There are two types of people: the ones who leave a restaurant with leftovers and the ones who feel embarrassed by the existence of leftovers. If you paid for the food and enjoyed the meal, why would you let it go to waste?  

This woman already knew the restaurant served big portions, and based on her past experiences, she usually ended up with leftovers. This time, she came prepared. She brought her own Tupperware just in case. 

After seeing she still had enough left for tomorrow’s lunch, she didn’t hesitate to pull out her Tupperware and save her leftovers. She didn’t want to waste the food she had paid for, and she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of paying for a doggy bag that might leak in her bag. So her solution sounds pretty ecological and practical to me. 

But her friend didn’t see it that way. Instead, she felt embarrassed because she said people were staring. But no one said a thing. Not even the waiter had noticed. In fact, no one in the restaurant seemed to care but her. 

Alright, bringing a container to a restaurant might be unusual, but it is not a public scandal. It’s not that the woman was stealing from a buffet, filling her bag with unpaid food, or making a mess at the table. No, she was taking home the food she ordered and paid for. And by the way, getting another lunch out of one burger is next level. If she was respectful and clean, her move was financially smart and environmentally friendly. And as long as you’re not breaking any restaurant policy, restaurant leftovers are still your food, so you have the right to take it home.