02 November 2006

Smugg & Mean


My dad is visiting for a few days and I skipped lunch to leave the office earlier to meet up with him. We walked down to Kloof Centre to buy groceries from Woolworths and to order "The Cave" by Saramago from Exclusive books. I have no idea why I suggested that we get a bite to eat at Mug & Bean. Both my previous visits were really disappointing. Perhaps I should blame my hunger or perhaps its proximity to the bookstore. Two cups of coffee, one muffin and my "Fiesta" platter cost ZAR 80.00! The fiesta platter is anything but festive: on a plate they display six small corn chips, a small volume of oily red past (salsa? - I didn't bother to find out), a dollop of sour cream on tasteless guacamole, four deep friend chicken nuggets, four even oilier chicken minituare wings, and four small wedges of quesadilla. My arteries clogged up immediately and I could just feel the free radicals racing through my system.

After recovering, I walked over to the service station to pay. On the computer screen there were these sad little yellow faces. On asking, a waitress explained that a sad icon indicated that a customer has been waiting too long. It didn't seem to bother her that there was a crowd of little sad faces.

On returning home, my dad had to go to the chemist to buy Gaviscon®. I didn't bother to ask why.

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