To go or not to go...

I am here in Boxborough, Masachussetts. A constant hassle for me till now has been getting my sandwiches or burgers or bagels made. Back in an the Bangalore Subway, the guy asks a minimum of questions, which one has to answer in a Yes/No. And not multiple choice, "American or Swiss or Poblano cheese" or even worse open ended ones, "What else would you like in your sandwich?" To begin with I used to baffle a guess, "Umm, Poblano" only to be looked at patronizingly as if "Poor new desi, doesn't know his ABCD!" And then my manager told me that I should ask for Swiss, Swiss is best. "What bread would you like?" I haven't yet found out all the choices for that one. But I should never have said, "Umm, wheat bread?". In another place I haughtily said "What've you got?". And with a very impressive and equally incomprehensible accent she rattled off the options which flew high above me, and said quite helpfully in the end "Or I could give you a wrap", which I understood cent percent. I ended up eating a veg wrap when I wanted a sandwich.

And I've heard quite a few styles of 'here, to go' variations. This actually sounds quite hip to me. Crisp, communcative and with as much politeness as the customer merits by adding 'sir', 'would u want it', 'you'd like it', etc at the right places. I liked the expression, and so also the people using them, esepecially of the right gender. I wonder if back in Baroda "rehvanu ke javanu?" would catch on as easily.

Anyways, so now I've learnt some and gained good confidence. So when presented with them complex choices, I still fumble around in my mind, but with a smart smile, an outward me speaks up "As you would like it, please!"