This is even less honest for a simple reason: the manager keeps asking, "will this work for you?" It's fake in the same way that the sandwich is. They're being

This is even less honest for a simple reason: the manager keeps asking, "will this work for you?" It's fake in the same way that the sandwich is. They're being reprimanded, and that's the fact of it. I think the sandwich is much more honest as long as you're being honest when you execute it. You could even merge the two and say: "Here's what we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about what's been going well lately, talk about an issue I've seen recently, and then close out with a plan to improve things. How does that sound?"