Being A Last Customer in a Pune Restaurant !

This is an inevitability of my life. Being active in theatre, my usual times to have meals at night are somewhere around 11. Rehearsals, shows usually are in the evenings and I am set free for such essential activities, only after 10.30. and this is the most early estimation.

Well, most of the times both of us are involved in the play or show or rehearsals. Obviously we have to resort to some hotel serving food at that time for our dinner. All this makes us the most susceptible species for this syndrome called ''Being the Last customer in a Pune Restaurant''.

First of all let me clear yet another mis-concept. We are the causative organism. That way we are susceptible .. not in the way of being affected by it. We induce the signs and symptoms of this syndrome in the restaurant staff that is 'susceptible' in the real sense.

Being the last customer in a Pune restaurant .. this 'Pune' restaurant is another specification. As this syndrome is 'endemic' in nature.

The food cycle begins with Pune restaurant owners and ends at me. The stores manager, cashier, managers in the restaurant, cooks, captains, the waiters and the cleaning staff are the essential components of the chain. The syndrome's occurrence is largely seen in the population at the lower end of the chain. It begins from the cleaning staff upwards and it secondarily affects me.

Signs and Symptoms :
1) Induces Frowning in Waiters.
2) Induces hurried or hyperactive behaviour in the cleaning staff.
3) Induces Hyper-traits of either polarity of behavior like .. extra courtesy in some managers.
4) A few waiters try to avoid you in a near-paranoiac behaviour pattern.
5) A sudden increase in negativity in the captains.
6) Higher managers star becoming extra-alert. (They start wiping their napes and foreheads often and look at the road in anxiety .. for Police Van on patrol)
7) Me and eater are subjected to most inconveniences like almost zero lights, no fans, a terrible noise of unoccupied chairs and tables (as the hyper active cleaning staff starts putting them to their specified positions)
8) The eater may loose chappals (if they have a habit of removing them frequently)as the cleaning staff starts washing the floor while you are still there.
9) Induced Starvation - Because of Limited choices of menu or non-availability of cooking staff or non-availability of captains or waiters or serving staff who are busy eating themselves.
10) The cashiers and managers are in an easy irritability syndrome. They want you to eat faster and pay up fast !
11) The only waiter who is left to attend you faces bouts of anxiety, irritation, rudeness and restlessness. This makes him either walk too and fro from time to time looking at the bill and making sure it is still not paid or waiting or standing still at a place being totally focused on your hand moving in the direction of your wallet. Some such waiters are forced to stand exactly BEHIND you, literally 'waiting' for you to pay up and finish off.

This strange syndrome, I think is a result of hotel owners who do not realise that they are actually running a 'service' industry. The equation of service orientation goes haywire after a certain time in the minds of the serving staff. The hotel managers and owners do not realise the threshold of their staff. They keep on accepting customers to the nth minute and then this syndrome precipitates.

I must also acknowledge here, a few places in Pune, who have realised their limits of being 'hospitable' and therefore who close down or avoid more customers after a certain time. A few others, also show a certain unbeatable service orientation till the last moment .. i.e. till you actually leave their premises at whatever time ...