Perpetual Ruminations

Thursday

It's almost nine in the evening and my last day off for the week. Kind of sad to see them pass so quickly, and not have much done. But, the weather wasn't the best for doing much of anything, and the mosquitoes are so thick because of the wetness that you get eaten alive in just a few minutes outside. Hot and humid with some severe storms moving by, but we were lucky and didn't get much for rain, wind, or storms. Sixty miles south west of us another town was devastated by a tornado, and a lot of weather related damage all around us. It's cooler tonight, and hopefully the bad weather is over for a while. I'm not sure what the forecast is, I haven't looked at it yet today, but with cooler air, there's less likely hood  of any severe storms.

We did get a some stuff accomplished over the three days off, Rhonda more so than I did. She got a lot done upstairs today, I just kind of spent a lazy day and didn't do much at all. I did get the grass mowed on Tuesday, but I kind of got my back hurting in the process. Not bad, but pretty stiff and sore today. I think the weather has a lot to do with it, too. We went in for dinner at the Pizza Ranch yesterday, and we both enjoyed a nice dinner out.

We managed to time it out almost perfectly for dining out at a buffet. The dinner hours started at five and we got there about four thirty five. By the time we went in and paid, it was about twenty minutes to wait, so we enjoyed a nice salad and conversation. We were the only two guests in the place, so it was quiet and nice. Then, about ten minutes before the buffet started, they set up the tables and brought out a few dishes. It was nice and hot, fresh, and no competition to get to the food before it was picked over.

I got some chicken strips and waffle fries to start out, then a chicken thigh and a couple of slices of pizza. It was now just a few minutes after five and a few people were coming in and paying as I sat back down. Rhonda came back from the buffet with some chicken and pizza as well, but she also had gotten a couple of slices of dessert pizza. This item goes very fast, and it's difficult to get a slice at all when it's busy. I followed her lead and went back, got another piece of chicken and some potatoes and gravy. Then another slice of pizza and a couple of slices of dessert pizza. I topped off my plate with a couple more chicken strips and returned to the table.

By now it was getting kind of busy and more and more diners were showing up. I enjoyed my hot food while I watched people at the buffet with kids, letting them stick their fingers in the foods, I watched adults who didn't seem to understand the idea of the buffet pile plates as full as they could, using the same u tinsel in all the different foods, I watched as some people actually picked up an item and ate it while they filled their plates, and thought about how we had our food before anyone else had gotten a chance. Hot, fresh, and uncontaminated.

I guess I had not ever really watched how some people act at a buffet, but after seeing them yesterday, I will be more picky about what I take. I know I will be watching for fresh foods to be put out if the containers are low, and not take anything that people have had their hands in. Normally we eat at the buffet at HyVee. It's a grocery store with a nice buffet that serves a combination of foods; Italian style foods, like pizza and some pastas, Chinese style foods, and then the country style foods like chicken, ribs, and all sorts of side dishes. They also have a nice soup and salad bar, complete with fruit, puddings and deserts.

Except for the salad bar, it is not a self serve buffet. The main foods are behind glass and you have to ask for different items. This is nice, because you know that nobody has stuck their fingers in anything, the foods are all dished with clean utensils, and kids can't get at anything. They also have smaller amounts out, and fill them more regularly. The salad bar is open to the public, but not many people actually take anything from the salad bar, except for the desserts and fruits. Even this is watched close, though, since it is right across from the areas where you get your hot foods. Also, it is higher up and more difficult for kids to get at, and I have not seen much for people putting their hands into the foods or tasting things before they dish them up. All in all, it's a nice buffet.

It's great they offer Chinese foods, too, since the local Chinese Buffet is terrible. They started out fine, with good food, hot, and fresh, but it went down hill fast. The foods are usually warm, not hot, they don't put fresh out very often, and it's dirty and run down inside. They had one uptown for a while, but that kind of sent down hill, like this one. In fact, it's the same people, and the one uptown was nice at first, but started to run down pretty quickly. As this one began to lose business, they opened a second buffet across town and at first it was clean and nice.

By this time the one uptown was closed and shortly after, the second won began to deteriorate. It was the same thing, it was getting dirty, the foods were not as hot, and items didn't get filled as fast. As business dwindled, they opened a new one up out by Walmart. It was fancy and nice at first, hot foods, a large selection, and foods came out frequently to replace the ones that had been out for a while. The second buffet soon closed, or was shut down, and then the third one, out by Walmart began to go down hill. At first it was just afew little things, like grubby finger prints on the brass works that never seemed to go away. Then one time while we were eating I seen one of the workers using a wisk-broom to sweep the carpet.

I noticed this, and while I noticed, I seen how dirty and stained the carpet was. That had me looking more and I noticed everything was kind of gungy looking. We finished our meal and have not gone back. If the eating area is this dirty and dingy, what is the perpetration area like? That's behind closed doors, and I can only image how clean they keep that. I did not know at the time that it was the same people that run them all, but learned that later. I suppose they will open a new buffet someplace close by, maybe across town or something, and shortly after, this one will close. It seems to be how they run then, around here at least.

The Chinese Buffet in Grand Rapids Minnesota was just the opposite. They kept the place up very well, it was always clean, and the foods fresh and hot. If something was low, the container was pulled and a fresh container of the food was put in it's place. There were always a couple of employees walking around the buffet area checking foods, temperatures, and filling items, and they always had a couple of employees checking on tables to see if anyone had any complaints. Good food, hot, and fresh, and very much in touch with the customers. Here it's just the opposite, they just don't seem to want to put anything back into the place and soon start taking short cuts on everything. Even the types of foods offered change, getting cheaper and cheaper as time passes.

Well, now I went and made myself hungry, so I'm going to get a bit to eat and relax in front of the television for a bit...