They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich/Playing With

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Basic Trope: A character orders food, which they then walk away from without eating.

  • Straight: Alice and Bob are in a restaurant. Bob's delicious sandwich arrives, and then the plot demands that they leave.
  • Exaggerated: As Alice and Bob walk out the door, the camera zooms in on the sandwich and sad music plays as Bob walks out in the background.
    • Bob starves to death, since plot-related events take him away every time he tries to eat.
  • Justified: Bob is very forgetful and/or an anorexic.
  • Inverted: The sandwich sprouts legs and forgets Bob to go on an adventure in a shocking Non Sequitur Scene... or turns out to be a MacGuffin that Alice and Bob cannot ever forget.
    • Bob and Alice randomly turn away from the plot for a moment, to grab a sandwich.
    • The Five-Man Band order something so they can enter the restaurant while waiting for a contact to arrive, and when nothing happens, they eat what they've ordered. Just after, the contact arrives.
  • Subverted: Bob turns around and grabs the sandwich as he's leaving.
    • "Fuck off, I'm on lunch."
      • When the food arrives, you never see the characters eating, but it turns out there was a cut during the eating.
  • Double Subverted: Bob grabs the sandwich as he's leaving, only to have it stolen as he walks out the door.
    • ...and then the thief trips and smashes the sandwich.
  • Parodied: Bob orders his sandwich, and as he takes a bite of it several people storm the room to bombard him with plot. He insists "I'm not going to give up my delicious sandwich!" and storms through all of them.
  • Deconstructed: Bob purchases a sandwich at a diner in the hopes that something interesting will happen to him, forcing him to leave it behind. However, nothing ever does.
  • Reconstructed: Something DOES happen to Bob.
  • Zig Zagged: Bob orders a sandwich, but some plot happens outside and he runs out before the sandwich is given to him. The plot is quickly resolved, though, so he walks back in and gets his sandwich. As he sits down, Alice walks in, and the two have an extended conversation, without Bob ever touching his sandwich. Finally, the conversation dies down. Bob is about to take a bite out of his sandwich, until more plot happens outside. Alice and Bob run out, but Bob takes his sandwich with him...
  • Averted: Bob does not order a sandwich.
    • Bob orders the sandwich, and eats it. Plot does not occur to interfere, or kindly waits until he is finished eating.
  • Enforced: "We need to do an episode about proper diet! Have Bob choose between a sandwich and his destiny!"
    • "Let's have Bob order his Trademark Favorite Food, then rush away without eating it to show just how important dealing with this new situation is to him."
  • Enforced and Averted: The writer shows off the Trademark Favourite Food of each character with an eating scene.
  • Lampshaded: "It's not like I'm going to be forced to drop everything to go on some epic quest." Bob bites into sandwich, and epic quest ensues.
  • Invoked: "Something happens whenever I buy a sandwich. I am bored, so I will purchase a sandwich."
  • Defied: Bob staples the sandwich to his clothing so he doesn't leave it behind.
    • Sword in one hand, shield in the other. Sandwich in his mouth.
    • The whole Five-Man Band orders from a Bad Guy Bar, and Bob insists they finish before leaving.
  • Discussed:

Bob: "Whenever we go into one of those places, I end up without my money or my sandwich!"
Alice: "Eat faster."

  • Conversed: "Why do they always leave perfectly good food behind on this show?"
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