In our twenties, my husband and I were out to eat (late lunch? early dinner?) at Olive Garden. We were seated near a window watching the rain.

We could see the part of the parking lot that extends to the back near the kitchen. A supply truck was there, unloading stuff for the kitchen.

Then, we saw them unloading the breadsticks. Tray upon tray of gray, pre-formed breadsticks in tower form. This is about 20 years ago, but the memory of them on their trays, looking like little naked zombies in the rain, stuck with us. We are pretty sure they weren’t covered/wrapped, but the tray stacks had a top on it. They just looked so sad and unappetizing. We had already eaten our breadsticks, and obviously they’re going to get baked, but it just looked strange.

Reminds me of seeing them pull out a giant sealed ziploc bag of broccoli cheese soup at Panera and dump it in the pot. My friend had just ordered that soup. I can understand the principle of the thing, but hearing it dumped like pig slop just off putting.