finally vanquished their eternal nemesis.

Your parents were 100% in the right there - assuming that they'd paid for X amount of food and not just a set fee for their guests to keep on eating and eating until they finally exploded!

I used to work as breakfast chef in a hotel where local theatre acts stayed and if there were more than 40 people it was buffet style, the Russian imperial circus performers , I have never seen such greed as others have said whole trays of bacon sausages scrambled egg for each table, I think our food gdp went down faster than the UKs that week

Not a buffet but this reminds me of a cross-channel ferry I was on once where there was a Russian guy reclining like a Roman emperor on a cushioned bench while eating a full English with just a fork. He picked up a fried egg on the fork and dangled in into his mouth. I'm usually a pretty good sailor but that left me feeling more than a bit queasy.

Another classic was the bloke who thought he could make cheese on toast in the conveyor-belt toaster. The whole thing went up in flames. Smoke everywhere. Alarms going off. He just stood there and looked at the ensuing carnage like he had no idea how fire is made. Pillock.

This thread certainly hits home at how utterly horrendous some people are, both on holiday and at home.
I thought after going on holiday to Israel a couple of times and seeing the ignorant way the staff were treated in nice hotels (mainly Jewish families from Israel) was bad enough, but the Russians sound even worse.😕

I can only assume that the legacy of the old Soviet communist days must run deep. I suppose, if you - or your parents/grandparents who passed that background culture on down the line - grew up being used to a necessary everybody-for-themselves attitude, joining long queues without even knowing what they were for, in the hope that there might be something left for you when you finally got to the front... if you now find yourself in a situation where there's an enormous amount of food right in front of you, and you're allowed to just reach out and help yourself to as much as ever you like, it's not surprising that old habits would die hard and many Russian people would just pounce on it like locusts.

Well done. ! And did she say anything ?

As a vegan I've learned the hard way to bring my own food to work /conference buffets. So often there was zero left and i had to go hungry. But that's catering thing too.

Years ago when Toby Carveries were just starting up..one opened near us so we decided to go.
There was plenty of food and no argybargy at the buffet..but what made me laugh was went I went to ladies..sone desperate woman had taken off her pantie girdle and shoved it behind the cistern..
Maybe it was the case of a roast potato too far..

Diving holiday. Amazing buffet on boat. Brits picked up plates and formed an orderly queue. The 'other nationality' descended like locusts and shoved to the front. One woman actually physically slapped my hand away when we reached for the same buffet item.

The whole thing was hilarious

DC has just reminded me of the lady who told her off for not using the tongs to pick up an apple. The tongs that didn't open wide enough to pick up an apple and were in fact for the peach slices!

I'm also baffled by the people who insist on having every major food group piled onto the same plate. Meat pie, chips, gravy with a nice big piece of fried cod balanced on top draped with spag bol and several cakes crammed around the edges of the plate. Mmmm.

Have witnessed similar.

I'd add that they each had a bottle of vodka which they swigged from while they tucked in. Hardcore.

Yep - the vodka is commonplace. One 5 star hotel I stayed at some years ago the Russian contingent had brought a bunch of prostitutes with them. Vodka and lap dances over breakfast anyone?

oh my God.. how lowlife is that..