I know, as do most people that work at/dine at the CCF, that our highest selling items are our cheesecakes. In Los Angeles, it was almost like pulling teeth to get a table of 4 to share one slice let alone 2 or 3. Here in good ole KC, selling 2 or 3 is the norm, much to the delight of my managers and my bank account. Yesterday, I was shocked to the point of disgust at the extent of the love that KCers have for our delicious desserts. Let me elaborate.
At around 3 pm, when the restaurant was at it’s slowest, 3 rather “big boned” ladies walked in to the restaurant and were sat in my section. After greeting these food fans and launching in to my monologue of specials and features, my table informed me they were there only for dessert. After which, each promptly ordered 5 different slices of cheesecake. That’s right, 15 total pieces in 15 different flavors. Since high dessert sales are strongly encouraged and rewarded, I happily rang in the order and delivered said confections to my eager guests and bid them enjoy.
About 10 mintues later, after finishing those agonizing side duties that we have to do, I returned to the table to find that more than half of the plates were empty save for a few bits of whipped cream and chocolate sauce. The look on the faces of my satisfied patrons gave me the sense that they had indeed enjoyed themselves and were ready to call it a day. Much to my suprise, each woman ordered an additional 5 slices to go. That’s 30 slices of cheesecake. Now, there comes a moment in the lives of every server when they have to stop and ask themselves “Should I really be allowing these people to slowly kill themselves like this. Shouldn’t I say something?” Of course, in today’s culture of “the customer is always right”, I can’t dissuade my customers from spending money on something they most clearly don’t need so I ring in the additional treats and deliver them in individually packed plastic containers.
The women payed, tiped generously, and slowly waddled out the front door(as mean as it sounds, waddled is the only word to describe the scene I witnessed). As I closed out my checks, I couldn’t help but ponder a few things:
The US is the fattest country in the world. The US is the unhealthiest country in the world. We do it to ourselves and no one seems to care. Corporations don’t mind, as long as cash keeps flowing in. Consumers don’t mind, as long as they have the freedom to chose what they put into their bodies and the freedom to sue said corporation when they develop serious health problems (McDonalds found that out the hard way). When is enough, enough. When will companies take responsibility for the goods they provide to their consumers? When will consumers take responsibility for what they put in their bodies instead of passing blame onto the providers? I guess when the almighty dollar has a major fall from grace and the right to choose is secondary to the right to suffer the consequences of your bad decisions.
