A Civil World. Off-topic discussions on a variety of topics. > Time For a Coffee Break!
What can we do to cut back on how much is wasted in our society?
Venus193:
This is something of a rant.
This morning I had a very early lunch at the diner near my post office. They are probably the #1 diner in the county and they make the best burger in the zip code, but I can't imagine how much food gets wasted there. When I took my seat the waitress automatically put a down plate of small muffins (2-bite size; 6 of them) and some pre-wrapped jelly and butter. I told her I wasn't going to eat them and she shouldn't waste them, she said "They'll be decoration, then."
I was about to eat a burger deluxe (burger patties are 8 oz before cooking) and I didn't have a ziplock with me to bag them for later or for the pigeons. I had just spent $11 to send a 12 lb box of snacks to a regiment in Iraq which included 4 boxes of Entenmann's Little Bites, so this was really burning my tail. You will all be proud that I didn't lose my cool over this.
I feel the same way when I see Starbucks customers pouring out 20% of their coffee into the garbage to make room for their milk. If the barristas would only remember to ask every customer if they want space for milk before they pour, this wouldn't be so bad and they'd be even more profitable. The waitress in the above story could just as easily have served that plate of muffins to another table 10 seconds later; the place was busy.
One diner in my area cut back their portion size by 25% after the first two weeks in business when they saw that nobody could finish their food.
Does this bother anyone else or am I out of touch?
Lisbeth:
--- Quote from: venus193 on January 27, 2007, 01:39:44 PM ---This is something of a rant.
This morning I had a very early lunch at the diner near my post office. They are probably the #1 diner in the county and they make the best burger in the zip code, but I can't imagine how much food gets wasted there. When I took my seat the waitress automatically put a down plate of small muffins (2-bite size; 6 of them) and some pre-wrapped jelly and butter. I told her I wasn't going to eat them and she shouldn't waste them, she said "They'll be decoration, then."
I was about to eat a burger deluxe (burger patties are 8 oz before cooking) and I didn't have a ziplock with me to bag them for later or for the pigeons. I had just spent $11 to send a 12 lb box of snacks to a regiment in Iraq which included 4 boxes of Entenmann's Little Bites, so this was really burning my tail. You will all be proud that I didn't lose my cool over this.
I feel the same way when I see Starbucks customers pouring out 20% of their coffee into the garbage to make room for their milk. If the barristas would only remember to ask every customer if they want space for milk before they pour, this wouldn't be so bad and they'd be even more profitable. The waitress in the above story could just as easily have served that plate of muffins to another table 10 seconds later; the place was busy.
One diner in my area cut back their portion size by 25% after the first two weeks in business when they saw that nobody could finish their food.
Does this bother anyone else or am I out of touch?
--- End quote ---
It bothers me too when I see wastefulness.
For example, if I'm eating Chinese take-out, they put so many packets of sauce in the order (duck, soy, mustard) that I simply don't put on my food. Or I see people throw away unused napkins.
And I hate seeing people order drinks, take one sip, and discard the rest.
I've seen in some fast-food, buffet, and cafeteria-style restaurants signs asking patrons to limit what they take to what they are actually going to consume or use, but somehow it doesn't seem effective.
I do remember an article posted in the original forum about a family who was refused service at a Chinese buffet restaurant because they were notorious there for filling plates with large amounts of food that they didn't eat.
Venus193:
I remember that. I was ready to applaud owners of the restaurant.
I don't use duck sauce, so if I remember when I order my Chinese food, I ask them not to include it. I do use extra soy and hot sauces. In fact, I put them together in a bottle with pieces of dried ginger. ;D
Another thing that bugs me is how much paper our fast food is wrapped in and what that does to the environment in the long term, but that is a separate issue.
FolkRockFan:
Wastefulness bothers me too. I hate when I get double handfuls of napkins in the drive thru. I'm only going to need two, or maybe three. Sure, the extras go into the glovebox for the times when the workers forget to give me napkins at all - or for when I need to wipe off the windshield or something - but still. How many people just throw the extras into the trash? Quite a few, I've noticed.
Emmy:
I agree, a lot of things are wasted. I used to work at a food/ice-cream place and if something was wrong with the order, we were instructed to just throw it away. I hated to do that and often kept the item in the back so I could nibble on it (maybe that was an etiquette violation in itself). When I got out to eat and have left overs, I like to take it home for lunch the next day, but not everybody does that.
Creams with coffee are another thing, often in drive through they will just throw several cream and sugars in the bag and not everybody uses that much of it.
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