88 the year my brother introduced me to video games . We played like every RTS in the 90 s in coop comp stomp fashion , including Total Annihilation and then later Supreme Commander . I had hoped that Plannetary Annihilation would capture that magic a bit , but it got pretty terrible reviews , but supposedly Titans has made the game quite a bit better so that is the game I am entering for . Thanks for the giveaways . <| sep |> IGN FumblesDeposited Meowth lvl 7 MaleMessage This is a pokemon with great potential <| sep |> I ' m not a server or restaurateur , so I really don ' t know how to approach the issue if the menu is static . As an engineer , the efficiency of at least partially feeding the staff , empowering them to provide better service , and frankly treating the staff like humans and not pets by serving them different or cheap food seems quite appealing . How that ' s applied in the real world is beyond my expertise . In my experience as an engineer , the management ' s general view of the staff is proportional to the quality of the break room . Free coffee , good coffee ? Wow , they really seem to care about me . No coffee , or really cheap cruddy coffee ? Well , I guess we have our answer . Separate executive coffee area paired with the latter ? Yeah , fuck you too . There was an engineering company that was trying to trim costs , and they decided to get rid of the annual ice cream social . It was a one hour event , and outside staff time cost $ 2 K . It was brought back the next year because management discovered that the social was used by people to make new connections to other departments , and typically spawned between $ 20 K and $ 200 K added profit per year in novel solutions for the company . Sounds like ice cream is pretty important after all . But I digress . My rant really starts now . Besides which , restaurant staff are human beings . They might not be paid as well as they should , but to enable a situation where they are prevented by accident or design from even trying the food they serve is just so , well , 19 th century to me . This is not Downton Abbey . If we really want to live in a more egalitarian society we ' ll get beyond the concept of the help reference the last quote on this page from the sitcom Will and Grace . Who the hell is Karen to treat her Lawyer like that ? Imagine what someone like that thinks about a dishwasher . Although her gastric well being is literally in the hands of that person to remove the prior patron ' s spittle and rinse off the soap , she has no concept of how to think about the dishwasher as another person . It ' s just icky to think about how someone like that views the world . Now let ' s examine the restaurant management . Is your staff just a pack of meat robots to you ? Do you have a team well versed in the playbook or a bunch of lazy jerks who will rob you blind ? Do you have to watch everyone every second or can you let your professional staff operate without the added stress of the owner flipping his shit over every error ? Can you just accept that people will make mistakes , some customers will be assholes , and there will always be at least a little shrink in the profit equation ? How you treat your people has a pretty direct effect on how they view the customer . The line between a sensible business decision and what ' s right is often a wide gray line , not a black and white razor blade . Take a chance and experiment with being more kind to the staff , they might pleasantly surprise you . There will always be a few who will screw the pooch , but they are easily discovered . What does a hungry , underpaid , and uninformed staff say about any business ? How much did it cost to feed the staff with even a reasonable facsimile of the same food they are serving ? My guess , is maybe not that much . You don ' t need to give every staffer a 24 ounce prime steak or a whole lobster . That flavor profile should be well understood . It ' s the appetizers , the casseroles , and the salads . Frankly , the cheaper stuff . I would think a chef would be able to feed the staff economically but work the menu in . Here ' s a spoonful of the truffle mashed potatoes and a big bowl of plain mashed to tank up for the marathon . That ' s just a thought . As a diner , the concept that the staff really understands the food experience they are providing is very important to me . What does it say if the staff doesn ' t even eat the food they are serving ? If you knew that , would you ever set foot in that restaurant again ? I wouldn ' t . Is it a safety or quality issue or is the owner unkind to his staff ? I don ' t care to even parse the difference . If I asked the question , the answer could be a lie to encourage me to stay and eat . Why would any sane person take a risk with their body like that when there are many other food choices ? I wouldn ' t .