How I Got the Job of Ordering Pizza

I don't write enough about just random happenings in my life here. Nor do I really tell funny stories or replay day to day activities. I think mostly because life becomes so routine that I forget to write or I say I'll do it later. I figured I haven't posted in a while and I might as well share what it is like to order food here in India. In my house I have become the designated orderer because I somehow have managed to find favor with the delivery gods (that's a joke, I know there are no delivery gods).

Mostly it started because I wanted pizza relatively early on in my time. I researched where would deliver to our residence and found that pizza hut or dominos are close enough and so that should be easy enough. Let me just tell you that everywhere delivers here - mcdonalds, kfc, fruit shop (fruit juices and milkshakes), bus tickets, amazon (which you can pay upon delivery), and as long as you can explain where you live you are totally set. The problem with explaining where you live is that most people don't use addresses, like at all. You give your address but the most important part are the landmarks you live near. I spend much time saying near here, opposite here, close to here, etc. At first this seems strange but as you learn the makeup of this city it makes total sense, and is way easier to navigate via landmarks. So once I felt confident of our address, the landmarks near by, and which pizza place I was calling I set forth on my attempt to order dinner. To say the first attempt was a complete fail would be an understatement, but you see I am persistent, and when I am no longer hungry for tikka masala I will fight for my pizza. The first month of so of ordering ended up with multiple people on the line, being hung up on often, and me asking random strangers in my apartment complex to speak to the delivery guy. I mean my roommates would gather around while I ordered and get their entertainment for the night (hey there isn't always a ton to do here - don't judge us).

I wish I could explain this in more detail, it really was just me repeating the name of our street and the major landmark near us over and over. The person on the phone telling me they were losing connection (that is a total lie = ] ). The next major challenge was even though I spent 20+ minutes explaining where I lived to the person on the phone that information was somehow never given to the delivery man, and so 45 mins later while they were at the closest signal, I would spend another 20 minutes (literally) explaining how to come the half mile to my apartment. We live on a major road, but it somehow was always a comedy of errors. BUT here I am 7 months later able to call pizza hut, dominos, and a place called zaitoons (which serves Mediterranean food) with ease thanks to my months of hard work at attaching the proper address to my phone number. What this does mean is that anytime someone in my house wants to order something it's my job, and so i am pretty convinced domino's thinks I eat their pizza 4 nights a week, when really it's only twice haha shhh. I also have the confidence to call new places to order, and when I am in a patient mood I go for it. I think I have really gotten my Indian accent and annunciation down, lol!