Old People and Buffets

[alchemy]

Once and for all, what is the deal with old people and their attraction to eating at buffets?

Personally I don't understand it.

If you go into a regular restaurant, you have a fairly diverse cross section of clientele. Sure, there are some exceptions, but for the most part, you see all kinds of folks at normal restaurants.

Now, go into a buffet place...like say...Lubys or Firrs...or Golden Corral...

Go ahead, I'll wait.....

.................................................................................

................................................................................

................................................................................

..........................Yeah! You see?! Nothing but blue-hairs! What's up with that?!

It's like there's a minimum age requirement to enter one of these places.

I mean, it's literally all you see...

- Old people creeping around here and there looking like they've lost their keys in the egg salad or something...

- Disgruntled workers rolling their eyes and yet another blue-hair complains that such and such piece of food is to hard to chew or digest or whatever...

- Little old ladies hunched over tables shoveling gobs of potato salad into their wrinkled pie-holes

- Some old geezer raving about how good the collard greens are yelling at his wife to try the okra...and then yelling at her to try the okra a few more dozen times to make sure she heard him...which she probably didn't.

- Some old lady complaining that there's to much hot pepper in the brown gravy

- Some old speed demon rascal-ing around the place trying to find the bathroom

Ugh

Even my relatives get in on the act. Every year around my birthday, I get the inevitable call from my parents or something about how they want to take me out to dinner...which is fine, except the place their all excited about going to is the new buffet that opened up or something.

I don't get it! Does anybody have an answer for this?

I do have my own personal theory, but not much to back it up.

I think that somewhere in everybody's body there is a gene that lays dormant until a certain age is reached. Let's say, for arguments sake, that that age is around 60 or so. Anyway, as soon as that specific age is reached, that little dormant gene wakes up and starts sends lots of new messages to the brain like: "You know, a buffet would sound really good right about now" or "You know, I've never eaten at a Luby's, but I bet they have really good food" or "Isn't this place great! You get your choice of anything you want to eat" or "I think that waitress stole some money out of my purse when I wasn't looking"

Opinions?

 

[Knox The Hatter]

Bet you didn't know that you have to be 65 in order to drive a Buick, did you?

By the way, the creamed chipped beef in the central section of bain-maries is pretty good! 😉

 

[Mitchell]

alchemy, Lancaster, PA is buffet heaven. There are many types of buffets here, from chinese, to fried chicken, to other types.

To answer your question: The reason you might see so many old people at buffets is that buffets are usually inexpensive, for as much as you can eat. Many elderly people live on a fixed income (Social Security, pension), so maybe they figure a buffet is a good place to get a decent meal, for cheap.

In Lancaster, while one will see some elderly people at buffets, that is not always the case. People of all ages flock into the chinese and fried chicken buffets here, for the reasons I described above. Also, if a couple is trying to feed themselves, and one or two kids, a family of four can sometimes eat for as little as 30 bucks, total, including drinks. That's a pretty good value, when you consider how much a sit down meal would cost for such a family.

Mitch

 

[CMartin]

All I know is....if you don't have a buffet, be ready to get an ear-full.....

Years ago I used to be a Manager at a KFC...(Yes, I know the colonel was evil, etc.)

SOME KFCs have buffets.....not ALL.......

I used to get lit up by elderly patrons demanding to know "Why don't you have a buffet?!?! "Old Country Buffet has a buffet!!! Why not you?!?!?"

After restraining myself from saying "No problem!!! Let me bend over and produce one from my posterior.......", I would just politely apologize and direct them to a place that did.

 

[Mitchell]

impaler, that's an amazing story.

Lancaster has several KFC's, but none of them have buffets. In fact, I don't even recall ever being to a KFC that has a buffet.

Sorry to hear about what those people did to you. They sound extremely rude.

Mitch

 

[Flatfoot]

Mitch pretty much spelled it out. Buffets are fodder for fixed-income senior citizens and families that don't stop procreating. Low price + mediocre food^the infinity power = a great deal.

They're also a great place to catch food-poisoning, or some other sickness from hastily washed plates and silverware, and shared serving spoons. I noticed Golden Corral started putting bottles of sanitizer all over the place, which are ALSO shared, and do nothing but create super-germs.

 

[BellaRisa]

Once and for all, what is the deal with old people and their attraction to eating at buffets?

Personally I don't understand it.

If you go into a regular restaurant, you have a fairly diverse cross section of clientele. Sure, there are some exceptions, but for the most part, you see all kinds of folks at normal restaurants.

Now, go into a buffet place...like say...Lubys or Firrs...or Golden Corral...

Go ahead, I'll wait.....

.................................................................................

................................................................................

................................................................................

..........................Yeah! You see?! Nothing but blue-hairs! What's up with that?!

It's like there's a minimum age requirement to enter one of these places.

I mean, it's literally all you see...

- Old people creeping around here and there looking like they've lost their keys in the egg salad or something...

- Disgruntled workers rolling their eyes and yet another blue-hair complains that such and such piece of food is to hard to chew or digest or whatever...

- Little old ladies hunched over tables shoveling gobs of potato salad into their wrinkled pie-holes

- Some old geezer raving about how good the collard greens are yelling at his wife to try the okra...and then yelling at her to try the okra a few more dozen times to make sure she heard him...which she probably didn't.

- Some old lady complaining that there's to much hot pepper in the brown gravy

- Some old speed demon rascal-ing around the place trying to find the bathroom

Ugh

Even my relatives get in on the act. Every year around my birthday, I get the inevitable call from my parents or something about how they want to take me out to dinner...which is fine, except the place their all excited about going to is the new buffet that opened up or something.

I don't get it! Does anybody have an answer for this?

I do have my own personal theory, but not much to back it up.

I think that somewhere in everybody's body there is a gene that lays dormant until a certain age is reached. Let's say, for arguments sake, that that age is around 60 or so. Anyway, as soon as that specific age is reached, that little dormant gene wakes up and starts sends lots of new messages to the brain like: "You know, a buffet would sound really good right about now" or "You know, I've never eaten at a Luby's, but I bet they have really good food" or "Isn't this place great! You get your choice of anything you want to eat" or "I think that waitress stole some money out of my purse when I wasn't looking"

Opinions?

You're a single, childless guy well under 60; what are you doing hanging around buffet places enough to make these observations?

 

[CMartin]

You're a single, childless guy well under 60; what are you doing hanging around buffet places enough to make these observations?

Excellent question.... 😛

Maybe he's in search for the Texas equivalent of "Venray"....

 

[Angel77]

My guess is that a lot of older folks are on fixed incomes, like has already been mentioned, or have been through the Depression and all so even though it's been a long time since then, that mentality still sticks. It did for my pap. He appreciated a good value in everything, whether it was for food or what have you. Buffets are usually places that pride themselves on having pretty good prices, not to mention there's usually an additional discount for seniors as well.

I'm not that old yet but I certainly appreciate a good value at my age. And I really appreciate AYCE crab legs.

 

[Mitchell]

Flat, in Lancaster, many of the buffets are actually very good. As you may know, we are also a big tourist area, so maybe the buffets here are at a higher standard than was talked about earlier in this thread,

Bella, I'm a single, childless guy who is only 40. I go to buffets.. several times a month. I go because I enjoy the food, for the fact that it's cheap, lol, and the fact that I can pig out for a small amount of money. In fact, I'm headed to the chinese buffet later this afternoon. At this buffet, during lunch hour, on weekdays, there are actually many executive looking types in suits and ties, who hustle in, quickly eat one or two plates of food, and hustle out before their lunch hour is over. Another advantage to buffets is that one doesn't have to wait 20 minutes or more for a waitress to bring you your food. You get it yourself, and, if you are on a time schedule to get back to work, or to a meeting, you can be in, and out, faster than any sit down place.

Mitch

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

Other than when we go to visit my dad, Drew & I rarely go to buffet places. It's not that we don't like them. We do. But, around here, people seem to return food that they've decided they don't want. They also sneeze and/or cough all over the food. The required glass "shield" does no good when it sists so low as to force people to duck under it to reach stuff...often dragging sleeves through the food in the process. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Seniors aren't the only ones who love buffets. Big families, those on fixed incomes and those who simply like a lot of food also seem to enjoy it. For some, it may be their only decent meal of the day. And, what's wrong with that? A good deal is a good deal. When you have limitted funds to work with, you go where the deals are and make the most of it.

 

[Mitchell]

In my eleven years living here, I've never seen people sneeze or cough all over the food. I'm sorry to hear that happens where you are. That's gross! Also, at buffets in Lancaster, there is a rule, you cant return food. You have to eat what you take, and, if they see you intentionally wasting food, like taking plates and plates, and not finishing it, they will charge you not only the price of the sit down buffet, but also an additional surcharge for what they would charge people for carrying it out, which is by the pound.

Ugh, and to think I'm going to eat at a buffet in about two hours. "Hopes he can forget about this thread by then".

Mitch

 

[venray]

You're a single, childless guy well under 60; what are you doing hanging around buffet places enough to make these observations?

He goes there to pick up chicks............................

(sorry Alch.....it was there)

Cheap food where you control the portions and get a wide variety...same reason everyone goes..

 

[venray]

Excellent question.... 😛

Maybe he's in search for the Texas equivalent of "Venray"....

Someone needs a good "V8 Bitch Slap"......Classy...take care of this for me in Philly!😎

(dont forget the ice...)

 

[Flatfoot]

Mitch, if buffets are a staple in Lancaster and good quality, that's awesome. That could be a result of good business. Here, I noticed Chinese buffets are not very popular. Thus, with little business, they'll leave the food sitting out under the lights all night without replacing it, to cut costs. Why put out fresh food that no one's eating? That scares off many customers, which causes a repeating cycle, and a bad reputation for Chinese restaurants. Also, during one of my past trips to Golden Corral (North Carolina, not Ohio.), our waitress was cleaning around our area, when she answered her cellphone, and proceeded to describe to the woman on the other line how she currently had pink eye. This woman was handling our plates (back before they started to put them up near the food.). My wife and I, barely one plate into our meal, looked at each other, stopped eating, and left. Quick waste of about $20. I can eat buffets, but I have to suppress my germaphobic instincts to enjoy them.

Also, I'm with Angel on the AYCE crab legs!

 

[Mitchell]

Flat, I'm sorry to hear about your experience at the buffet with the waitress with pink eye. That sounds, unappetizing, to say the least. So does the idea of the buffet leaving the food out all night, to cut costs.

I've never known of a buffet here to recycle food from the night before. However, I will say that there are times of the day that one does not want to visit a buffet. Certain buffets, in the middle of day, say, 2 to 3 pm, between lunch and dinner, might have cold food that is left over from lunch. The same can be said if one goes late at night, well after dinner, before closing. I rarely eat at buffets that late at night, though.


Mitch

 

[Soda Bobinski]

I used to get lit up by elderly patrons demanding to know "Why don't you have a buffet?!?! "Old Country Buffet has a buffet!!! Why not you?!?!?"

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold up , waitasec , time out!

Old Country Buffet ... has a buffet?!




Fuck. Me.

 

[BellaRisa]

Flat, in Lancaster, many of the buffets are actually very good. As you may know, we are also a big tourist area, so maybe the buffets here are at a higher standard than was talked about earlier in this thread,

Bella, I'm a single, childless guy who is only 40. I go to buffets.. several times a month. I go because I enjoy the food, for the fact that it's cheap, lol, and the fact that I can pig out for a small amount of money. In fact, I'm headed to the chinese buffet later this afternoon. At this buffet, during lunch hour, on weekdays, there are actually many executive looking types in suits and ties, who hustle in, quickly eat one or two plates of food, and hustle out before their lunch hour is over. Another advantage to buffets is that one doesn't have to wait 20 minutes or more for a waitress to bring you your food. You get it yourself, and, if you are on a time schedule to get back to work, or to a meeting, you can be in, and out, faster than any sit down place.

Mitch

Ah. Fair enough; just don't start a thread about whether girls like guys that live with their parents and go to buffets 😉

 

[Saeria]

I demand these buffets to have seating areas for "youngsters".

 

[TangerineTicklee]

All I know is....if you don't have a buffet, be ready to get an ear-full.....

Years ago I used to be a Manager at a KFC...(Yes, I know the colonel was evil, etc.)

SOME KFCs have buffets.....not ALL.......

I used to get lit up by elderly patrons demanding to know "Why don't you have a buffet?!?! "Old Country Buffet has a buffet!!! Why not you?!?!?"

After restraining myself from saying "No problem!!! Let me bend over and produce one from my posterior.......", I would just politely apologize and direct them to a place that did.

...I do admit that I use to like KFC, solely for their buffet. On the other hand, I wouldn't have treated you like that. I would have commented - maybe - but I wouldn't attack you for it. Attacking doesn't get anyone anywhere.

Did you ever have their breaded cinnamon pudding? Their other puddings? Their macaroni? 😀 Isn't it great?

 

[Cy/MiG]

Mitch pretty much spelled it out. Buffets are fodder for fixed-income senior citizens and families that don't stop procreating. Low price + mediocre food^the infinity power = a great deal.

So true.

I went to a buffet for a birthday party a few weeks back (hey, it was a family thing, sue me!) and I swear to God that I was one of not more than three people who even partook of the salad bar.

They're also a great place to catch food-poisoning, or some other sickness from hastily washed plates and silverware, and shared serving spoons. I noticed Golden Corral started putting bottles of sanitizer all over the place, which are ALSO shared, and do nothing but create super-germs.

Super germs!!! My favorite!!!

A few artists renditions:

😀

 

[Cy/MiG]

I demand these buffets to have seating areas for "youngsters".

They probably do, but most said areas have chairs that come w/ booster seats. 😀

 

[Soda Bobinski]

Super germs!!! My favorite!!!

A few artists renditions:

😀

Uh-oh! Cavity Creeps!!!

... & me w/o my Crest. 🙁

 

[TklDuo-Drew]

do girls like guys who live with their parents.....and go to buffets?

Was just curious.






Drew

 

[TropicThunder]

Was just curious.






Drew

as long as your parents aren't coming to the buffett, I'm good.