Monday, October 29, 2007

Ho'!

The Panera Bread at Baltimore has a system where you get an order #, and once the food is ready, they call out your order #. On the west side of Michigan, or in Wilmington, Delaware, they make it more complicated. They ask for your name as you place the order and call out your name when the food is ready. And this is where the trouble starts.

As many might have noticed, my name is not the best for the 'Wild Wild' West. Its difficult to walk up in a bar... ok, its easy to walk up in a bar but its difficult to pull off a "How you doing? The name is Apoorva", compared to a "How you doing? The name is Clint". Not to say - My name is Apoorva - ever worked in India, but it never got me a "Huh?"

Anyhoo, back to Panera. I place my order and the pretty lady behind the counter asks for my first name. From experience I have learned to pass on my last name in such cases.

"Joshi"
"What?"
"J-O-S-H-I. Joshi"
(pretty lady types)
"Ok, no guarantees on that one", she says.

So I move to the section where they are making the paninis and soups and all that yummy food and another pretty lady is bringing out the food and calling out names.

"Tom, your order is ready"
"Jane, your order is ready"

Long pause, looks at the screen.

"Ho......."
Has trouble reading
"Ho....? Errr...."

"Yes, thats me"
"How do you say your name?"
"You dont wanna try. All I'll tell ya is its definitely not Ho'!"

And we laugh.

And then I walk away.

The new Ho' in town!

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18 Comments:

Blogger Neetal said...

O those Spaniards making your life miserable.... that was funny one ...

I feel much better though... atleast with my last name... they end up calling me Mystery ... its so funny.... to an extent that ... on Caller ID,s the name is spelled as Mystery.

But then its kinda cool to be...
Miss. Mystery :)

Tiene un día bueno. Adiós.
(From Spanish Class !)

October 30, 2007 2:00 PM  
Blogger Still Searching said...

Halepeno, Baha Fresh, Hoshi... makes sense!! lol! I'm glad my name is simple enough for (dumb) pretty ladies to understand!

Arre wah, a new post on my happy budday! Good timing! :)) (though I would've preferred another gift! :p)

October 30, 2007 7:12 PM  
Blogger APOO said...

#Neetal: Miss Mystery does sound cool. You should go in for a name change I tell ya! Aavjo (from Gujju class :P)

#Searching: As long as its not those 'Coconut Lime whatever' fragrances from B&BW, you can still get 'another' present.

October 30, 2007 11:32 PM  
Blogger Still Searching said...

yikes, good call... i do not want to be smelling like a malyali aunty with coconut oil in her hair! lol!

so when and how am i getting showered with all these gifts?! :p

October 31, 2007 12:13 AM  
Blogger APOO said...

#Searching: AHA!! I said 'another present' and now you changed that into 'gifts' (plural)!! Smart! Smart!

Lets first finalize what 'these' gifts are and then I shall tell ya when and how :P

October 31, 2007 12:26 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

HO!! HO!! HO!! HO!! HO!! HO!! HO!!




(btw... that was me laughing santa style and not trying to pronounce your name)

October 31, 2007 6:18 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Call yourself Santa next time.

October 31, 2007 8:37 AM  
Blogger Neetal said...

Bo Dahiyo ne Hoshiyar Chokro :P ... yea right.....like you really need to take any Gujarati Classes :P

October 31, 2007 4:54 PM  
Blogger Still Searching said...

I take that as an ok from you for plural 'gifts' - Cool, I'll take as many as I can get! But I already saw photo album! Ab kya?!

October 31, 2007 11:31 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

lol... at least they get the gender right. with mine, I'm invariably Mr. For some strange reason. And since they always refer to you with surnames, even if i correct them, they call me Mrs. Baa-lamb. so they still get the gender wrong!!!

November 06, 2007 4:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Uhmm...Well, I just give a fake name; usually 'Brad' and get away with it! So you could just be 'Clint'. Just don't forget the 'n'.

November 06, 2007 5:52 PM  
Blogger Madame Mahima said...

im back :)

November 15, 2007 10:39 AM  
Blogger APOO said...

#Iyer: Do you know Santas have been asked not to say Ho ho ho and say Ha ha ha so as not to offend women? Same applies to you!!

#Anjali: The way my tummy is growing, I would fit right in!

#Neetal ben: Ummm.... u dont think so?

#searching: Ab gifts cancel. Now u get me that ice cream from Nirulas! :P

#Sense: LOL! sometimes I have been Ms. Once I was Dr. Joshi. I guess we need our entertainment in these little ways!

#Brad: I think a fake name at a bar would help! Specially the next day. U know what I mean ;)

#Zee: Thinking like Iyer is not a good thing! Trust me!

#Mahi: So was Arnold! :P
Welcome back!

November 16, 2007 12:16 AM  
Blogger Neetal said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

November 16, 2007 7:28 PM  
Blogger KJ said...

ho ho ho..how was diwali? :P

long time no post?

update karo...

KJ

November 19, 2007 4:25 AM  
Blogger Sirpy said...

SO, in effect you floored the pretty lady at the counter with your unpronounceable last name, eh...? :)

November 20, 2007 6:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dude I told u mnths back ..
If SAN JOSE is called SAN HOSE ...
then u my man is hoshi and not JOSHI .... :-)
Amit

November 20, 2007 4:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Actually 'Ho' is not that bad! Any one who greets you will seem to be in a cheerful mood! 'Hey, Ho!'

January 25, 2008 2:14 PM  

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