Service Workers yet again

Another discussion about service workers, and again, I mean what people that are doing jobs like drivers, waiters, doormen, security people, bellhops etc, and I am talking particularly about those at the hotel.

I had never noticed this quite so much before, but everyone in the hotel seemed to keep track of what I was doing. It may be because I'm sure that I over-tipped, but it was also a little spooky. For example, when I visited Pune, I arranged a car a to the airport a day or so ahead of time. When I came in to have dinner, the maitre d'/waiter said something like "You are visiting friends this weekend?" They also know when I am checking out, when I usually come to breakfast, etc etc. As much as I try to adapt and take things as they come, I seriously don't like this. It freaks me out a bit, and from a security standpoint, I'd prefer that not so many people know what my schedule is. Not that I'm panic-stricken about security, but I'd prefer not to hang out with big groups of Westerners and I surely don't care to have the drivers know when to expect me.

By the way, this year instead of a single independent driver (from a taxi company) the hotel has drivers that work for them, and "office transfer" is part of their service, no extra charge. I sometimes wondered whether the drivers sort of "bid" to give rides to big-tippers. I know that I had several over time, but Suresh, who originally picked me up at the airport when I arrived, seemed to be getting the majority of the drives at the end. But then suddenly it was another guy taking me to the airport. Suresh was off doing a pickup (from Air France, maybe). Maybe he was taking a risk hoping that the new guy would tip well also :-)

On Wednesday night, going to the airport the driver suddenly realized that he had left his mobile phone back at the hotel. Apparently the hotel keeps pretty close tabs on the drivers. They are generally speaking in a language I don't understand, but from what the driver told me they generally try to find out where he is and tell him "go there next! Quick!" He grumbled and grumbled for a while and then gave up. He was pretty talkative, asking me lots of things (just like last year on the ride the the airport) about whether I have a car at home, whether I drive myself, how much gasoline costs, etc. Anyway after a while, he started asking me how much phone calls cost in the US. I'm not sure it really translates since I have a plan that gives me more minutes than I can ever us, so I took some large number of minutes and divided by the cost of the plan converted to rupees, and came up with something like 5 or 10 rupees per minute. Not knowing what he wanted, I naturally figured this out for within-US calls. So then he asked if I would call the hotel for him. (Of course calling within India on my US number is a lot more expensive than I told him). I really did not mind. It might have been a couple dollars, I suppose. I almost think he was working up to this with his conversation, but he did keep talking after making the call.

Oddly just now as I was sitting in the Frankfort airport typing this, an Indian woman saw me on the computer and came over to sit beside me and asked at first if I could send her sister in the US an email. Well, I could not on this computer (no wi-fi here), but I told her I could on my phone. Then it occurred to her that if I could change some dollars (which she had) to Euros, that she could phone her sister from a nearby pay phone if I would help her with the phone. I did have some Euros, but my experience is that figuring out how to use the telephone in a foreign country is just about the most difficult thing a traveller ever has to do. Voice instructions in a foreign language, shared assumptions that the foreigner does not share (well of course you dial "1" before an area code and you don't dial the area code when you are in the local area, and the area code is the first three digits, for example). So I said that I did not know how to use a German phone, but she could use my cell phone. So another international call :-) Turns out she had told her sister in Chicago that she would arrive at 12AM, but she really meant 12 Noon. Sister had already started toward O'Hare and this woman was still in Germany. Oops. Anyway, she tried a couple different numbers, left a voice mail or 2 and was getting very upset, when the phone rang. Apparently the sister had gotten the voicemail, seen the caller ID number (internationally? Who knew?) and called back. So it was all settled. She offered me money, but I told her that people had been so nice and helpful to me in India, that helping her was the least I could do. (I really love the pay-it-forward concept!). She was very grateful, wringing my hand and wanting my name and email so she could thank me again when she gets there. Made me feel good.

I don't think there is much left, so this may be the end of blog updates for this trip. Will there be another? I don't know. Should I say, stay tuned?