Oh Uganda!
Kerrie and I went to Centenary Park this evening for dinner, which was an experience in itself. We went to a restaurant called The Heights, which looked like a cute, little outdoor place with a decent menu. We ordered our food and chatted as we waited. Kerrie ordered mushroom steak and I ordered Hawiian pizza (remember that, it’s important). We commented on the music, the tiki huts, and the high waitstaff-to-table ratio; I asked questions about what it’s like to move here; and we talked about radio programming in general. It was a lovely time…at first.
After waiting for about a half an hour (minimum wait time for food in Kampala), our food finally arrived. Kerrie’s steak looked delicious and my pizza, too, looked rather yummy. Upon first glance. Then I noticed that there didn’t seem to be the chunks of fresh pineapple that was promised to me on the menu. I ordered another soda, and as the waitress went to fetch the drink, I poked at my pizza. No! There were NO pineapples on my Hawiian pizza, thus making it just a cheese, onion, and ham pizza. That’s disappointing.
When the waitress returned, I asked where the pineapples were…I wanted pineapple, dang it! She left to do some detective work on the missing pineapple. When she returned, she told me that the cooks forgot to put pineapple on the pizza. It’s a Hawiian pizza…pineapple is one of the main ingredients!
She took my pizza back to the kitchen so that the cooks could add the missing pineapple. I sat happily waiting, proud of myself for not just ignoring the mistake and eating it anyway (like I had done when jalepeno peppers showed up on my supposed-to-be pepperoni pizza). I wanted pineapple.
When our waitress returned, she had what appeared to be the manager in tow. Hmmm. Also, my pizza was in hand. That was fast. The manager explained to me that they didn’t have any pineapple, because it had gone bad. Did you forget or is there no pineapple at all? I’m so confused! Also, people sell fresh pineapples ALL OVER KAMPALA…run out and get some!
I told them that it was fine, I would eat it anyway, and thanks for explaining the missing pineapple situation. During the entire meal, Kerrie and I continued to chat, but in my mind I was stewing about the whole thing. FORGET or NO PINEAPPLE?? WHICH IS IT?? I didn’t like the fact that someone wasn’t being honest, and now I was expected to pay for a Hawiian pizza when I had been shortchanged the main ingredient.
By the end of the meal, I had decided that I was NOT paying full price for my mediocre pizza. I told Kerrie my plan, and when the waitress came to take our plates, I kindly and patiently said, “Thank you, and I would like a discount on my pizza.” Satisfied, I sat back and waited. The waitress came back and said that they would knock 1600 UGX off the price, and I was fine with that. I didn’t really care how much they took off, but I knew that I would not pay the full price.
When the bill came, I flipped through it and noticed strike two: she charged Kerrie for a soda even though she had only had water. I quickly informed the waitress that the bill was wrong and that we needed that fixed. Off she went. Again.
We carefully checked our change and left. I wasn’t at all mad about the whole thing…just annoyed that dishonestly is their policy. And that my pizza was missing the pineapple. Anyway, it gave us a laugh and now it has given me material for a blog post…just don’t think that because we’re mzungus we’ll pay for a pizza we didn’t order and then ignore the overage charges on the bill!
