Fortune Favours the BOLD!!!
Had big expectations on Cafe Coffee Day’s The Square for the hype given by my friend… But I was in for a disappointment… Ordered two coffee & sandwich… Only the coffee got served and sandwich got missed… Even the coffee was not hot and not that good… Two coffee costed ₹402 & not worth for the quality food & service…
Over all CCD has to concentrate big time on staff training & on the quality of food & beverage…
Just peeped into Cafe Coffee Day’s new outlet at Mambakkam opposite to Saint-Gobain… I ordered for an Iced-Tea & the quality of drink was pathetic… It was literally an iced water…
Off-late I’ve been prodding about their fall is quality & service… I’ve even escalated thru Social Media channels…
They are taking their customers for granted & no longer they are monopoly… Already a competitor is aggressive an lets see is CCD shows any change in attitude…
Caught up with Sawme after months and that too at a place which was of significance… It was at Cafe Coffee Day, Iyappanthangal I proposed Sawme for the post of CTO & Director at Cogzidel Technologies Pvt Ltd…. After some time for nostalgia, it was business as always…
It was 8 PM and called Karthick to check what was he upto… He just got up from his afternoon sleep… We were thinking a lot to engage into some fun activity… We thought of;
Finally decided to goto Moonrekers at Mahabalipuram for dinner and spend the night at Cafe Coffee Day the who night…
Wc called Sundar and he was ready to join us… But we got caught in the traffic near Kathipara and it was already 10 PM… Then we thought of going to Buhari for a Briyani… While crossing Velacherry I saw an Andra Hotel by name UGADI and was teasing Karthi that Telegu people have spread everywhere…
Karthi asked if we can try it out there and myself and Sundar seconded it…. As we came out we were delighted wonderful Andra food… We had Plain Rice, Steamed Rice, Chicken Briyani, Fish Curry, Chicken Curry and fried prawns… And yes now we found a place which we will be frequenting often…
From there we drove to Mahabalipuram CCD and it was a fun drive as it has been a while we have been out together… On reaching CCD we sat out and were cracking jokes and in came the manager telling that the joint is closed by 11 PM….
I was disappointed as I couldn’t get my cold coffee :((… Finally my friend Sundar Kumar a go getter went I side the shop and asked if they can give us a Cafe Frappe and he got me got me one…
Finally noting happened as we planned but we couldn’t complain as we enjoyed the day…
After a while it was a party time yesterday… Took a friend out to the streets and malls of Bangalore… After all fun we packed our bags to Chennai by around 11.30 PM… From there we drove to our favourite spot HP Petrol Bunk at Soolagiri which has McDonalds, Cafe Coffee Day and other food joints…
After fuelling the car we headed to Cafe Coffee Day to cool us with some COLD COFFEE… Joint was unusual less crowded and I placed my order;
Me: 2 cafe frappe please…
CCD folk: want extra ice-cream??
Me: No just frappe….
CCD folk: 174 rupees SIR!!!
Me: Handed over a Rs.500/- note…
CCD folk: no change SIR…
Me: me too don’t have change….
CCD folk: sorry sir no change SIR!!!
Me: What do you mean to say?? You can’t take this order without giving you exact change??
CCD folk: Yes SIR…
Me: YOU CAN’T TELL THAT TO A CUSTOMER…. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO HAVE CHANGE OR ARRANGE FOR CHANGE…
CCD folk: sorry SIR!!!
My anger shot to my head and my friends asked if we have to fight it out…. By this time I decided not to take anything from that guy…. Also creating a scene is not going to help it anyway as it will give the other guy an opportunity to justify his act….
I sat for a moment and posted following message in CCD FB Page and raised a complaint thru their Contact Us page;
mr.nayan refused to take my order for not tendering exact change of rs.174(I tendered rs.500)… Poor #customerservice….
Then as a solace someone called from their in the morning and apologised…. Also there was a reply in my post asking for the location… Not sure if any strict action was taken….
It was the first time I took my wife out for a drive… I wanted to sit in a peaceful environment and wanted to discuss a lot of things… I zeroed in on the CCD which is on Motel Higghway at Nazrathpet…
When I entered I was surprised to see a friend who was in Sriperambudur joint… Firstly I was feeling guilty as I forgot to invite him for my marriage… Infact my marriage happened against lots of odds… He immediately made me fee free and congrajulated us… Then I placed my order and took my wife to the table and started discussing about things I wanted…
Normally a cappuccino comes with a heart or leaf as design… My friend surprised my wife with this stuff… In fact he made me feel proud and happy in frient of my wife… Lot of small things can make a big impact… That is what happened that day…
I’d like to thank my friend for the gesture and this image would find a place in my album… It would definately be cherished forever….
My friend requested me to drive him for shopping… Being the end of the month I didn’t have a single dime; but i didn’t want to disappoint my friend & I swiped the last credit limit on my card to fuel the car… After our shopping my friend wanted to go for a drive… We normally drive to 24 hrs Cafe Coffee Day in SriPerambudur & since we didn’t have money we decided to take the Tirupathi road instead of Bangalore Highway owing to heavy traffic out there… I really enjoyed the drive as there was litrally no traffic & being cashless made us to explore a different route which will soon become our favorite long-drive spot…
We drove until Thiruvallur junction & we halted in a tea stall… My friend asked if I had any change & I got him all the change I use to drop in the car which came to 15 bucks… He got what he wanted & he returned 2 bucks back… When we were about the leave there was this guy selling Kulfi… I can never control myself my tongue when it comes to ice creams & I called the Kulfiwala without even realizing that we were short of money… When we asked for the minimum value kulfi he said it is 12 bucks & we were 10 bucks short of 10 bucks… I litrally searched my wallet and could not get more than 5 bucks & I was still short of 5 bucks… Then I inisited my friend to check if he had any change left in his wallet & he could get the balance 5 bucks…
The happiness I had that point was sky-high… It was like achieving or earning something big… At that point that Kulfi was like a priced possession… I started licking & I could cherish the taste entering my taste buds for each and every lick… Couldn’t remember when my taste buds had experienced such a great feel… At that point a bit of Kulfi missed my mouth and fell down & my expression was like missing Big fortune… Not sure how I reacted at that point but my friend noticed my reaction & he said “I spontaneously reacted like dropping something of great value.”
I literally came back to conscious only after finishing my Kulfi… While returning I was very much thrilled with that experience which was a common during schooling days where we buy an ice-cream to be shared by 3 – 4 friends & the the value of a couple of licks were countless… I had to personally thank my friend for the call he made which finally ended in me finding a new driving spot & an opportunity to cherish an ice-cream for itz full value…
At that point I didn’t feel like I was cashless but rather it was an experience which made me cherish & made my heart-full…
After reaching home late night I got up by 9 o clock this Monday morning… I decided to goto GYM from monday onwards and with lots of difficulty I assembled all stuff required to goto GYM… Then I took my sisters 2 wheeler and reached the place by 11 o clock and did cardio for an hour… Being the first day I didn’t slog it out as I wanted to have a gradual start…
Then after-reaching home I had no lunch as it was only meals which I wanted to avoid… Then I went for an hair cut & hair spa and came back by 4 o clock only to make my get red… So got irated that i’m too choosy and adament on my food… Finally she gave up and cooked what I needed…
Then went CCD habibullah road to meet an acquaintance along with Bala… The person had great knowledge on healthcare process and he gave us a lot of insights on the domain and possibilities of making money by offering consulting services…
Then while I was returning home by around 11 PM got a call from Karthi who wanted to meet me immediately… Then I was otherwise where I was the one who was offering mentoring…
Finally it was an hectic day but very memorable one…
The day started with loads of appointments. But to my surprise all the appointments were cancelled and had nothing to do. Then I & Balaji had long pending shopping to do. So Balaji made some shopping in Mega Mart and then we left to iStore in to buy Laptop bag for my new Mac book.
Then we thought of having coffee at 36 Degrees Coffee & Juice Shop near Foreshore estate. We picked up two more friends and went to the coffee shop. To start off with things were not smooth as Balaji got irritated that there were no coffee’s in a coffee shop. So we settled for Sandwiches & Shakes. But Balaji got carried away with The Ambience and with the quality of food and drink… Also the price was very nominal and Balaji was finally happy.
When we entered 360 degrees there was a curious looking Birthday girl named Cathy dressed like an angel was sitting in the entrance expecting her friends for her birthday party. When we are half way having our grub slowly Cathy’s friends and their parents started dropping in with gifts.
You can imagine how the place would have become with a bunch of kids between the age group of 4 – 6 years. Kids were playing with balloons. Then Cathy’s parents arranged for magic show and the Magician really presented well in front of kids… I realized how smart these kids were when the magician was asking for colors, remembering the counts, remembering the name of cards and also finding out the trick played by him. It was absolute chaos. But watching tiny tots enjoying was real fun. Initially we though we have to vacate the place thinking we might be a hindrance for their privacy. But the magician involved other guest like us and got us connected with the party.
Then we walked out with absolute satisfaction. Then from there we didn’t know what to do. So I thought of visiting Amethyst Coffee Shop as we have not been there… Again a wonder place when it comes to crowd and ambience. I was not that impressed with Food & Drink when compared to 36 Degrees Coffee Shop and also prices were on the higher end. Again I was angry on myself that I didn’t carry my camera to shoot snaps at these wonderful places. Anyways there were no complaints as these places are in Chennai and we can make it anytime again.
Then I had an appointment to meet an entrepreneur friend of mine at 8 PM which was scheduled in Café Coffee Day located inside Mega Mart where we started the day. We dropped two friends at their home and drive to meeting and shared our latest experiences and we packed our bags. But what was interesting things for the day was;Â
Over all I was not regretting for cancelled appointments as the day was more fulfilling and I enjoyed the weekend in a different style.
AnandNataraj 