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But isn't that kind of what happened in your situation? Your group left the table, left the food, and so the busboy came and cleaned it up. He was doing his job.
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Originally Posted by Sundaydrive00
Thats not what the OP was describing though. Its not as if the OP said they were still sitting at the table eating when the pizzas were taken away. He said that they were done eating and were 10 feet away from the table when the food was cleared. It sounded like the bus boy thought they were done, and was just doing his job.
No, we never said we were done eating. That would imply they asked us which they didn't. Yeah, it's their job to clean up the place, but in a customer service/hospitality environment, you'd think they would check in with the people who are paying you money and for your tips.
Several of us did want to take several slices home. And yes, they do allow take out. Some of the attendees left earlier and got their food to go.
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Originally Posted by cape_fisherman
What do you 'think' they did with it?
Takes a gross ass person to eat food from a strange person's plate. In 15 years of being in foodservice I have never witnessed such an act.
Heh... I believe it was a Yahoo.com article... they published some confessions and observations from those in the food service industry... one such confession was that the staff were so busy during crunch time that they didn't really have time to eat. When walking down a long hallway, the staff would grab a fork in the apron and take a few bites from the large serving dish of food prior to bringing it to the table.
I don't know what they really did with it. If they thought we were done, standard case is to throw out uneaten food. If they really did want to dig into it.... it can be gross, but 2 whole pizzas is roughly $32 worth of food, probably enough for 12 meals. When you need to save money, can't really blame them. Besides, if you're really worried about "gross", I'd like to think you wouldn't be eating at a restaurant anyways. They don't always enforce washing your hands and other health codes.
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Originally Posted by emm74
I think it was a bit of a miscommunication all around. You spoke to the waitress, but obviously that's not the entire staff and she may not have even thought about the bus boy. I think there was some responsibility on your group, that if you were done with the eating portion of the event, you could have actively let someone know and asked for the food to be boxed, or to bring boxes and divvy it up yourselves.
Otherwise, if no one had bothered to tell him, the bus boy was not out of line for thinking that a group of patrons who had been eating in one location in the restaurant and had moved to another location for a different activity were through with their meals. And sometimes for work events, people do not take leftovers because they may be staying in a hotel or not have fridge space back at their office to store it.
The waitress claimed she let the bus boy know of that. Perhaps he forgot anyways (every other other one looks flustered. When you work in the service industry, it can be hard work with long hours), or maybe she made it up to save face. [shrug]
While some of these situations are true, it'd be nice to be given the option. All of us were driving home right afterwards. It's like a server just assuming you're in for chicken soup rather than asking if you would like soup or salad.
Two whole pizzas worth is like two slices here, one there, three over at the other end...maybe 12 to fifteen slices in total spread out over a whole section of tables where nobody was sitting. Sounds like garbage to me.
It is never acceptable for restaurant workers to take away the food a customer has paid for without asking. Sorry. The restaurant owes you brand-new full portions of whatever meals were taken away, and good restaurants will provide them when asked. Restaurant workers are often poorly trained and make mistakes, and management is well aware of that.
If you paid for the food, you're entitled to all of it, but the busboy probably though he was being considerate and doing a good thing by cleaning up without disturbing those watching the presentation. My suggestion is to let it go.
Yep. I think the busboy thought you abandoned the food, thus you didn't want it. Whether the restaurant was crowded or not, it makes any restaurant look trashy to have uneaten food just sit on tables unattended. You guys had already eaten, thus he was doing his job. It would only have taken a moment to ask for to-go boxes.
While some of these situations are true, it'd be nice to be given the option. All of us were driving home right afterwards. It's like a server just assuming you're in for chicken soup rather than asking if you would like soup or salad.
Yes, that's true. But you also should/could have taken more initiative (your group, not you as an individual) to make sure the leftovers were packaged to take home before leaving the table, and making it look as if it was ready to be cleared. It's not that you are 100% in the wrong, it's that there is enough blame to go around in terms of what could have been done differently to prevent this from happening.
No, we never said we were done eating. That would imply they asked us which they didn't. Yeah, it's their job to clean up the place, but in a customer service/hospitality environment, you'd think they would check in with the people who are paying you money and for your tips.
Several of us did want to take several slices home. And yes, they do allow take out. Some of the attendees left earlier and got their food to go.
You left the table, that implies that you are done eating. Restaurants are not just going to let tables sit empty and dirty. Most restaurants have rules against that, and staff must have a table cleared after so many minutes of the guests leaving the table. If you wanted to take home some food, then YOU should have asked for to go boxes before leaving the table. Or at least waited at the table until boxes were brought out.
They probably didn't ask you (the group) because you were in the middle of a business presentation, and they were trying to be respectful and not interrupt. I've worked in restaurants were we had private rooms that sometimes held business presentations. We were always told to give them "silent" service and to be as invisible as possible while the presentation was going on.
You were at a restaurant but 10 feet away from your table? So you had already left your table? if that is the case I'd think the restaurant was in the right to clear you tables and make it ready for other customers. How long do you think it should be OK to tie up tables in a restaurant after you leave them?
I agree that the patrons should have alerted the staff that they intend to return to their table to finish their dinner. And if most of the meal was still untouched, the staff also should have asked. It sounds like it was a somewhat unusual situation. Most restaurant patrons don't abandon their table after receiving their meal.
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