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Free sandwiches: Do they taste better?

Yes. Yes they do. As the Internets' toppest sandwich bloggist, I am ready to make the call.

Many years ago, I began a study wherein I would eat the unwanted sandwiches of other people's catered lunches. If you work in an office, which I highly recommend as it is awesome, you will find that people frequently gather together in rooms to talk about things relevant to the business. These gatherings are called "meetings," and they vary in length. Occasionally, these meetings last so long as to necessitate a catered lunch. In such cases, the person ordering the catering must order at least as many sandwiches as there are meeting attendees, as it's always better to have too many sandwiches than not enough. Indeed, the sandwich-orderer is expected to request far more sandies than will be needed, just in case a bunch of extra people unexpectedly show up at the meeting.

Here's where I come in. At some point, all the meeting's attendees will have been fed, leaving the extra sandwiches behind for my taking. These sandwiches may not be my first choice, but they taste just as good.

Which is my point. I enjoy a $6 sandwich off the menu equally as much as I enjoy a free sandwich sitting on a conference room table. Today I went with turkey and swiss on some kind of brown bread, probably rye. Regardless of what it was, it tasted like a $6 sandwich. Point proven.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I don't know about working in an office being as wonderful as you describe, but the free food is a definite perk! :) One time I remember having a 'working lunch' at JetBlue, but we all had to buy our own lunch and bring it to the meeting. :< Well, that was during RTP, which was a very unfortunate time indeed. Glad you enjoyed your free sandwich! :)
Michael said…
I had a free sandwich today, preventing a 2008 shutout. It was a Udi's Jalapeno Veggie. It's tough to get a free sandwich in this economy, even tougher to get a veggie sandwich. The jalapenos were in the jalapeno cheddar bread. Avocados, caramelized onions, portobello mushrooms and cream cheese were what's between. I don't know if it tasted better than a purchased sandy -- don't get me wrong, it was fantastic -- but it definitely came with more side items than I'm used to: pineapple-rice medley, Doritos (Cool Ranch) and a blondie (delectable).
Alex Headrick said…
Vanessa - A working lunch where the lunch isn't provided is an outrage. No wonder you left JetBlue.

Michael - A year without a free sandwich would have been terrible indeed. That Udi's sandwich sounds excellent. I'd skip the mushrooms, but solid otherwise. Thanks for the summary! Intriguing sides. I don't understand what pineapple-rice medley is though, and I don't really know what a blondie is. I think it's like a cookie?

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