7 May 2004
conundrum
In the cafeteria here at work there are two industrial toasters. They’re pretty cool appliances, with their chain-link conveyor belts and brushed-metal decor. Cool though they may look, though, the cafeteria staff has decorated each with a sign specifying what food should be inserted into it. The one with the taller opening asks for “BAGELS ONLY, PLEASE” whereas the one with the somewhat-less-gaping maw only wants “TOAST ONLY, PLEASE”.
Only today did this strike me as odd. Remembering back to the old childhood mindtrick:
- Spell “ghost”
- Spell “most”
- Spell “roast”
- Quick! What do you put in a toaster?
The answer to which, as everybody realizes in a head-slapping moment of truth, is BREAD, not toast. Toast only comes out of toasters.
As such, the second toaster would never be used, unless people here were either resourceful enough to toast their bread on their own (not likely in the white collar fashion world) or so willing to bend the rules as to toast their bread in the bagel toaster first. And if they were so willing to yield to that temptation, why would they not just shove bread into the “TOAST” toaster?
Truly it boggles the mind.