What a d*ck

Order food.
Get number.
Go sit at a table.
Place number at edge of table.
Worker brings food to table.
Worker takes number back to register.

Why do people hoard them though? Is this a right of passage in America?

Because we like collect

He's not kidding. The Houston Police department even got caught using them as Crime scene markers, though admittedly they did come under fire for it

Yeet yeet represent H-town