How long would you wait?
By BarBaraPrz
@BarBaraPrz (47125)
St. Catharines, Ontario
July 3, 2009 12:38pm CST
July 1st is Canada Day, and the Mandarin restaurant chain decided to celebrate by inviting all Canadian citizens to enjoy a free buffet. Thousands came to all 21 locations in Ontario. Being cheap and a lover of free food, I went with a friend. We waited for seven hours to be seated, but it was worth it to us. The Mandarin staff would come out periodically with trays of finger foods and bottled water for us, so my friend and I certainly didn't starve in all that time. However, I was surprised to see how many people kept going to a couple of the other nearby restaurants (Pizza Pizza and Starbucks) to buy food to keep them going while waiting in line. Anybody else see a paradox here? Would you buy food to wait in line to get free food? How long would you wait?
3 people like this
5 responses
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
3 Jul 09
Lol, well that is kind of silly. I wouldn't do that, I would most likely bring some snack food and eat that whilst waiting. I don't really know how long I would wait for free food probably awhile but I'm not sure about seven hours. We make money online, so that would be a lot of time wasted. If it was a day we weren't making money then I'd say I'd wait, but then again I'm impatient, and if the snacks worn off I'd be out of there. I understand that with a swarm of people coming for such a good deal, the staff is going to be busy, so I wouldn't blame it on them at all.
2 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
3 Jul 09
Wow, I don't think I would have waited for seven hours but then it sounds like they took good care of you while you waited and can imagine it becoming good fun if you were with friends and possibly even making new friends while waiting in line. Does sound a bit 'crazy' buying food to eat while waiting for free food :)
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
4 Jul 09
We had a local resturant do something like this a few months ago - they had to call in the police because people were going crazy fighting in line and parking in other businesses parking lots. I had to work so didn't get involved.
1 person likes this
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
4 Jul 09
i wouldn't want to wait like that even though i will get free food... it is not worth it and i think it is just crazy... i still prefer to use my time for better use and i think in 7 hours i can earn more money to pay for the food there anyway... i never want to waste my money queuing for something like that... take care and have a nice day...
1 person likes this
@patgalca (18355)
• Orangeville, Ontario
3 Jul 09
From what I saw on the news, it was absolute mayhem. 
I would take one look at the line-up and walk away. If we had a Mandarin in our small town, it might be worth the wait... unless out-of-towners made the drive to get here just for that. The Mandarin restaurants are ALWAYS packed, free food or not. We have a smaller version in our town (King's Buffet). It's not quite the same but it'll do. 
I would take one look at the line-up and walk away. If we had a Mandarin in our small town, it might be worth the wait... unless out-of-towners made the drive to get here just for that. The Mandarin restaurants are ALWAYS packed, free food or not. We have a smaller version in our town (King's Buffet). It's not quite the same but it'll do.
1 person likes this
