TRANSCRIPT
You know what time it is. It’s story time. A I said it story time. Okay. I have a good story for you today. This is something that my family talks about all the time now. I live in Maryland, okay, and you all know how much I love food. So in Maryland there are a lot of West Indians, people from Trinidad, people from Jamaica, and many other islands.
So we have amazing West Indian food here in Maryland. Now, my family, we are not West Indian, but we love West Indian food specifically. Roti. So the roti we like has cabbage and potatoes and garbanzo beans and vegetables. It’s delicious. And all throughout my high school years and college, and even a little bit after college, there was one specific restaurant we used to go to.
It was called Caribbean Delight. It wasn’t too far from my high school, and the owner actually worked with my mother at the hospital. The restaurant was her side business. When I say her roti, Ooh, was good. Oh my goodness. It would make you lick your fingers. That’s how good the roti was. Now, the thing is, my mom knew the owner very well.
She was the cook, she was the owner, and they were friends at work. There was nothing wrong, but there was one unique quality about this lady. She did not play any games. She was extremely serious. And when you went to her restaurant, you needed to know exactly what you wanted. You need to know what your request was because she didn’t have time for small talk.
So I remember one specific time I. Really craving. I wanted to eat roti, so I drove almost 30 minutes from my house just to pick up some roti from a restaurant. So I arrived at the restaurant and I was gonna make my request, right? So I said her name, you know, I said, Hey ma’am, her name, and then I won’t say her name here.
And then, you know, I said, Hey, I’m here. I really, really wanted to eat some of your food. So I want to order a roti, you see name. I told her why I came and then I made the order. But I had a question now. I usually just said what I wanted and sat down and waited for it to be given to me after I paid. But I had a few questions.
I wanted to know if they could add some vegetable. So I asked her, I said, Hey, I just wanted to know can this be added? And she looked at, baby, you get what she paid for. She really did not want anything changed on her menu. Now, she was not mean. But she did not play games and she did not want small talk.
So she said, you want a roti, you can’t change anything. Yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. I paid my money and I sat down and I waited for my roti to come. So I came home and I told my mom I was laughing because the food was so good. Now, in America, customer service is very important, just to help you understand. So usually the customer’s always right.
If a customer has something they want. Then the person will kind of adjust. Like at Subway you make it your way and they do things your way. So usually if you make a request, you want some vegetable changed, people will do that, but not this lady. She said, you get what’s on the menu or you get nothing at all.
And we all continued to go to her restaurant because her food was so good. So we always have jokes about her because she did not play. Don’t change the menu, get whatever’s on the menu. And people loved her food. Now, she’s no longer here. She got sick, unfortunately, and so we’re not able to get her food anymore.
But we have these funny memories of her because she did not really match the typical American, uh, food culture. She did not let you have what you wanted. If you wanted to change anything, she said no. You get what’s on the menu. So maybe there are some people in your country that are like that, just one way they won’t change at all.
I hope you enjoy this story, guys. I hope you have an awesome week and I will see you next time.