Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Three Pats of Butter and Five Slices of Bread


I don't eat out very often, although I do enjoy it. I just think there are usually better ways to spend my discretionary income rather than blowing it on a restaurant meal that I figure I can cook better myself. However on this occasion, we were celebrating a birthday, and ended up at the Cheesecake Factory, which usually has good food (and plenty of it), despite its pricey desserts.

This was the first time that I walked out of the Cheesecake Factory disappointed -- and also wondering how the server determines how much bread and how many pats of butter to give a party of two.

The Cheesecake Factory bakes some very good fresh bread that is provided at the onset of your meal. One type is a sweet, dark multi-grain type. The other is a white sourdough. When the waiter put down our loaves, the basket was rather skimpy. There were two slices of the dark bread and three slices of the white. And three small pats of butter.

Is this somthing that is taught in serving school? Do you always provide an uneven amount of bread for parties of two or four or six? And is there a rule that exists to give less butter than there are slices of bread? (The butter pats, by the way, have been shrinking in size for years.)

Although we ordered an appetizer, I still enjoy munching on the dark bread -- with butter -- but the waiter seemed to make himself scarce when I wanted to ask him for more of each.

But what really intrigued me was that when two young girls sat down at the table next to ours, they received a full basket of bread (at least five slices each of the white and brown bread) and seven pats of butter. They got twice as much bread and butter!

Is this discrimination? Did the server know these girls? Why were they given special treatment? Were they younger and sexier than me and my companion? Did they look like better tippers? So many questions, so few answers.

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