This is so true. I once cornered congress critter Curt Weldon and let him have it for being late to a charity event, “because they wouldn’t feed us until you got here!”
I once worked with a sports editor who hadn’t cleaned his coffee cup in years. After all, if he stopped to clean it, it would delay the drinking of his coffee.
I saw a reporter make hot chocolate by pouring hot water into the container that held the hardened remains of the powered mix and drinking the whole thing out of the can.
Reporters eat anything they can get their hands on, whenever they can get their hands on it.
Jebus, Susie, is this ever true!
At AP in New York election night was always free food night (I worked every one from 1968 until 2002) and there was always a queue waiting to enter the cafeteria. None of these poor bastards seemed on the verge of starving, but you’d swear they hadn’t eaten since the last election, as they grabbed sandwich after sandwich, stuffing them into pockets, willy-nilly.
I’d grab a cup of black coffee and a bagel, then head back to my desk in the comm center, trying my best to avoid the stampede.