Can or not?

A couple of nights ago, I had a discussion with two colleagues. Since we were to meet at 11 p.m., we decided to have a rather informal discussion sans the office environment. So, we decided to meet at a well-known eatery in Ampang Jaya.

I was the first to arrive, as usual. So I went into the eatery and got myself a seat. There were a lot of people there but most of them were seated outside for obvious smoky reasons. The inside of the eatery was not as busy as its outside. I guess that was why most of the waiters were waiting outside. It took almost 10 minutes before somebody came and asked what I would like to order.

As I was feeling rather dehydrated, I opted not to have the usual teh tarik. Instead, I ordered an isotonic drink. I specifically mentioned that I didn't want any ice.

Waiter: No ice?
Me: No ice.
Waiter: What about the drink can? You don't want it chilled?
Me: No. Just get me a can that's not chilled. Can or not?
Waiter: Sure can.

And off he went. I was kept waiting for quite a bit. Luckily I have made a habit to bring a book to read anywhere I go these days. So I read and waited..., read and waited..., read and waited... and still no drinks came. I began to get rather agitated. It was about 15 minutes later that the drink actually got to my table.

I felt odd because they just needed to get a can of the isotonic drink and bring it to my table. How long would that take? Surely they could do it in less than a minute?

So, okay. Now I got the can on my table. It was then I realised why it took them so long. I touched the can to open its lid. Lo and behold, the can was hot. The Sherlock Holmes in me didn't need to do much deducing to figure out what happened. In all probability, this eatery had all its canned and bottled drinks kept in the refrigerator to keep it chilled. When I asked for a non-chilled drink, they didn't have it. So the geniuses there figured, one way out was to warm the can in a microwave oven. And voila! A non-chilled - but hot - canned isotonic drink.

They should have just told me that they didn't have any non-chilled cans available. I wouldn't have minded actually.

The next time I set foot there though, I'll just ask for a glass of teh tarik.