There are many times when a person seems willing to help, but then is unable to because “the computer won’t let me do it that way.” Such was the case when visiting a local takeout. I wanted to purchase two orders of their “Salmon and Shrimp Curry Noodles” but without the salmon or shrimp. Nowhere on the menu could I purchase only curry noodles. The only way to order it was with the salmon or shrimp.

An order cost $11.99 each, but you have to figure that most of the actual cost is taken up by the salmon and shrimp. Since I was only getting noodles, it didn’t seem fair to be required to pay full price.

“I can’t do that”, the waiter explained. “There’s no way for me to charge you less and we don’t have only the noodles on the menu.”

Have the machines already taken over? Didn’t man program them? Can man override them?

Surprisingly, a solution was found. the waiter offered to add “extra extra noodles”. In the end, each order had at least twice the noodles than they normally would. I think that was a good compromise and I give my local takeout a thumbs up for coming up with a way to override the system, even if they could not override the machine.