Eat more, don't waste.

I didn't miss the point at all. You did. You said


WBY is discussing a hypothetical, rather than an actual situation. He/she was not texting a2k something while actually sitting in a restaurant where they'd ordered too much. "Now" in that situation implies that what follows is what is actually happening in real life at that moment, which is how I read the original post--and it didn't make sense that way. The OP was not the right usage, as you say it was. It should have started "if" or "imagine" or "pretend" or "assume" or "say", but not "now".

Yet you replied to it with no problem whatsoever. You've even stated right in this post, "WBY is discussing a hypothetical,". Of course he was stating a hypothetical.

If I was standing in front of you and I said, "Now, I'm eating in a restaurant with some foreigners", you would know that it was a hypothetical.

Little children understand this, Jack, with no effort at all. I'm wondering what it is, age, infirmity, rank stubbornness, that makes you want to pretend that you don't understand it.

Thanks all for giving me so many excellent answers!