Raleigh and Back

Today we returned from a couple nights in Raleigh with Susan and Randy, Marian's aunt and uncle. We love hanging out there. It's where we tied the knot and where Marian spent a lot of her childhood.

There were a lot of funny things that happened, but one in particular is worth mentioning:

After finishing a wonderful Outback take-out steak dinner to celebrate our new company, Marian shared something she'd heard from her brother, Arendall, concerning his time as an Outback Steakhouse manager.

Apparently there are a number of tricks that employees play on unsuspecting newbies:

1. They tell them that, after running a credit card through the machine, they have to speak into the machine the name of the card. For several days the new employee can be observed running a card and whispering to the machine, "Discover," "VISA," "Mastercard."

2. Employees are allowed to eat desserts that, for whatever reason, don't get served to diners. Veteran employees have been known to substitute whipped cream with lard - something that feels greasy-weird for days in a person's throat.

3. The thing that really sticks out, though, is a little trick played with the pumpernickel bread which comes free with every meal. When water is added to pieces of the bread, it is able to be shaped into something that looks a lot like - you guessed it. New employees will enter the staff bathroom to find something that looks pretty alarming on the walls, the ceiling, the toilet seat - and so on.

Marian's uncle tested this story, and found it absolutely accurate. The untrained eye simply cannot tell the difference. So, with the housekeeper on her way to their house today, Marian's uncle ...

We're waiting for a full report.