Anti-Roti

A Pakistani wife of one and mom of four whipped up fresh, hand-made roti for dinner every single day of the year.

Her husband loved them. He was always first to finish.

The kids liked the roti as well, just not the quantity they had to finish.

All four young ones were trying to get out of finishing their roti. However, they never knew others were doing the same thing — just via different avenues. Decades later, the kids finally discovered each other’s brilliant tactics.

Simultaneously:

Child #1: Broke off pieces of her roti and nonchalantly left them under her placemat – limiting the amount she had to finish before being allowed to leave the dinner table.

Child #2: Stuffed small pieces of roti into her mouth until she could not fit anymore – then excused herself during dinner to use the washroom. There, she’d spit it all out into toilet paper, hide it in a huge rolled-up ball and toss it.

Child #3: Broke off small pieces of roti and “accidentally” dropped them on the floor.

Child #4: Broke off chunks of roti and threw them into plant pots throughout the kitchen.

The mom obviously found pieces of roti everywhere – and definitely figured out her roti was being wasted. Still, she made the same amount of roti every day in hopes everybody would finish – and not waste.

The mom, now also a grandma of seven, still makes fresh roti every day. Now she even sends some along to her grandkids – all of whom finish it ever so happily.

Dana Morris, Donation Specialist at Panera Bread:

“At Panera Bread, our bakers bake our bakery products overnight to ensure our customers are receiving freshly baked products every morning and throughout the day,” said Dana.

“We actually do not waste our bread; we have a program in place called the Day-End Dough-Nation™ program,” she said. “At the end of each day, our bakery-cafes package their unsold bread and baked goods to donate to local hunger relief and charitable organizations.”

Disclaimer: All characters appearing in this short story, excluding interviews, are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.