The stall that turns people away (load shedding and admission control)

The stall, the wire of slips over the stove, and the cliff the wait falls off as the stove gets busy. This lesson picks up where the order slip rail lesson stopped, at “kitchen full, come back at five”, and shows why saying it early keeps the stall alive. The lab at the end of the story gives the rail a cap you can set yourself.

Before you start. You need The order slip rail (queues & the utilization cliff): orders go on a wire as paper slips, one stove cooks them in turn, and the wait takes off as the stove nears 100% busy, because a queue smooths bursts but cannot fix a stove slower than the day. It helps to have read The bouncer at the door (rate limiting), where a refused customer learns to wait a little longer each time before trying again.