| I think that many people in my position would have taken this team of rookies straight to the Bonanza down the street immediately and start busting up the buffet line. In my eyes that would been a grievous mistake. They were inexperienced, sure they had natural talent, but they had no strategy. That is what Lester and I provided them with. Lester was actually the one who did the teaching. For a week straight he would go over with the crew the layout of the target buffet for the next week. Where each specific food was located, the speed with which the foods were refilled, how busy the place normally got, even which seats would be the best to sit in. Lester really shined as a teacher, and I really found it hard to understand why he had never done it professionally. With my planning, his experience, and the sheer volume of the stomachs in that room, our plan could not be stopped. We were all kind of nervous on the first night. Lester and I had picked out as our target location a big chain buffet which specialized in steaks. The crew showed up at five and we were all seated. The look of bewilderment on the managers face got paler and paler as the night went on. Within thirty minutes we had cleaned out all of their major secondary items, the fries, mashed potatoes, some casseroles they were known for, coleslaw, macaroni, and a few others. All this was done with alternating trips to the steak counter. After an hours time the chefs were peeking out of the kitchen to see if the buffet stockers were serious or joking about the mashed potatoes being empty "again." You could hear the panicked clattering of pots and pans being filled and pressure cookers being over worked. The workers were at their wits end and the manager looked extremely angry. I sensed that it was best to leave before things got ugly, it was only the first night in our siege on the establishment and we had definitely been noticed. The boys left, I was proud of them, nearly all of them had told me that they could have eaten more. I believed them too, the ate like they meant it. And now it was my chance to shine. You may wonder how it was that I was still the leader of this group, how I who could only eat a measly few plates was able to command the respect that they gave me. Well, besides the fact that I paid for their dinners, it was the way that I also procured their paychecks. Now, extortion is a very ugly term. I wouldn't call what a labor union does extortion, they simply refuse to work with out their voice being heard. I liken my self to one of their leaders, not what some have said I am, a mob boss. I presented the manager with an arrangement. Either he pay us a nominal fee in free meal vouchers, or we return tomorrow. It was all rather simple, he really didn't have a choice, a business could not survive such an onslaught. I understand that he could not concede to my terms on the first night though, he didn't know how deep my convictions and tenacity ran. But after five days of continued attack he finally consented to my demands. He promised to pursue legal means by which to get me back, but I, unafraid, simply pointed to Lester and told him to speak to my attorney. With that the buffet busters had achieved victory. We had avenged all those who where underestimated by advertising campaigns. The hungry had spoken, and they had been heard. Over the course of the next couple months six more buffets fell. We had developed a reputation, our faces were known and our voices whispered between owners of competing restaurants. The press took hold of the story and confirmed the legality our system. It was shown that what we did was legal, and that the payments made to us for not frequenting establishments, as long as they were made in gift vouchers, were valid and legal. It was also shown that the right to refuse us service was also legal, and although it became a thorn in my side I took the good with the bad. At the present date our organization has branched out across the country. We are systematically dismantling the framework of the 'all you can eat' culture. It is a task which someone had to undertake, if I hadn't another would have. Injustice is our motive, solidarity our credo, and the endless rows of cheaply made and undercooked foods our target. If you are an enemy to our cause, be warned, we show no mercy, only you can make it stop. |