I was at a restaurant the other day eating my meal when a waitress dropped a large stack of napkins on our table unsolicited. The stack was more than we would reasonably use and we had cloth napkins already. Perhaps my children looked messy (they do and are) but we were managing well with what we had as far as damage control on the mess front. It reminded me of a lunch spot I ate at frequently with coworkers in Sao Paulo, Brazil many years ago.
I had been sent down by IBM to do some consulting work with Banco Itaú. I didn’t speak Portuguese but fortunately English is commonly spoken fairly well by most of the demographic of people I was working with. I was teaching some classes and then working with their various development groups to help implement the software development platform they’d adopted from IBM.
I probably have a hundred stories from that time, including when President Bush stayed in our hotel while we were there, which was a mess from a security standpoint—I was glad when he moved to his next location. This particular story is about napkins and lunch though, which is much less-exciting than the president of your country staying several floors above you, but I don’t think about that visit much whereas I’m reminded about the napkins frequently.
My typical work day there was coming in to teach class in the morning and then around one o’clock I would dismiss everyone for lunch. We had limited options on where to eat as we only had so much time for lunch. Travel in the downtown area was congested and slow so we were limited to the cafeteria or a few local restaurants interspersed between the buildings.
There was one restaurant just across the street that had a walk-up line and served a variety of things. I couldn’t read the menu so I tried multiple things until I settled on a beef and broccolini dish that I liked and stuck with for the remainder of the time I spent with Banco Itaú. You would place your order, pay and then find a table with your bottle of Guarana soda. A short time later your food would be brought out and you’d be giving utensils and a single napkin.
The napkins they had were single-ply and smaller than a bar napkin. And they were thin. The dish I had included a good bit of sauce and I had the hardest time making through the meal with the single napkin that wouldn’t even begin to cover my lap. After a few days of this I asked one of the people I was working with if there were more napkins as there were no dispensers to be seen. He looked a little confused as to why I might want more than one napkin and said if I needed one I could go back in line and ask, he supposed.
So I did and five minutes later I was given a second, single small napkin. After that day I did my best to be conservative with napkin use. In the United States we seem to have the “excess is better” motto. I was reminded of this when I saw that ample stack of napkins placed on our table. When this happens I sometimes bring the napkins home because I know they’re just going to be thrown out.
I do miss that restaurant though and the dish I have no idea of the name and that little, thin napkin.
The Big Boy Update: We were driving to dinner with friends after parkour tonight and my children wanted to know what was on the menu. I pulled up the website and started reading off things. I didn’t realize my son had been there before and when I got to the drinks I said, “oh, they have milkshakes.” My son said in a matter-of-fact tone, “I know that, spoiler alert.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: We were eating dinner the other night with my parents. After dinner my daughter was very helpful when she explained to everyone, “Mommy has a bigger tummy”.
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