Encounters with Restaurants of the Third Kind

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Some background info:
During lunchtime, Indians normally get food delivered from home to office or they order from restaurants. So food delivery is really common here.

Encounter 1 (Last night)
Order-taker 1: Hello.
Me: Hi, I would like to order a pizza.
Order-taker 1: Can I have your name?
Me: Ivy
Order-taker 1: Would you like to place an order?
Me: Yes.
Order-taker 1: What would you like to order?

I place an order.

Order-taker 1: What is the address?
Me: AB's Service Apartment.
Order-taker 1: What is the block number?
Me: There is no block number.
Order-taker 1: What is the house number?
Me: There is no house number.
Order-taker 1: What is the block number?
Me: There is no block number. There is only one block in the estate.

Talking in the background and passes phone to order-taker 2.

Order-taker 2: Hello, can I have your block number?
Me: There is no block number.

Silence...I hang up and call another restaurant.

Encounter 2
Order-taker 3: Hello, would you like to place an order?
Me: Yes.

(I give my order.)

Order-taker 3: Can I have your address?

(I give my address and hang up.)

We go home and wait for an hour. No food turns up. I call the restaurant.

Order-taker 3: Hello?
Me: Hello, I ordered some food just now and I want to check if the food has been sent.

Order-taker 3: Is it from Pheonix?
Me: No. From AB's service apartment.

(Order-taker 3 checks his orders)

Order-taker 3: Are you at xxx road?
Me: No. AB's Service Apartment.

Order-taker 3 passes the phone to Order-taker 4.

Order-taker 4: Hello?
Me: Hi, I ordered some food to AB's service apartment and I want to check if the food has been sent.
Order-taker 4: I called just now to say it's too far and we won't be delivering it.
Me: But I didn't receive any phone call.
Order-taker 4: No, I called just now and told the person to tell mam that we are not delivering.

Fed-up Me hangs up the phone and tries to call a restaurant on Merzin's list. And we finally get our dinner at 9 pm.

Encounter 3
The first morning in Mumbai, I ordered scramble eggs at toast at our apartment's cafe. Food came as expected.

Second morning, I ordered sunny side up. Scrambled eggs came and I asked to change to sunny side up. I thought they didn't hear me or got mixed up.

This morning at the cafe. Sick of eating eggs every morning I ordered just toast while Winnie ordered sunny side up and toast.

Winnie's sunny side up and toast and my toast came.

Waiter (Pointing to eggs): Only 1?
Me: Yes.

Another serving of sunny side up appeared in front of me.

We concluded that they are programmed to serve the same food to the same guests everyday.