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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/sunburn_t on 2024-07-20 04:22:45+00:00.

I think this counts as malicious compliance, but honestly the ending was positive for everyone involved so take that as you will.

…

I started working as a waitress in a dine-in pizza and pasta restaurant.

The food was really overpriced for the quality, but they got away with it because it was the only place open late near the cinema, and also the portions were extremely oversized (by Australian standards). But, we didn’t have many regular patrons, so people would be shocked by how big their plates of pasta were, and since nobody could finish it, it produced a ton of food waste.

The first time I went to management to ask them if I could give a cardboard takeaway container to a dine-in customer, they told me (sternly) ‘hmmm, we’ll it’s ok this time since they asked for one, but don’t hand them out unless the customer SPECIFICALLY REQUESTS it, they are really expensive!’ (FYI, they were not really expensive, management were just stingy and also generally among the meanest bosses I’ve had… and don’t ask me why they were ok with the cost of food waste, I guess they felt it gave them a good image to give large serves).

Anyway, I really hated to see all this waste each day, and it was clear that the customers did too… so, whenever i cleared a table with a large amount of food left and the customers were looking regretful about it, I would say quietly: ‘you know, we do have takeaway boxes available, in case you would like to REQUEST one. Just let me know if you’d like to REQUEST one!’

Almost invariably they would be grateful, like ‘oh, that would be amazing, I felt so bad wasting all that food, I didn’t know we had the option to ask for a box! Thank you!!’

I think realistically, the fallout was a positive one for the restaurant since some of these customers did indeed become regulars, and didn’t mind paying the exorbitant prices if it took care of their lunch the next day. However, the management did ask me what was up, and why we were going through so many containers. I said, ‘I dunno, people just keep requesting them all the time lately! I guess people are becoming much more conscious of food waste!’.

The ‘zero waste’ movement was actually taking off at the at time so I got away with nothing more than a raised eyebrow from the boss 😇