This is funny. It's pretty rare for us to have catered lunches at work, and when they happen, they are for the big wigs. But sometimes, we get lucky.
Sadly, I cannot eat gluten anymore. So leftover sandwiches? I look at them longingly, but let others benefit. We have 2 buildings but the meetings are usually in our building. If there are a lot of leftovers, they will take some to the other building, but it's rare.
So funny though - most of the people here are highly paid (engineers, directors, etc.), but we all love a free lunch. People can get testy though. We actually have an anniversary lunch yearly at the other building. Leftovers go into the lunch room in that building, sometimes they will make it to my building. My habit at any company event like this (or lunch) is to first, take a small plate. Because you don't actually know how many people are coming and how much food their in. In the case of pizza, sandwiches - one slice or 1/2 a sandwich. (Of course, now I just bring my own lunch, because, gluten). However, I exercise regularly and can eat quite a lot. So, if I'm still hungry, I'll go back through the line when everyone else has gone through.
Most recent lunch ... one of my coworkers actually said to me "you are getting SECONDS??" Out loud. Um, WTF dude? Okay, whatever, I ignored it. What does he care? I mean, I took a small plate first round with a little rice and chicken and curried spinach and tofu. Then, there was cake for dessert. I can't eat cake. I was chatting with our admin director, who asked "hey, have you tried the lentils? They are delicious!" A huge pan of lentils, barely touched. So why not. Got a small bowl, had a 1/4 cup of rice with lentils on top. Same guy "you're having THIRDS??" Like dude, really? I could see if we were running out, but there was a massive pan of lentils, a bunch of rice, and a fair bit of the spinach leftover. All of which went into the lunch room (in the past, I would have TOTALLY gone over before quitting time to take some home, because otherwise it gets thrown out, and that's a waste.)
That's my "free lunch" story of the day. If it makes it any weirder, I'm female, and nearing 50. What can I say, I can eat! And I'm not fat!
My husband's "free lunch" story of the week is funnier. Someone left cookies and onions in their lunchroom. Yep, a bowl of onions. Turns out they got sandwiches, and asked for the onions on the side. He almost brought them home because we love onions, and cook them into everything. But didn't.