
Selfish generosity, or the value of n+1 - bhousel
http://andyswan.com/blog/2009/11/10/selfish-generosity/
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petercooper
Enjoyed this post, but:

 _Five minutes later, a basket of empty bread is sitting at the table, the
food isn’t ready yet, and the server is required to offer another basket._

I've experienced this "automatic refill" culture in the US but in the UK you
wouldn't get another basket of bread in a gazillion years. At least, I never
have in 20 years of dining out here.. and you'd get looked at weird if you
dared to ask for more.

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ugh
I’m way too impolite for this world. I would just ask if anyone wants the roll
and if nobody says anything just take it.

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mmt
I'd consider the asking to be impolite (since it wastes time with a silly
conversation), so I'd just take it, since, other than modest latency, it's not
a scarce resource.

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ugh
The asking is pure signalling. Never once did anyone actually say to me that
they wanted the last piece. Like adding please, saying good bye or thank you.

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mmt
I was just referencing the OP wrt conversation. However, I still consider it
wasteful and impolite, since it's not merely a polite-sound attached to
another message. It's a complete attention-getting, conversation-interrupting
message in and of itself, with, apparently, no content.

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kalendae
is there data backing up this n+1 claim? without A/B testing it, it is hard to
be convinced that it is definitely the cheaper strategy. in fact, it makes a
lot of assumptions about how people will behave, whats to prevent a culture
developing where someone always grab the last roll but is responsible for
flagging down the next batch? thus severely increasing your costs. regardless
tho it is definitely non-intuitive and clever and worth testing for the sake
of academic curiosity.

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milestinsley
I agree. This would need to be tested thoroughly before it could have any
degree of certainty attached to it.

I would also argue that the remaining roll shouldn't be reused for other
customers anyway (if it has been sitting out on a table for hours), thus
rendering it unusable and therefore a cost. The restaurant owner might
inadvertently find themselves wasting the +1 roll - or it simply being eaten
anyway!

It's a nice, thought-provoking story, but I wonder how applicable to the real-
world this really is?

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cyen
I don't think the +1 roll /is/ reused - I think they meant that if you can
assume rolls uneaten by the party to which they are served are simply thrown
out. With that assumption, the total rolls "lost" by the restaurant stays at
n+1 - compared to serving that extra n rolls (which, if uneaten, may be
assumed to have been thrown out as well)

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albertsun
This is a very common situation in Chinese (and possibly other) culture. There
is a whole intricate social dance over how to deal with the last piece of any
dish, wherein its considered impolite to take it. All parties are supposed to
offer it to someone else, often to the point of physically taking the food
item and dropping it on someone else's plate.

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euccastro
Same in Galiza, to the point that the last thing on a plate is called the
"Galician's shame" (could be translated as "pride", too).

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prawn
Experienced it in Slovenija as well, but almost in reverse. The only way we
could get hosts to stop bringing out more prosciutto or olives or spirits was
to go just short of finishing the existing supply. Too little and they might
be offended. Too much and they could not be stopped from serving more!

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jamesbressi
I really enjoyed this post on n+1, but I'm struggling to find an example as it
relates to other industries and businesses besides food. (this is no
reflection on the post, just my own personal struggle to try and apply it
elsewhere)

Can anyone think of something?

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messel
I can think of generalities in regards to patterning offerings tuned to human
behavior, but nothing quite like this.

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amichail
Why can't you ask for more rolls even with one still remaining?

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euccastro
You can (just as you can just eat the last roll) but it makes less sense than
with an empty basket. Also, you have to ask, while with an empty basket you
could expect the waiter to offer you more.

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biznerd
This strategy wouldn't work if one I was a diners. I always make it a point to
ask for a second round of bread (refill of nachos etc).

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icefox
It fails with two people (particularly couples) as they get to split it in
half and share it.

