I was not prepared for "wiping flavor off" today. That's the kind of line that sits with you during service and then keeps you up at 3 AM. I've done that exact swipe for so long it's basically muscle memory, like how some people tap a salt shaker three times before using it. But he's not wrong. You're basically seasoning the cloth and leaving the plate bare. Now I'm going to be paranoid every time I reach for a towel.

Did you ever push back on the CTE suggestion at first? I was exactly the same way. I used to think nested subqueries looked clever and compact, like showing off. But then I timed one of my reports against a coworker's version that used CTEs and mine took 8 seconds longer on a simple monthly data pull. That shut me up real fast. I still write messy stuff sometimes but I always refactor it now before anyone sees it.

Tried the same thing and NOW I'm afraid to go back to name brand.

You wrap it in foil when it hits stall?

Oh man this brings me back to when I had a friend who was a chef and he got so mad at me for using a meal kit service. He was like you're missing the whole point of cooking. I get it now though because for me it's kind of like having a sous chef that chops the veggies but you still gotta taste and season everything yourself. I only use AI to flag the obvious spelling stuff too then I go back and do the actual grading by hand.