Heard of rodent problem? How about the massive traffic, food, or even cockroach problem? Well, this one coffee shop in Pune I had been to faces what they call the 'police problem'. Nestled in the middle of buildings housing BPOs, the 11/12pm deadline mean they lose out on their main customers - BPO employees looking for a caffeine shot to boost up energy levels. Why not build it inside one of the buildings, I asked. Restricts clients only to that one building - this way there are walk in clients as well (like me). Plus, most of the BPOs have coffee shops or kiosks in their cafeteria. The BPO employees come to this cafe for meeting up with different people too. Hmm... Whatever the reason, they switch off the lights if a police van approaches. And the event the police do prod them to shut down, am sure money changes hands. Yes, I can see the problem. Its our Indian 'chalta hai' lets-make-this-one-occasion-an-exception attitude. We are all more than happy to bend, bypass and break rules. And who is to blame? The people whose duty it is to safeguard the rules! [How, and if, they perform this duty is a different part altogether] Police problem, indeed!!
Oh and a shout out and a big thanks for the kind lady at Pink Attire, Pune. Well, get this. Outside the venue of a formal do, in a part of the city you know nothing about, dressed in your dressy best. Not the best time for the person in charge of getting the gift to start muttering about gift wrapping - especially when there are no gift or stationary stores in sight.
The lady at Pink Attire, puts her conversation with her client on hold and graciously gives us a swatch cloth to be used for wrapping a gift when we barge into her shop and explain our fix!! Any old cloth swatch would have done, but she eyes our gift, and asks her masterji to get a gold tissue cloth swatch. She could have simply shooed us away, and regaled her clients about the 'weird people problem' that she faces. Class? Manners? Nah, just attitude!Anyway, check this tutorial for cloth/fabric gift wrapping.
[Image from: White Apricot ]
