you might have heard of the news of a global banking giant outsourcing its IT work to some IT giants...yours truly is part of that much talked about deal and has now landed up in chicago...
when it comes to planning trips, this trip beats all the trips i have done/planned so far. my trip was rescheduled and redirected at least 14 times... I was asked to travel to Ann Arbor/Chicago/Troy/NJ and even Netherlands. even now i am not sure of this is my final destination. guess nobody can beat my account when it comes to planning and strategies,,,was almost sleepin throughout the flight... reached here in one piece... US looks the same... no no havnt been here before... same as in same as the movies :p
checked into a hotel and called up my close buddy after wasting some quarters at the public call fones... it turned out he too was staying in the same hotel. he hadnt written his hotel name in the addres…he came down to the lobby, we met, we hugged, we talked, walked and talked... 4 years of engg together at CET, 2 years of working together at Mumbai, and a year and a half later, we both are working from the exact same office for the exact same client, but on behalf of two different corporates... this world sure is a small place!!
first day in Yankee land was pretty much as expected... huge buildings, huge automobiles, awsome babies ;_)
funny part of the day was my first US MacDonald purchase...
me and my teammate from bangalore went to one MacD outlet for our lunch... poor guy is a vegetarian and was intimidated by the chicken dominated menu... i decided to play the good Samaritan’s role and approached the MacD counter with my best possible yinglish accent "Ma'am, doo yuHaav anyything in vegggitarian?"... The lady gave me a blank look as if I asked her something in Mallu. I tried again... This time in my normal accent "Do you serve vegetarian burgers here?" She gave me a look (which I have reserved for my veggy friends) and asked "Vegggittaaariaaan? sorry, we dont have"... I went back to my team-mate and passed on the sad news to him... we both proceeded to the SubWay outlet and finally got a veg and a non veg sub...then we went back to MacD to get some fries and coffee... 1 medium french fries is some 1.23 $ and they had an offer whcih said 2 french fries for $2. In the meanwhile, I wanted to call my friend, and I had noticed a public call booth which said "Local calls for 50cents". I had 2 quarters with me and no 50 cents...So wanted to convert those two quarters into a 50 cent. Keeping all these things in mind, I went to the MacD counter and placed my order...the conversation which followed went somewhat like this...
Me: "2 french fries and 2 coffee please"
Counter Lady(CL):" You want F-R-E-N-C-H fries?"
I was confused. I thot may be I asked for 'italian' fries or sth... Not really understanding what she meant, i nodded my agreement.
CL: "That makes it 2$ 84 cents"I was confused again as I knew the price of coffee was above 1 $. But anyways paid the amount and kept quiet. A minute later they delivered 2 packets of french fries. But no coffee...
Me: "I'd ordered for 2 coffee also"
CL: "Waaaaat? coffeeee?? noo sirr... u only ordered FRENCH fries"
Me: "Ok..fine...give us 2 coffee also"
While she instructed her coworker to pass me coffee, i pushed my 2 quarters to her and asked "Could you give me a 50 cent?"
She was damn confused this time and said..."No sirr... its not 50 cents... its 2 $ 46cents..."
Me: "I know...I know... This is separate...I will pay that later"
She was finally happy to understand what I wanted and said "Oh...i now understoooood... you want sepppperaaaate... ok ok..." she placed her hands on both of the coffee cups and said "1.23 and 1.23.... This is 1.23, and this is 1.23" What she understood was I wanted to pay for the coffees separately :_(
What more to say, I just dumped all the coins and $ bills I had in my hand and asked her to pick whatever she wanted, and returned with 2 coffee cups and not really convinced as to whether to be happy or sad about the fact that I myself was acting the part of the foolish indian whom I have seen in so many movies...
So thats how its going. Have been coming to the client office for a couple of days now... got a laptop today... installed some software... work is yet to start... may travel to Troy next week... catch up with u ppl later…
Bangalore (01:35 AM) -> FrankFurt (12:00 PM-02:50PM)->Chicago (12:00PM)
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- Geo
- Technical Architect at SpiderLogic. Codes for a living, drives for fun.
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21 comments:
paapi chennidam paathaalam!!
So you are part of that big deal, eh? :)Interesting.
It was fun reading your experiences. I think all of us go through similar experiences when we first land in the land of opportunities. I remember my first visit to a McD during peak lunch hours, and in a matter of split sec you have to make your decision from the umpteen choices displayed with ofcourse the toppings you need. Overcome by nervousness, I would finally manage to blurt out all toppings..even if some of them I really did not like at all. :)
So good luck with your project and travels and hope to read many more stories.
that was really funny man..i am sure at the end of the day you wil enjoy it a lot too.
i think most of these whites are nice and cool. but some like to pretend that they are something different and better, and i really hate it when they do that. anyway, its all about just being yourself and having loads of fun!
Yours truely in Chicago!?!?!?!
Dude, that's my Den! Where are u in Chgo?
I can totally empathize the conversaton above. I was very naive too when I landed here, on my first day, past 1:30 am, no one at the ariport to pick me up!! I can write a book on my experiences..
let me know if u need any help or tips.. I surely would like to help out>>
What town/suburb r u staying in btw?
Weatehr is getting better, and days will start an hour earlier tomorrow, be prepared for the time change, it is happening tomorrow>
@Alexis Leon:
Ha ha… Thanks… I hope I will have a bad time… and abt driving ppl crazy, I used to do that even when I was there… so nothing new :_))
@Jithu:
athinu nee paathaalathil pooyoo?
@quills:
yea yea… THAT deal ;_))
Nice of you to share your exp… ;_)) shd say its nice to meet more ppl who have sailed in the same boat… :_)
@Mind Curry:
I don’t take such incidents too seriously… so the situation is still enjoyable.. :_)
In fact the lady at the MacD counter was an afro American…. Anyways…tats not the point… the point is as u mentioned in having loads of fun :_)
@Shef:
What do u mean?? I am having a ball here… for a PURE nonvegitarian like me, this IS the place to be… ok… :_))
steaks, subs, gyros and what more ….
@venus:
The world IS small lady…
Nice to find u here… and thanks a ton for all the help u r doing.. nice to have someone like you arnd….
lol..!!
i can imagine the scene very well..
have a great time.. *hugs*
:))
hey nice post... good tht u can laugh at urslef ..a very good nd much required quality .. neways been keepin 2 busy ..next year stuff and meetin..workin on a sunday too...u enjoy the break till work starts
OMG!
americayude adhapathanam has started!
the GEO has landed
:)
lucky that u have ur cet trained stomach to take with u to any land under the sun and never be hungry cos of mismatching cuisines :P
ps : take care macha!.
my pleasure :)
Have fun Geo :) And please do post your experiences in your own inimitable way :)
@Anu Chechy:
:_)
Thanks… I guess I am having a good time here ;_)
@Shruti: when u have a friends gang like mine who make it a point to pull ur legs every 12 seconds, u get used to it, and will start laughing at urself… :_)) ..hope u r enjoying ur work… keep going…
@Poison: ha ha ha… America polichadukkiyittu njaan angu ethaam… ;_))
True I can eat ANYTHING…well almost anything….
@Venus: :_)
@Silverine: Thanks :_) Shall try to do that :P
Haha..
As per the tradition, slept throughout the flight? ;-)
Dont sleep over weekends, okay?!
Hang out with some bayibs ;-)
(As if i hav to tell you!)
Nice post, as usual
(fed up saying this line)
And that reply to shruti was hillarious.. 12seconds! We never thot the frequency was so high :D
hahaha!!!...
poor ,poor Geo baby!!!..hehe!! shoooo sweeet!!
hope u r doing fine.!
what's happenin dude??
stage testing for thiruvathira..
testing..
testing..
oro thulli chorakkum.. pakaram njan "ottakku" chodikkum :D
geo, congrats on going onsite!!! u made me relive so many old memories of first days in the US! like a pal who went into a subway and ordered 2 footlongs, just seeing the pic and finally seeing the 2 monsters, when the order came...without anyone seeing put it in his bag, quietly went them home and had 3 decent meals with them!!!
have fun man...i always wished i had gone to the US, first on onsite rather than for studies coz i never had the money to travel, eat or shop to my hearts content for a long time! So enjoy all you can...and drive safe(that is if ur planning to drive a motorbike there too!).
Don't worry la.. we all go through this nightmare of getting ourselves understood. All i wanted to buy was a loaf of bread on my first day at Yorkshire, England. the guy at the counter asked me" you want unkut or kut love?" I was 22 and no one ever called me love in public and what kut was he asking me? I wanted to cry. then he showed me a loaf of bread and a knife and using the hand motion asked me again and i finally figured" Uncut or cut and they call everyone love.
@Rat:
Ehh…when I say ‘slept’, I mean slept….its u guys who gave it a connotation…
Don’t think I can find any baybies arnd.. :_(
@AF:
Thanks… ;_)
Yea… I am enjoying…
@venus:
its official…I am continuing here :_) hope to c u soon…
@kv:
ha ha ha…I have just started my game…watch out!!!
@Jiby:
good old memories…eh… :_)
A friend of mine once went to one subway outlet and proudly placed his order…"one tuna sub… Make it football please”…what he meant was footlong...
As you said, its good that I have come with some green bucks in my purse(thanks to my comp)… let me see whats in store now….
@Immigrant in Canada:
No worries ma’am…:_) as Shruthi mentioned earlier, I don’t find it diff at all to join the gang which laughs at me… :_)
So nice of you to share your ‘love’ story here.. :_)
I thot he was referring to ‘loaf’ when he said ‘love’… :_)
@geo/silverine etc etc .. hey no offense meant but please spell my name as SHRUTI and not SHRUTHI .. i knw ..its happens to me very often in the peninsular region of India.. but am a complete mixture of north india ..( UP, haryana and punjab) .. and shruthi just doesnt work for me .. he he
@geo
I took the pain of getting up early on a saturday just to check the comments. This is disheartening. Stopped pulling each others' legs? When I say truce, it doesn't necessarily mean that :D
@Shruti: apologies :_)
@KV: Ok..appo godha-yil vechu kaanaam :_))
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