38 Comments
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Vy's avatar

LOVE THIS!!! First off, so funny and candid in the best way. Free hotel breakfasts are sooo interesting when you look at them this way because they usually suck and they separate us from the place we actually came to visit, but since we are paying for it/ its included we feel inclined to take full advantage.

Scott Monaco's avatar

Absolutely separate us from the place we came to visit but I mean its free, right? 😅

Richard Philion's avatar

Nothing is better than starting your day with a cup of mediocre coffee and people watching the breakfast room.

Scott Monaco's avatar

Coffee and ‘the tea’ unbeatable combo.

Daniel Catena's avatar

Brilliant read, Scott! This should totally be a mocumentary. It's so funny, yet so true at the same time.

Daniel Catena's avatar

You're welcome sport!

Lewis Holmes's avatar

Superb. On my honeymoon in Mexico, the breakfast buffet was almost like gladiatorial combat some mornings. As a Brit, tipping does not come naturally, but I made sure I looked after those cats who got me through the first couple of days orientation. I think they saved me from featuring in a similar story to this.

Scott Monaco's avatar

Haha just picturing it as gladiatorial combat gave me a good chuckle. Thanks!

The In Between's avatar

I feel bad not eating the breakfast buffet even if it’s terrible. So I go at least once…

Rubi Balasingam's avatar

I'm home after a Eurotrip..did I pick breakfast included on purpose? Yes. Did I steal muffins for the road? Yes. Free mid-afternoon snacks for the win. I loved this read!

Rubi Balasingam's avatar

💯👏🏽👏🏽

Caity Gunthorp (Venniker)'s avatar

I love this. I don’t even eat breakfast and I still go and then have a small existential crisis over whether I am someone who eats Nutella on waffles when they do eat breakfast, or someone who eats avo on egg like some kind of ketonified athlete. And why stop there? There are more questions. Who knows if I like litchi juice? I’ll know soon enough and so will the rest of the breakfast buffet warriors

Scott Monaco's avatar

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.

Pickle Pie's avatar

This made me laugh out loud - I loved it!

Scott Monaco's avatar

Glad you enjoyed it!

T J Mitchell Now@Days's avatar

I'm rarely up for making my own waffles 🧇 but the people watching yeah you nailed it here.

Katie Love's avatar

My favourite was breakfast at a pretty terrible motel, the morning after someone’s car alarm had repeatedly gone off in the middle of the night. One a.m., thirty minutes later, and again later on. “Hey did you hear that car alarm? Man was that annoying,” I wanted to know who’s car it was and I wanted them to know that it ruined my sleep

Scott Monaco's avatar

Haha but sorry that happened I can only imagine the communal grumpiness that permeated that breakfast room.

Stina Gustafsson's avatar

he ha very very funny and 100% relatable

Kelly Sears's avatar

😂😂😂

Igor's avatar

Loved it. I’m trying to book hotels without breakfast and eat on the street, but if included I try at least once. In a way, a hotel restaurant is a monopoly within their territory without competition. Unless it is a five star although even this category often fails in food , street vendors especially in Asia are much more fun allowing to ignore “included” as an unnecessary time wasting.

Scott Monaco's avatar

Thanks and I think you’re exactly right. There are plenty of people who actively choose to skip hotel breakfast so they can put that money toward street vendors or local places instead. But once it’s included, it complicates the decision. The chains build it into the price, and suddenly it’s less about what you want to eat and more about whether you’re willing to “waste” something you’ve already paid for.

Igor's avatar

Agree

Abby's avatar

This is so good! You are so spot on with every all the usual suspects, subtleties, and interactions noticed at a hotel breakfast. Tranpsorted me immediately back to my last hotel breakfast, and your characters and scene felt largely familiar. Gotta love a free breakfast tho. You’d be silly not to 😝

Scott Monaco's avatar

I mean, it is there…. so you would be silly not to. thanks!

Daniel Puzzo's avatar

This is hilarious and so spot on and a great anthropological insight into breakfast buffet culture and the characters you meet. I feel like there's a ton of potential for exploiting this niche - different hotel guests, motels, it could be a fun scene in a novel on class and manners and people watching. Great stuff!

Scott Monaco's avatar

You know, when I was thinking of writing this I was between this vignette and another one so it is very likely that there will be at least one other in this vein. Thanks friend.

Michael Jensen's avatar

Perfectly described!