Er, What Was Your Order Again, Sir?

Item: Visited the refurbished Pot Pourri on Turner Road in Bandra and asked for a lemon-apple crumble, gooey chocolate brownie and loaf of bran bread. Returned home to find only the bread in the package.

Item: Visited Moshe's at Crossword in Kemp's Corner, and ordered a bagel with cream cheese and a lemon iced tea. Only the bagel arrived. Since one was in a hurry, one ignored the missing beverage -- only to find it charged on the bill. Pointed out oversight to waiter, who vanished for the next 15 minutes.

Item: Called China Gate off Waterfield Road in Bandra from home, to order chicken in garlic sauce, steamed chicken dumplings and assorted noodles and rice. One hungry hour later, their deliveryman arrived, bearing aloft two helpings of rice, two helpings of noodles and dumplings stuffed with vegetables.

Perhaps one is surrounded by a cloud of static electricity. Perhaps Mercury is retrograde. Perhaps one doesn't look at people firmly enough in the eye.

One would like to ask the establishments in question to pull up their socks, but they don't seem to be wearing any.