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| Marcel Strigberger |
The number of establishments offering all-you-can-eat salad bars (AYCESB) is forever increasing, yet the public is at a loss as to its rights with respect thereto as there is a dearth of law on salad bars. If a restaurant offers you an AYCESB, when does the right to return for a further helping terminate? These and other questions must be answered to avoid chaos.
I have studied the situation. There is anything but uniformity in the way the police and the courts deal with salad bar offences. Actually, I could not find any jurisprudence at all. However, if I were to ask ChatGPT, it would probably spin out the following case law:
In Belleville, Ont., one Jack Lashley entered an Overback Steak House and consumed a steak and a serving of AYCESB. He had his hat and coat on and was about to leave when he decided to return to the salad bar and grab a carrot stick to nibble on for the road. He was arrested by two off-duty Ontario Provincial Police constables and charged with theft under $5,000.
The presiding judge convicted Lashley. In his reasons, his Honour Hoss J. said: “The moment Lashley put on his hat he was telling the world, ‘I’ve had enough; I can’t eat anymore.’ He was crossing the Rubicon.”
Shortly thereafter, one Pete Barnes finished a fish dinner at the Happy Lobster in Welland, Ont. His meal included the AYCESB. He put on his coat and left the premises. A few moments later, he remembered he had forgotten his hat. He returned and, holding his hat in one hand, approached the AYCESB and nibbled on a raw mushroom. The restaurant manager Joe Leblanc observed the incident and lunged at Barnes, whereupon Barnes whacked Leblanc across the face with a celery stick.
Barnes was charged with theft under $5,000 and possession of a dangerous weapon. His Honour Moose J. threw out the theft charge. In his reasons, the learned judge said: “Unlike the Lashley case, the accused herein did not wear his hat. Merely putting his coat on, hat still in hand, is not a sufficient actus reus from which I could infer that Barnes could eat no more.”
Citing Horsley on Hats, 4th Edition, the learned judge went on to say: “The law is clear on this point. When a man takes off his hat in a restaurant, he is telling everyone he is hungry. The situation is different if he takes off his kilt.”
With respect to the weapons charge, however, His Honour convicted Barnes, giving him a suspended sentence and prohibiting him from carrying any celery for two years.
The question is what happens when there are no hats involved? Unlike the rest of Ontario, Torontonians are less likely to wear hats unless they live in Scarborough, where there is a preponderance of Goodyear and Champion Spark Plug caps.
In the recent McDermott case, the accused had left Big Mother’s Diner in Brampton, Ont., with his wife, Barbie. He drove for about a half-hour when he realized he had forgotten his five-year-old son, Rick, at the restaurant. McDermott returned to Big Mother’s around an hour later, stopping for a couple of beers along the way. When they arrived, they found Rick still at the salad bar where they had left him, playing tiddlywinks with the cucumber slices. McDermott went over to the AYCESB and started catching the cucumber slices with his mouth as Rick was flipping them into the air. Barbie egged him on, saying she’d give him a dime for every slice he caught.
McDermott, his wife and Rick were observed by an undercover Peel Regional Police officer who had been staking out the restaurant (no pun intended). The matter came before the court in Brampton, where Mr. and Mrs. McDermott were charged with a number of offences including conspiracy to commit theft under $5,000 and operating a gaming house. They were also charged with contravening a Brampton bylaw, to wit, playing tiddlywinks in a family restaurant knowing there is nude dancing going on in the restaurant next door.
We don’t know what will happen in this one as the trial date in Brampton has been set for Jan. 17, 2029. Bon appétit.
Can I answer any more questions? How about a copy of the menu from the Happy Lobster?
Marcel Strigberger retired from his Greater Toronto Area litigation practice and continues the more serious business of humorous author and speaker. His book, Boomers, Zoomers, and Other Oomers: A Boomer-biased Irreverent Perspective on Aging, is available on Amazon (e-book) and in paper version. His new(!) book First, Let’s Kill the Lawyer Jokes: An Attorney’s Irreverent Serious Look at the Legal Universe is available on Amazon, Apple and other book places. Visit www.marcelshumour.com. Follow him on X @MarcelsHumour.
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