A few weeks ago, I ranted on the Green Screen about being charged extra the last two times I got a buffet-to-go from a local Chinese restaurant. Monday evening, I thought I'd give them one more try and made it a point to put less in my container. The lid closed easily as I made my way to the cash register. The cashier opened up my container and looked at the contents. I was still charged extra: $8.98 instead of $7.90. This was the same cashier who rang up my purchases previously. I probably should have asked why, but I was too tired and too hungry to argue. I have no one but my self to blame for paying it and walking out with my food.
I e-mailed some of my friends about my experiences, and a couple of them suggested that I call the manager and express my grief. It had not occurred to me to do that, but once I read that suggestion it made perfect sense. Another friend whom I e-mailed my experiences became miffed because the cashier opened up my container to see what I had and then charged extra. I even had a co-worker tell me that it looked like I was being discriminated against because of my body size (I don't want to go there). My supervisor told me that a restaurant shouldn't offer "all you can eat" if they're going to charge you extra for some of the contents.
Anyway, I called the manager yesterday afternoon. He was extremely friendly and took the time to answer my questions completely. As long as the lid can be closed on the container, the cost is $7.90. If the lid has to be bent to be closed or if it cannot be closed, then they have to charge extra; that has always been the policy. Also, if there is an excess of seafood items, they need to charge extra for that because the seafood items are much more expensive. Admittedly, I had a lot of braised shrimp in my container the last four times.
I explained to him how it seemed that the extra charges were added to my dinner cost coincided with the new cashier that works during the evening, that I had not seen the other two cashiers in a while. I'm embarrassed to say I did not understand everything he said in his answer, so the following is an assumption on my part based on what I could understand: in recent months, he had seen an increase in the amount of food being placed in the containers, and the restaurant was losing money. The other two cashiers I had referred to earlier apparently were not charging extra for customers overstuffing their to-go containers. When the new cashier started working in the evening, the manager started to reinforce their posted policy about being able to close the lid on the to-go containers, plus start charging extra if the customer had a lot of seafood items.
He was very apologetic about my dismay and confusion about being charged extra and not knowing why. He further stated that he did appreciate the repeat business I had given him and hoped that he was able to adequately answer my questions. I told him that I did understand and that I appreciated his taking the time to answer them and explain why.
On a final note, the restaurant is one of the few in town that are not charging their buffet-to-go by the pound.
The above entry was originally posted on the Green Screen. Since that post was made, several responses were made, perpetuating a "spirited" debate. A couple of posters disagreed with me and referred to me as a cheap glutton, but a large majority understood my viewpoint and felt the same way I did. Will I continue to patronize this restaurant? Probably, but not as often as I used to. Until I spoke with the manager, I was ready to completely write the establishment off my list.
