While I was in Philly, I had a chance to catch up with Tammy (she’s Asian, btw, this is key to the “punchline”), a good friend from college who is currently a Resident at one of the hospitals in the city.
We settle on a Chinese restaurant she knows a few blocks from her apartment, so we walk over. We’re seated and our food order is taken. This being in Chinatown, the place settings only have chopsticks. As our food was being served, one of the wait staff offered me a fork, which I turned down. Unbeknownst to me, Tammy did want one, which they never offered to her. Another wait staff, independently, came by a minute later, again offering only me a fork. I again turned it down, telling them that Tammy did want one, but the concept was too foreign. So I just asked for two.
Interesting bit of stereotyping, I thought.