Try a Little Curiosity

To this day, restaurant after restaurant, just ask for the soup of the day. Utterly blank looks. There's a new soup every day, but manager down to wait staff, why can no one be bothered to find out, until having to scamper off when someone actually queries?

A leading hospitality venue, very capable staff, suites only. I ask if they have a steam room and "wet area." Mystified, he promises to find out. "How long have you been here?" I ask. "Third day sir." To me, that's three days too many to not know basics in an intimate, boutique property, particularly as you may wish to cross-sell.

Swank new mall, restaurant from overseas, dark suited, ergo "senior" manager. I ask, given their Singapore/Hong Kong pedigree, whether a Peking Duck could be produced with advance notice. Utterly blank. He had no idea what that was or what I meant. Yet he was sauntering about in the midst of the melee. In all the preening, perhaps a dollop of curiosity?

At an august establishment, when I asked if they accept Diner's Club/Discover, he said "no." When he brought the credit card machine for the Amex I switched to, on the side of the machine was pasted "Diner's Club/Discover" with their logos! He had never "seen" that though he handles the machine every day.

One other establishment had told me they don't accept these cards, and then a bright young service provider ran mine out of "curiosity" and found their system accepted it! This was much to the befuddlement and chagrin of their finance manager, who to this day, I've found, hasn't advanced his understanding as to why or how that is possible, one jot. 

We are all confused in many areas. Hallelujah! Let's enjoy the mystery when the answers are ineffable. But surely, surely, 2020 can be the year of "finding out" when the answers are ready to hand and fairly accessible even if not immediately apparent!