Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Matching reality with expectations

yep, another story from my first visit to the USA.

Sunday, February 20th 1982. Toward the end of a long day though it was only just after 1500 in California. I arrived at my hotel in Santa Rosa having successfully negotiated the San Francisco Freeway system and made it across the Golden Gate Bridge. Sleepy but hungry. So I looked at the room service menu and noticed they had corned beef sandwiches - 5 bucks. Whoa I thought; that's a bit steep. On the other hand, it was on expenses so I ordered two of em.

If you live in the US you know what's coming; if an Australian you don't. I can't speak for other countries. Half an hour later there's a knock at the door; I answer and there's a waiter with a tray fairly groaning under the weight of the food I'd ordered. My corned beef sandwich consisted of two slices of bread enclosing at least 2 inches (5 cm) of corned beef. Didn't stop there though. There were enough fries to fill 4 McDonalds large fries boxes. And coleslaw. And a green salad!

Now that's the reality. What had I expected? Two slices of bread enclosing two slices of corned beef maybe 1 millimetre thick each; three if I was lucky. Sure didn't expect the fries, the coleslaw or the green salad!

I didn't need to order breakfast the next day!

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