Sometimes it's better not to know

Yesterday, at lunch with Tim & Breen, we watched a busser grab a fork from our table and give it to an unsuspecting diner at a different table. We were in shock. He didn’t say a word to us— the fork was unused, but he didn’t know that— he just walked over, picked it up, checked it for food remnants and walked it over to the other table before we even realized what was happening.

Tim tried to alert the fork recipient but they didn’t understand, or didn’t care. But we cared. We cared a lot. Because about an hour earlier, when we were given the utensils we went on to use for our meals, one of the forks had food on it.

From an objective standpoint, seeing what we saw didn’t change anything about our actual meal (which was delicious, by the way). We had already used our utensils. They had been in our mouths. But that glimpse behind the curtain completely reframed an enjoyable experience.

Episode 3 of the Twenty-Sided Podcast is now online. In it, my character (Cleave Beefchief) hits somebody with a bottle of Jack Daniels. Jack was one of my go-to drinks in college—I upgraded to Gentleman Jack by the time I was a Senior because, you know, sophistication.

One time I had barely a shot left in the bottle so I filled the rest up with Coke. A couple of guys saw me drinking straight from the bottle and thought I was just taking it to the face. I asked them if they’d ever tried Gentleman Jack. They said no. I told them it’s super mellow, that it tastes just like a Jack & Coke. Then I let them try it.

They were amazed: it did taste just like a Jack & Coke.

-KB