"I've earned it"

This one's the most honest of the beliefs, because it names what the order is actually for. It's a reward. The day was long and there was nothing good in it, and the takeaway is the one thing in the day that's for you. Taking that away sounds like taking away the good bit.

There's an earlier book in this series about sugar as a reward, The biscuit tin, and the argument is the same here. A reward is a reward because it's not the default. The first takeaway of the week is a treat. The fifth is Thursday. When the order happens every night, it stops being the good bit and becomes the shape of the evening, and the evening loses the good bit while still paying for it. What you've earned, on a hard day, is something that's different from other days. When every night's the same, nothing is.

Notice also what's being rewarded. Not the day. The seven o'clock question. The order comes with a reason attached, "I've earned it", but the reason is usually found after the app is open, because a reason is needed and this one's always available. On the days that were genuinely hard, fine, and chapter 13 is about those. On the days that were ordinary, the treat is being spent on an ordinary Tuesday, and it's cheap because nothing's been paid for it, and then when a hard day comes there's no treat left to have, because you had it on Tuesday.

I'd put it this way, and it's my view, not a finding. The person who cooks a plain plate on Tuesday and orders a curry on Friday has a treat. The person who orders every night has a habit and calls it a treat. Both eat the curry. Only one of them enjoys it as a curry rather than as Friday's version of Tuesday.