'St Louis secret' to slicing bagels baffles Twitter: 'have you been fired yet?'

Novelist James Patterson said the bagels were inspiration for his 'next true crime novel'

Photo of sliced bagels go viral (Stock)

A man in St Louis, Missouri, has caused outrage after sharing what he claims is a bagel-ordering secret that results in sliced bagels.

On Monday, Alek Krautmann tweeted a photo of a box of bagels sliced into thin pieces with the caption: “Today I introduced my coworkers to the St Louis secret of ordering bagels bread sliced. It was a hit!”

However, the sliced bagels, which appear to be from Panera, were not a hit online - where people questioned why anyone would cut a bagel into such small portions.

In response to Krautmann’s tweet, which was liked more than 7,000 times, people expressed emotions ranging from anger to confusion over the treatment of the bagels.

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” one person wrote.

Another asked: “Were you immediately fired?”

“I am calling the police,” someone else threatened.

Others assured the internet that not all citizens of St Louis treat bagels the same way, with one person tweeting: “Okay I live in St Louis and would like to clarify that we are not ALL sociopaths.”

Despite the backlash, Krautmann took time to answer questions regarding the logistics of the bagels on Twitter.

In response to one question about how many slices each person takes, Krautmann said: “# of slices - many, distributed all morning.

“Slice selection is personal preference, which is the appeal. Have extra spreads on hand though, because that extra surface area = more cream cheese.”

Panera also defended the sliced bagels, and promised Krautmann that the next time the bagels are “on us, sliced however you’d like”.