If You Can’t Multitask, Fast Food Might Not Be For You

A new food stall has opened in the cafeteria opposite my office. I go there one day to grab my lunch. (I’ve removed the description of the food as it would be too easy to identify the company.)

The server who takes my order is a woman in her forties or fifties. 

Me: “I’ll have a [main] and a [side], please.”

Server: “The [side] will take fifteen minutes to cook. Are you okay with waiting?”

Me: “Yes, sure.”

I’ve ordered this before at different outlets, so I know how long it takes. I am planning to eat the main first while waiting for the side. 

I take a seat at a table. I usually eat a late lunch, so it’s after 2:00 pm, and there are no other customers — only the other staff going around busing the tables or sweeping the floor. My table faces the stall, and I can see them preparing the food and putting it onto the stove. I sit there and wait… and wait… and wait. 

After almost ten minutes, another customer comes in and places an order. The other server prepares his food, and he receives it within five minutes. 

I go back up to the stall. 

Me: “May I know if my order is ready? I’ve been waiting for some time.”

Server: “We’re going to start cooking it now.”

Me: “But… I’ve been here for fifteen minutes already!”

Server: “We were waiting for the [side] to be done cooking.”

I stared at her, nonplussed. I could see the stove from where I’ve been sitting, and there’s definitely more than one burner, so it isn’t as though they have to cook one dish at a time. In fact, the other customer’s order was made on the second burner. If they were able to prepare his order, why not mine?

Me: “Couldn’t I have the [main] first while you cook the [side]?”

The server stares at me as though she hadn’t thought of it.

Server: “Oh! Why didn’t you say so?”

Me: “You mean I have to tell you that you’re able to cook more than one dish at a time?”

I admit that I was so flabbergasted that I said the first thing that came to mind. She gawks at me as though it never occurred to her in a million years that she could cook [main] first while waiting for [side] to be prepared. 

Server: “Here’s your [side]. Please wait; your [main] will be ready in five to ten minutes.”

Of course, the [side] was too hot for me to eat right away. I had been waiting for twenty minutes now and was really hungry, but I still had to wait even longer for them to cook the [main]! I wanted to do a facepalm. 

I never went back there. I heard a lot of colleagues say that they were just too slow, and they hated buying from that stall as it wasted a lot of their lunch break. The stall closed down a few months later, unsurprisingly.