Amateur vs Professional

Recently, I was considering how the makers of chocolate bars decide on what a serving size should be. Chocolate is one of those things that some people get passionate about. Too much passion, particularly over the holiday season when self-control is in short supply, can result in bingeing, gorging, devouring and reckless munching until the point of serious cardio-vascular harm is reached, resulting in convulsions and premature death.

An amateur is one who says to himself: "This chocolate bar looks yummy and I'm looking forward to having some. But I wish to avoid serious cardio-vascular harm, so I will only have one half and I will wrap up the other half and return it to the drawer, to be consumed at some later date." The amateur would be offended if it were suggested that a serving size was anything but a half a bar. My extensive research has shown that the chocolatiers are mostly convinced by this reasoning and generally consider half a bar to represent the correct serving size.

A professional says to himself: "Over the course of my life, I have eaten over 1,000 chocolate bars. Each time, I have told myself that I will eat only half a bar; after doing so, I have wrapped up the other half and returned it to a drawer to be consumed at some later date. On every such occasion, I have returned within the hour and finished off the entire bar. Doubtless I shall continue to do the same every time I unwrap a chocolate bar. Ergo, the serving size is one bar."

I have now become a professional.


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