Is it OK to just take part of a dish or are you morally obligated to just take indiscriminately from the food tray?
For instance, I often just want some tomatos as a side dish. I’ll take tomato slices from a salad, leaving it short of tomatos for anyone who follows me. Is this moral?
Or, I hate eggplant. There’s one salad at a place I frequent which has a great salad except that it has eggplant in it. So I take everything but the eggplant, again leaving an imbalance. Is this moral?
A few days ago I was at a pay by the pound buffet and I watched a woman separating chicken meat from the bones, presumably so she wouldn’t have to pay for the bones. Is this moral?
I would say that 1 and 3 are unethical. 1 because if the restaurant had intended to provide a tomato side dish option they would have done so. 3 because the bones are built into the pricing. 2 is iffy–it depends on the composition of the dish, IMO. For example, I wouldn’t feel unethical avoiding the pineapple in a fruit salad, but I would picking all the shrimp out of a seafood pasta salad.
#2 seems to be OK although you could just take the whole thing and push it off to the side of the plate. That would be more courteous by not leaving a mess at the buffet.
For #1, it depends on the way the salad is layed out. Suppose it is tomato motzerella salad. The tomatoes are an integral part of the dish and should not be seperated. If it is just a regular tossed salad with tomatoes, it is Ok as long as you are only taking the amount of tomatoes that you would have taken if you took everything to go along with it. If you pick the bowl clean of tomatoes, then that is trashy and not Ok.
Yeah, I think this one is unethical. How was she doing it, BTW? With her fingers, or did she have untensils? Did she leave the bones there on the buffet? That’s kind of nasty, too.
In a similar vein, at the grocery store they sell fresh broccoli, both florets style (just the heads) and regular bunches. The bunches have more stem attached, but is cheaper per pound.
They have a big sign by the bunches, saying if you remove the stems (presumably so you don’t end up paying for something you’re going to cut off anyway), you’ll be charged the floret price.
slight hijack-I watch kids in the 7-11 getting sodas and slurpees-they drink part and refill, sometimes a few times before going to the checkout-I want to cuff them upside the head because they’re stealing. They have no shame. Bastards.
I don’t think #2 is unethical at all. First, eggplant is probably more expensive than the average salad component, so you are taking a cheaper salad than what they meant for you to have. Second, if you do take the eggplant, you won’t eat it, and it will just get thrown away. This way someone like me who loves eggplant can get more.
For the same reason, #1 is okay if you are reasonable - perhaps someone who does not like tomatoes will have an easier time. #3 is just disgusting. We need a barf smiley for that one.
With #1 and #2 I think it will even out in the end frex I don’t like tomatoes so I’m quite happy if someone has taken them out. Incidentally I prefer the broccoli stems to the florets but for some reason they never sell those on their own…
Is it stealing if you eat a meal in a fast food restaurant with a self-serve drink station and fill up your drink right before you leave, so you have some for the road? That’s basically the same principle, if they were doing other shopping. If not, yeah, that’s sorta on the edge but considering the mark-up on pop it’s understandable.
As for the OP, #3 is wrong, but the first two aren’t. Then again, don’t most buffets have the salad components in separate containers so you can choose what goes in?
