This rule didn’t exist when I was in college and working in a diner. My manager would occasionally have me or one other coworker close up alone on nights she needed to leave early.

So my general manager was the owner of the place and on a super busy Sunday morning shift, the walk-in died and was dead for around four hours before it got fixed; we didn’t stop serving food at all during those four hours. Around 1pm I go on my break (walk-in still dead) and manager pulls me aside and gives me a $100 bill and says to go get lunch for myself and keep the change, but that “today didn’t happen”. I nodded at her slowly while taking the bill from her hand, then left and spent the cash on some chalupas, and then after work, a half oz of some fire bud from a coworker. I didn’t feel too bad about taking home free dinner some nights after that day. Not like massive amounts of food or anything, just maybe a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a drink, something like that usually. They paid me $7.25/hr, treated me like shit, it was literally the most toxic work environment I’ve ever had (it was my first job too), the amount of close one night then open the next morning shifts I had to was ridiculous, and omfg the health code violations... The food was fucking amazing though. But I’d only eat it if I cooked it myself, because of the aforementioned health code violations. But if I made it myself I was usually alone and closing and made sure I had a freshly clean and sanitary kitchen.