Just curious as I’ve never been on the other side of the counter, how does this sort of thing tend to work at restaurants? Fast food and fast-casual places are where I’ve heard customers say things “pile as much lettuce on there as you’re allowed to” - is there ever a limit your supervisor instructed you for things like that?
Now obviously with up-charge items like extra meat or certain toppings I know the sizes tend to be pre-portioned to a serving utensil, but something like extra onions or tomatoes that goes uncharged - has anyone gotten into trouble for giving “too much”?
A friend of mine managed a pizzeria and said all the parts were portioned out. Extra usually meant an additional portioning of that topping / fixing would be added to the assembly.
There is an upper limit when a large party walks in expecting food, but it could feed like twenty people. For anything larger you had to request in advance so he could have the supplies on hand.
This was Texas in the 1970s which involved frequent people wanting to work an hour for a slice so he’d require them to wait for a rush (they wouldn’t have to wait long) and then would get a meal of food for their hour.
Wait, so like a barter? I’d work for an hour and get a slice instead of the hour’s wage?
That sounds amazing. I’m sure there are still places like that but with so much red tape nowadays I’m sure someone would… I don’t know… “get in trouble”? For what, I don’t know, but I’m sure it involves a straw man.
I want pizza.
The answer is yes. Before the 1990s, there were was a lot of casual business. My San Francisco residence was rented to my flatmate entirely on a verbal contract (which created problems in the aughts, when utility companies were modernizing their service). This kind of casual business works well when everyone is friendly or acting in good faith, but it leaves fewer protections from fraud.
In rural parts of the US, there were regions in which there was little enough cash flow that barter was routine. And then farms often would have enough extra produce they would look for neighbors to give food to, rather than dumping it.
I’d say we’d have organized crime to thank for the necessity of making transactions a lot more secure and a lot less anonymous, but that’s really only the justification. It’s law enforcement that has turned to the same rackets that were the purview of mobsters. Not only are grocers no longer able to give away one-day expired food to homeless and impoverished folk, but kids risk legal trouble just by running a lemonade stand on a hot day.
Thank you for sharing your experience and insights!