Two TV / movie tropes I’m kinda curious about:
1. Have you ever been—or seen someone—who left behind an entire plate of food at a restaurant because you forgot an appointment or something?
2. Have you ever been—or seen someone—who ordered “a beer” or “a whiskey” at a bar without further interaction?

For this post, I’m just asking if you’ve witnessed either in real life.

As a followup—
I know the latter saves runtime, but the former I can’t figure out the purpose during shooting. Is it because filmmakers don’t want to deal with continuity issues when shooting takes? It’s easier to leave a full plate during a shoot rather than stage various levels of meal completion? Is that reality reflected in how they always write it in that the character leaves without eating it? Or is that just coincidence?
@louie I heard at some point that people on sitcoms are always eating Chinese food out of the carton for continuity reasons, so that would make sense here too?
@cschrader Right. A little while ago I scrubbed through the first six Star Wars movies and noticed similar stuff— you barely see food. The bowls are deeper or the food is almost generic shapes that you can’t ever distinguish what it is, which made me think that must be part of it!