The Beet Incident

If you want to find out a person's personality, their up-bringing, and their general typical or atypical behavior, just spend a few minutes watching them at an all-you-can-eat buffet.  It won't take long before, as Cyndi Lauper so eloquently sang, you'll see their true colors shining through.  Case in point: something I call The Beet Incident. 

We were at Golden Corral the other day for lunch and were seated across from the salad bar portion of the buffet, giving us a clear view of the people filling their plates with salad items.  One woman caught my attention.  She had a plate piled high with salad and fresh vegetables, and I heard her ask the Hispanic woman behind the salad bar if they had any beets.  The worker might not have understood English very well, because I saw the woman point to an apparently empty spot on the salad bar and then she repeated in a louder voice "Beets. Do you have any more beets?" The worker shook her head no, and then went to ask two co-workers who also said no, they didn't have any more beets.  Well, apparently this wasn't what the woman wanted to hear.  I saw her go get one of the hostesses (I'm guessing that's the official title for the people that carry your tray to the table and who clear your plates) who also said no, they didn't have any more beets.  The woman was not going to take no for an answer.  She found the manager and dragged him over to the salad bar and he more or less shrugged his shoulders in a helpless sort of way.  The woman walked off, still carrying her full salad plate. 

A few minutes later, I saw the Hispanic worker with a gigantic can.  Yep.  You guessed it.  Beets.  She filled up the empty spot and one of the servers found the beet-loving woman and brought her back to the salad bar to show her they in deed found some beets.  The woman came back carrying a clean plate and then did something that almost made me come out of my chair.  The woman had the nerve to put one little beet slice on her plate.  Yes, I said one.  Not four or five, or even a plate full; one. All of that for one beet.  

I normally mind my own business during incidents like this but it was all I could do to keep from walking over to that woman and calling her out on that.  She aggrivated half of of the staff at Golden Corral over beets, and then only got one little slice.  If I'd been the woman with the gigantic can of them, I think I would have spilled them on her.  Then ran out the door.