Delectable image of pizza lifted from http://tampabayguy.wordpress.com

I read the most amusing tidbit on Poynter’s Romenesko email blast today. Apparently, times are so tough at the Raleigh News & Observer that there’s a limit on Election Day pizza.

I want to remind you that pizza will be provided tomorrow night ONLY for those working on elections. Please be polite. If you are working elections, you may have up to TWO slices. Thank you in advance for being considerate.

Susan Spring
Director of Newsroom Operations
The News & Observer
(919) 829-4860

Now, even if you’ve never worked in a newsroom on Election Day, you probably wouldn’t be surprised that pizza amid Election Day coverage is almost an unwritten, unspoken-of journalism tradition (although maybe not among on-air people). It never fails. No matter the election, no matter the topic — if you have journalists who must stay in the newsroom all night (say, 6 p.m. to midnight or whenever), then you must order pizza. It’s cheap, it can feed several people in one blast, and, did I mention it’s cheap?

That’s why this memo is such a crackup. I guess with all the cuts in newsrooms lately, we now need a pizza nazi to stand over the Election Day pies, watching everyone like a hawk. It’d be laugh-out-loud funny if it weren’t so sad.

Anyway. Here’s a clip of the original food nazi — the Soup Nazi.