The kuey teow which never came

You know, there's this saying that's been going around online - something like, "A person who is nice to you but not nice to a waiter is not nice". I sort of believed in that. I always make it a point to order nicely, say thank you when I leave restaurants or shops. I don't think people attending to me should be treated like crap. I've worked at retail stores as sales assistant, even tried being a waitress and I've see how some customers can be irrationally rude.

But sometimes, I learned, there's no point in being too nice.

For lunch the other day my mom and I went to this Thai restaurant in Maju Junction before she left for her meeting outside KL. The restaurant was half full. Seated and looked for a waiter to take our order, but no one came. When I finally caught one guy's eyes, all I got was a nod and a hand gesture of "In a minute". Already knowing what we wanted and not wanting to waste any time, I walked to the cashier, called a waiter to take my order right that minute.

Our dishes were simple compared to the rest of the customers. While everyone else seemed to be having steam fishes and fancy dishes on the table, I ordered tom yam with rice and my mom, fried kuey teow.

Ten minutes later my small bowl of tom yam came. After a while, I asked a waiter where my rice was and again, the "In a minute" sign. Ten minutes later I had to go up to the waiter to realize that a bucket of rice was just a few steps away from me (I don't think customers are supposed to self-serve, seeing how others' rice we brought to them) - but he decided to make me wait.

My mom's kuey teow, not to be seen. We asked the one who took our order where it was, "Coming" and when another was asked, we were given the same hand gesture, "Wait, wait". The group which ordered later than us got their steamed fish and a lot more by that time. By that time my mom was pretty pissed. How long does one take to prepare a fried kuey teow?

So we called the waiter again and my mom told him that we have waited for almost 40 minutes and she had to leave for a meeting - if the kuey teow's not there within five minutes, we would need to leave. "Ok, ok can you wait five minutes?". We agreed and let the guy do his job. We assumed he was going to.

Five minutes later. I think the look on my mom's face scared the crap out of the guy that he came to us and asked, "Can you wait? Three more minutes". It was obvious that they hadn't prepared a single thing by then.

I went to the counter this time, called the waiter and he rushed to the kitchen (just beside the counter). The cook came out with the waiter and had the guts to ask me:

"Miss, do you want to change your order?"

"What do you mean, 'change'?"

"With bihun goreng ke?"

"What's wrong with the kuey teow?"

"We ran out of it"

WTF?!

"Why didn't you tell us earlier? I ordered almost an hour ago and you made us wait? My mom has a meeting to go to, if you had told us earlier instead of saying you were preparing it, we would have ordered something else"

"Where do you work? I'll send it to you later"

Epic fail.

During my short days of being a waitress, I did get caught up in the position where the kitchen ran out of food after an order had been taken, too. It was a bit scary to go up to the customers and upset them, BUT it was a lot better to apologize sooner than making them wait. Hungry people aren't ones you should mess with!

Then my mom came after I signaled that we should leave. Walked to the counter. She's the type you would not want to mess with, hungry or not. By that time, that chef had hidden in the kitchen with the waiter who kept on telling us that the kuey teow will be served shortly.

My mom then complained to the cashier of how upset she was over what happened since there was no manager to be seen. It's not her fault, we know, but it was appalling how she continued smiling and handed me my change as I paid, as if not acknowledging a customer is angry. I was waiting for an apology on behalf of the restaurant. Waited, waited, waited. Then:

"I'm sorry mam, there's nothing I can do. The chef didn't even tell us we ran out of kuey teow. I'll give you discount next time you come here"

She said, smiling, without even properly looking at us.

Discount, seriously? Like that would solve everything. We'd rather have a promise that our meals would be delivered on time rather than a discount!

We left and the cashier rushed to the kitchen. I just wished I had gotten to the cashier half an hour before, because my mom ended up going to her meeting without lunch. Never trust waiters when they tell you that your meal is "On the way" for more than five times (or three). Don't give them the benefit of the doubt. That's something I've learned.