Sightglass Coffee, San Francisco by yukikitchen

Hows ya doin today?

In the US, you will be greeted all the time by people especially when you go to shops, restaurants or hotels. And its not just a smile or a Hello. Its a good

Hi, How are you doing today?

In India we are not used to this behavior. The first time when I went to US I found this a bit irritating and funny. Most of the time when I used to go to a store I wouldn’t expect them to say anything but then when they used to say something, suddenly I would go “HUH, Sorry?” (nincompoop). In New York it was difficult for me to understand the accent of African Americans in the first place. The unexpected greetings just made it worse. But then towards the end of my stay in Santa Monica, I finally got conditioned to this phenomenon.

Second time when I went to San Francisco I had Tony for company. Tony was in US for a couple of months before I reached and was already becoming a part of the culture. Tony took me to Whole Foods Market the first day for lunch and I noticed him greeting back the cashier and then answer that customary question…

For here or to go?

“To go” means they are asking if its a “take away” or “parcel” order. This is again something I had to learn earlier.

Later at Subway I heard Tony asking

Can I have a soda with the sub?

I was like did he start having soda even with his food? The lady there then handed him a glass and I saw him going to the fountain to fill Pepsi. Soda is the generic word for an aerated drink, I realized.

When it was my turn to tell the lady what to add in my sub, I said

Some chillis please

The lady looked at me puzzled. Tony came to my rescue and told her to add jalapeños. Chilli means beef in America, I was told.

San Francisco is a great place to have Indian food. Tony, Nikunj and I ate from Pakwan almost every night. Pakwan was better than all the Indian/Pakistani restaurants we tried eating in the Tenderloin area. We had authentic South Indian food in a Firangi fine dining setup from Dosa at Fillmore, complete with Kingfisher Beer. We even taught a cute firang waitress what a thali meal means. I also liked Deli Board a lot for their unique and delicious sandwiches. One Friday Rajesh took all of us to Bourbon & Branch, a Speakeasy, which was also an experience in itself. The girl at Bourbon & Branch actually greeted us by asking for our ID cards

Even though we used Square to pay in many of the cabs and Food Trucks in San Francisco, I wanted to have the original Square Wallet experience at Sight Glass Coffee. And I got the chance a day before I left.

That night we were staying in a Hotel very close to Sight Glass Coffee so that morning I dragged Tony to come with me. I made sure I opened the tab on the Square Wallet app before I went in. When I reached the counter the girl there greeted me; but a little different this time

Hi Umesh, How are you doing Today?

Tony was shocked to hear that. I greeted her back and ordered some random coffee and something to eat. We hated the food but enjoying the food was not the objective anyway. On the way back I went to the counter and told her

Put it on Umesh

and we walked away. Tony was puzzled and asked what’s happening. I explained to him how it all worked but I dont think he shared the same excitement as mine at that point. Nevertheless it was my second hipster moment in the USA.

End. The title is in Malayalam. It loosely translates to “Don’t underestimate America.”

Day and Night have no much difference!

The above picture of the Golden Gate bridge, San Francisco was shot at 8.50PM, in the month of June.

The first city I visited on my first trip to US was Atlanta. I reached at around 10PM right after a thunderstorm and that night I had to be content with Ceaser Salad for dinner. The next day, after the client meeting in the evening my colleague Mony and I went exploring the downtown area. We went around the Centennial Park, took pictures and then sat down in the garden outside World of Coca Cola, talked for a very long time. Then we went to a small store outside our hotel and Mony bought some snacks and some juices. She asked me too to get something to eat. I didn’t feel hungry so I said I will directly have dinner. Mony looked at me puzzled and then said OK. We went into our rooms.

I freshened up and looked through the pictures I shot, watched a bit of TV and realized that its getting dark and I was feeling hungry. I thought of having an early dinner. I got out and started walking towards the Subway I had spotted earlier. There were not many cars on the road. I even saw a car waiting in the signal patiently when there were no vehicles on the cross road. I reached the Subway and pushed the door only to realize that it was closed. Thats when I looked at the time and it was 9PM. Suddenly Mony buying food, looking at me puzzled, no cars on the road made sense. That night also I had to be content with Ceaser Salad.

In India we depend a lot on our body clock. Our body reacts a lot to the external conditions and we are tuned to listen to that rather than looking at the clock all the time. It doesn’t work everywhere. This happens even in the Europe, my brother has told me. Initially I found it very amusing as Atlanta goes to sleep pretty early. But I took this extended day time as my chance to explore the city when I reached New York.

The second time I was not surprised to see this happening, obviously. This made me plan our city exploration trips well. The day we decided to go sight seeing in San Francisco, Golden Gate was the last in our itinerary. We reached the bridge at around 8PM and started walking across. It was a long walk and was frikkin cold but the day light helped me to capture those moments in all its goodness.

To be Continued…

They know where you are!

Once I got a bit settled to the new place I thought of calling my friends and ask if we could meet up. Karthick was first in my list. I called him, talked for some time and he said

Karthick: Hey Umesh, lets meet up in the evening and will have dinner together

Me: Cool. So will you come this side? How far is it?

Karthick: Yeah I can make it in 45 minutes. Where are you put up?

Me: I’m put up at a colleague’s vacant house. Do you know Santa Monica Pier?

Karthick: Yeah

Me: OK. Come there and if the pier is on your left, come straight down and take the…

Karthick: Hey hold on. This is USA man. You just give me your address and I will get there. Dont worry.

Me: Oops (I’m really a nincompoop) OK man. I’ll send the address to your mail.

I didn’t repeat the mistake when I called Girish. I wanted him to think that I’m cool… thanks to Karthick.

In US almost everyone has a GPS navigator in their car and the addresses are systematic and geo coded. Mapping services including Google maps have access to this database and it can show you the exact position of the address when searched for. So there is no need to “explain” to people how to go to an address. They already know it.

Btw in my second trip to US I actually helped a cab guy, who didn’t have GPS navigation, take me to an address I was going for the first time. Yes you heard it right.

One friday we got late at work (7PM) and I had to catch a cab from our office in San Francisco to my sister in law’s place in Cupertino, which is an hour long drive. 7PM is late in SFO and I luckily managed to get a cab but this guy wanted me to guide him. I pulled my phone out but it was dying. So I asked him if he has a usb port. He said yes. I connected the phone to it and made sure the phone was charging and I said…

Take 101

Google Maps navigated us to my sister in law’s door step. That was one of my hipster moments in Amerikya.

To be continued

Remember this scene from English-Vinglish where Shashi was embarrassed at the cafe? Its something that has happened to me. Well, a toned down version. The people behind counters are generally sweet and not like the rude lady in the movie. So what really happened to me in the Amerikya? The first time i went to US i was all alone myself and had no one around to tell me how things work there. I had to learn them the hard way.

Tip Everywhere

Hailing a taxi in Manhattan is like a roller coaster ride. Everyone is running busy there. This american-african (ya you are not supposed to call them black) driver of the cab i took zipped through the roads and screeched to a halt. I was not sure if I had reached the destination so was looking around and this guy said something which i didn’t understand.

Me: Sorry, What?

Cabbie: Are you paying by cash or card?

Me: Card. And I handed it over to him.

Cabbie: Swipe it on the machine and enter the tip. Make it fast.

By this time he spotted a lady who was looking for a cab and he wanted to get rid of me as soon as possible.

And I was wondering where the hell was the machine he was talking about. Then I noticed the small screen that was showing ads through the ride had then become a credit card reader interface.

I swiped the card on the screen’s side. It then asked me to enter the tip amount. I had to understand that screen in seconds and not end up making mistakes.

Cabbie: Can you make it fast. I have someone else here…

I think the fare was 8 dollars. So my non numerical head tried doing a quick math of calculating its 10%. However it was too difficult of a calculation for me to get the answer.

Cabbie: Hey maannn

By now I wanted to finish it off soon and so punched 3 and hit enter. Immediately i realized it went in as .03. I was supposed to punch in two zeros also. The cabbie got a shock and gave me a dirty look. I also saw the lady who was waiting for me to get out getting into another cab.

Cabbie: Comeonnnn maaannnn. (*&&%$%^$^$&*****)

I quickly got out saying Sorryyyy avoiding eye contact feeling like a nincompoop.

——–

You are expected to tip for every service you receive in US. When the amount is within 20 dollars you simply add 2-4 dollars and dont do 10% math. In restaurants you tip from 10% to 20%. And Yes like SRK pointed out in the comments if you see something called “Gratitude” in your food bill, its the tip or service charge as we Indians call it they have added to the bill.

To be continued