How to soften butter in the microwave:
Lol ... same deal with those tubs of spreadable butter and olive oil I get, they are a little too hard to use right out of the fridge but I sometimes cheat when I'm in a hurry and give them 10 or 12 seconds in the microwave. Just enough to make it still a little bit too hard, because as you point out ... another 3 seconds and it's a tub of basting liquid.
I stick melted butter in the freezer.
Tried table knives as butter paddles to shape soft butter. Fail.
I only put it in there if I want liquid butter. I just leave it out. I go through it too fast for it to go bad, just wash out the container after every stick how to use.
This one was my favorite:
Cook fish sticks for a kid & she'll eat for a day
But TEACH a kid to microwave her own fish stick and, well, she'll start a fish stick fire