Theres a ToGos near our office where I sometimes have lunch. Pretty good sandwiches, plus the added incentive of a nice scoop of ice-cream or maybe a malt. This particular franchise is owned by a desi, and interestingly all but one (as per I have seen) of the employees are desi. Anyways .. that is the only goddamn place where it takes more time to get the sandwich than to eat it. I watch painfully (and I might add hungrily) as the desi aunty goes on with her work slowly .. ambling along, gathering all the ingredients, yelling chatting with the other aunty all the while.
Well .. today I ordered a veggie (thought - would be faster somehow .. was terribly hungry) (normally 2 mins to prepare, 7 to eat) and waited and waited .. and waited. After 7 mins of hungry waiting .. with the smell of bacon and chipotle chicken wafting from my neighbouring table, I walked up to the counter. Questioning glance. I responded with my own gestures ..'wheres my sandwich' they (the gestures) said. 'Sir kheera (cucumber) nahi hai'. WTF???? Idiots. Then tell me that 7 freaking hungry minutes before!!! 'thats okay .. mein waise hi khaa lunga' on second thoughts 'to fir thoda avacado jaada de to' .. 'chalta hai sir .. desi store hai'. [Back to more yelling chatting with other desi aunty]. I felt like jumping over the counter and strangling her. I think my frustration was all too apparent. Usually I would have dished out crap .. but today somehow I was subdued. Aunty looked too stupid pitiable to hurt by my scathing remarks.
Worst thing is .. I know I will continue going there for lunch. They have a damn good veggie.
Posted by anya at October 11, 2004 02:07 PM | TrackBackThey do have a damn good veggie but man.. You should complain to the owner or something about the lack of service.. The work ethics of the place really need some looking at...
Posted by: Prashant at October 11, 2004 02:45 PMI learnt the first time I went out in US that it takes more time to make a veggie dish, even though its contents are less than non-veg dish... Sometimes, so long that my friends having non-veg are done with their meals, and I am still playing with the knives and forks on the table.
Posted by: Shailendra B. Rathod at October 11, 2004 04:46 PMhey anya, as u seaid to the end...that u will continue to go there for lunch....i think t'was worth the 'wait'....:-)
Posted by: nag at October 11, 2004 08:50 PMi'm so sorry,but this post made me smile...
Posted by: radhika at October 12, 2004 09:28 PMI also go beserk when I am hungry :)
Posted by: Pallavi at October 12, 2004 10:50 PMRelax!! Food problems, ask me? The place I am in has no desis, let alone desi restaurants , I am dying to have Indian stuff now.
Posted by: Pooja at October 13, 2004 06:35 AMInteresting fact- I have a Subway near my office which is desi owned and operated.Complete with gujju aunties .....making all those nice subs talkin to each other in gujju.This one time i went in late in the afternoon the store was empty except for one person and say i want a 12" steak and cheese.All of a sudden there are three women and a man at the register looking at me.I was wondering what was wrong when a visibly frustrated aunty started makin my sub.By the time she put the steak in the microwave this other aunty comes up to me and says "You from India,why you eat steak".Man the next 2 minutes were steak no good...u want chicken n crapp ..i took my sub and walked out of there as fast as i could.
I still laugh when i remember the look on there faces.
Posted by: BluntNeedle at October 13, 2004 10:40 AMbluntneedle: ha ha .. pretty funny. i oughta try that next time.
Pooja: try and enjoy the different cuisines
Pallavi: i am totally berserk when i am hungry .. my (close) friends try and keep me well-fed just so that i behave civilly. really.