I love it how…
Posted Saturday, November 19th, 2005 by nycgadgetgirl…99% of the time you call for takeout in the city, whoever answers the phone has to run get the only person (or one of very few people anyway) who actually speaks English to take your order.
Why did they answer the phone? Did they think it might be someone who (1) called the takeout place for something OTHER than placing an order and/or (2) also happened to speak chinese/spanish/etc. ?
November 19th, 2005 at 8:07 pm
Heh…reminds me of living in the San Francisco Bay Area, going through the drive-thru of most fast-food places.
November 19th, 2005 at 11:11 pm
Bet me that they just get a ton of biz from members of their ethnic community. We have that here A LOT in Seattle. I work across the street from Uwajimaya, a huge, cool, fab Asian market. It’s one of the places in Seattle that makes feel like I’m totaly alien. And it’s not always a bad a feeling.
November 19th, 2005 at 11:20 pm
When I call T.S. Ma and get a Chinese lady, OK, sure. And when I call the Indonesian place and get an Indonesion person, OK. But when I call Fat Sal’s for a pizza and I get a Mexican guy? Or I call the Texas BBQ place and someone Asian answers?
I guess that’s urban life in America. Ain’t it grand?
November 21st, 2005 at 9:04 am
Lachlan is right. Having a takeout place that has a big following in its own ethnic niche (meaning Chinese folks eating Chinese food, not Jews eating Chinese food!) means the place is authentic. Put that number on speed dial and forget the inconvenience of having to wait for the token English speaker to take your order.
Just my humble opinion
~The Jew who misses Chinese food~
November 22nd, 2005 at 9:28 am
Chalk me up as someone who understands that. We have that here too. Sometimes it is kind of fun to try and place your order that way, you never know what you are going to get.
November 25th, 2005 at 1:29 pm
It can be an adventure when ordering food from someone who has yet to learn the English language. As someone who has lived abroad (outside of New Jersey) I understand and so when placing an order it is my mission to be patient. Then upon arrival of said food it is a pleasant surprise when nothing that I ordered is there. I laugh and sample what “the Gods have brought” which is usually Chicken Wings and Rice.