“Are you ready to order?” The server stood next to our table attentively, hands behind his back.

He listened carefully as each of us let him know what we wanted to eat.

I marveled. My own short-term memory would be woefully inadequate for this sort of thing. Relaying to the kitchen a food order for a family of five — without taking notes? Not my skill-set.

But here he was, no pad, no pencil, no tablet.

And when our meal was served, only one of the meals was completely accurate.

Turns out, this server’s short-term memory wasn’t all that great either.

My son quietly noted, “Maybe he should have used a pencil and paper.”

Indeed.

Style over accuracy. It looked impressive — but that’s about all.

Sometimes we need to humbly choose practical methods; they might not garner oohs and ahs, but they’ll get the job done right.