When we were apartment hunting, one of the owner's drivers had to meet us with the key and show us around the apartment. I was shocked as he showed me all his "M'am's" favorite places to sit, typical things she liked to do, and usual habits that filled her day. I thought he was unusually involved in her daily life and decided I would be much more careful in choosing a driver. Come to find out, knowing everything is a job requirement here.
Late one afternoon I was baking for the first time and pulled off a glass lid from a pan in the tiny oven with my new slippery oven mitts and it crashed into pieces all over the kitchen floor. I swept it all up and put it in the garbage can. The next day I was gone when housekeeping cleaned the apartment. Early the following morning the doorbell rang. The housekeeping manager and his assistant were at the door to do "inventory." The manager opened all the kitchen cupboards looking for hotel dishes and sent his assistant running to each bathroom. He reported back in Hindi (dang it! I really need to learn the language!) and I can only assume he was checking to see if all our bathroom glasses were intact. Never once did he ask me if something broke but he was clearly looking to see what all the glass pieces in the garbage belonged to. He simply bobbed his head and said, "Thank you."
Today the doorbell rang again - bright and early. The housekeeping manager was back to do "inventory." He went straight to the silverware drawer. I knew most of the precious few utensils were in the dishwasher so I opened it and showed him I had dishes in there. He reached into the various silverware poking up and quickly pulled out a single large spoon that was different from all the others. He raised it triumphantly and announced, "This belongs to the kitchen!"
Apparently one of the times we ordered room service we must have accidentally kept the wrong piece of silverware (they never bring enough so we use our own). How in the world did he know we had one large spoon hiding out in our dishwasher??? And how in the world are Indians NOT known for their super sleuthing skills? From now on I'm just going to assume they know everything!
Late one afternoon I was baking for the first time and pulled off a glass lid from a pan in the tiny oven with my new slippery oven mitts and it crashed into pieces all over the kitchen floor. I swept it all up and put it in the garbage can. The next day I was gone when housekeeping cleaned the apartment. Early the following morning the doorbell rang. The housekeeping manager and his assistant were at the door to do "inventory." The manager opened all the kitchen cupboards looking for hotel dishes and sent his assistant running to each bathroom. He reported back in Hindi (dang it! I really need to learn the language!) and I can only assume he was checking to see if all our bathroom glasses were intact. Never once did he ask me if something broke but he was clearly looking to see what all the glass pieces in the garbage belonged to. He simply bobbed his head and said, "Thank you."
Today the doorbell rang again - bright and early. The housekeeping manager was back to do "inventory." He went straight to the silverware drawer. I knew most of the precious few utensils were in the dishwasher so I opened it and showed him I had dishes in there. He reached into the various silverware poking up and quickly pulled out a single large spoon that was different from all the others. He raised it triumphantly and announced, "This belongs to the kitchen!"
Apparently one of the times we ordered room service we must have accidentally kept the wrong piece of silverware (they never bring enough so we use our own). How in the world did he know we had one large spoon hiding out in our dishwasher??? And how in the world are Indians NOT known for their super sleuthing skills? From now on I'm just going to assume they know everything!
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