A PLATE OF CHICKEN RICE TAUGHT ME "NOVA EFFECT"
This all started because my family wanted to eat outside for dinner. Whenever they wanted to eat outside, I had to be the one to go and buy food. The task was simple, had to get the money and buy 2 chicken fried rice and one veg noodles. This costs around 200 rupees. The problem was, the place that I had to go to, was usually crowded. Does that mean the food is so good there? Maybe but the service is absolutely the worst. Let’s just call this place “The Pasta Restaurant” for simplicity’s sake. As I went to “The Pasta restaurant”, I knew that I would have to wait. Yet I went up through the crowds and tried to order. The problem with fast-food restaurants is that they hate to cook veg fried rice/noodles. The reason why is because there are always orders for 5 chicken rice and 3 chicken noodles and nobody orders veg rice/noodles.
But now I had to wait and I usually don’t mind waiting because of two reasons:
1. I had to wait, no matter what because I paid upfront for my order. So what was the problem you may ask? Well now, no matter how much time they took to serve I won’t be able to leave because I can’t go and cancel my order. Even if I try, I knew they were going to tell me that I would be served next (which they won’t).
2. I am a shy person and usually try not to indulge in conversations. Why? Because this one time when I went to this same restaurant and I ordered chicken rice. But this time, I felt like having something for the side. I saw the cook breaking an egg for the chicken fried rice. I thought why not have an egg for the side. So I went and asked, “Can you add an egg to my order?”. Little did I understand that what I said meant adding an extra egg to my rice. I was trying so hard to make them understand that I wanted an omelet. But since I was already nervous I forgot the word omelet and had to use hand gestures to make them understand. When they finally understood and asked me whether I wanted an omelet, I nodded away in embarrassment.
Now coming to the story, This time I learned my lesson and waited for my turn but that was all I did. I waited for 10 minutes and still people who came after, got their order. Then I did something different that day. I took a step back, reached down my pocket, took my phone and pretended I got a call and walked away from “The Pasta Restaurant. It felt great but then I realized I still didn’t buy food.
I thought to myself “Why am I unlucky, if only I was a little bit bolder” but then I remembered that there was another restaurant that had opened right down the corner. They had these amazing offers on shawarma where you get three shawarmas for just 100 rupees. Now my plan was simple, to buy three shawarmas and one veg noodles which can cut down costs from 200 rupees to 170 rupees which means that I can be proud of myself for being able to get out of the pasta restaurant because I saved some money by doing so.
Now all I had to do was to take my bike and go down to the new restaurant. When I went to order, I was heartbroken. I saw the last roll of shawarma ordered by another customer. I asked them if they had any shawarmas left. They said “Sorry but it’s already 9 pm and we are out of shawarmas”. I felt so frustrated and I thought to myself “If only I didn’t wait for 10 minutes at ‘The Pasta Restaurant’, I would be swimming in shawarmas !”. But it was already late and I was hungry, so I needed a new plan. Either go down empty-handed and settle with dosas for dinner or swallow my pride and go wait another 20 minutes at “The Pasta Restaurant”.
But the gods decided to play with me and I saw a large crowd at “Chillies” which was ridiculous. Never did I ever see such a crowd at “Chillies” on any other day but that day. I got so angry but I knew I could do nothing but wait. I waited for five mins, and still no one cared to take an order. Then I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands. This doesn’t mean that I went and fought with them for why they haven’t taken an order, but do what I could do which was to leave that place.
I then decided it was better to go home but then I couldn’t accept my defeat. I knew that if I went to the new restaurant, it would be expensive because it was not a fast-food restaurant. Yet I went because now I was so angry and hungry, which made me not care about the money anymore. I went straight to the restaurant and asked if they had chicken fried rice. They said “Yes sir, we also have an offer for fried rice and noodles. You can buy two chicken rice/noodles for just 100 rupees.”
I was surprised because if I bought two chicken rice and one veg noodles it would cost me only 170 rupees. I was confused as to why I was waiting for more than half an hour at “Chillies” and “The Pasta Restaurant” when I could have saved time and money by coming to this place first. The fact that no one bought from this restaurant even when they had such lucrative offers made me question the quality and the quantity of the product. But I was so hungry that I ordered anyway. I paid the bill, got my food, and went home while thinking about how bizarre the night was.
After coming home, I was quite happy with how much quantity the restaurant had given and was surprised to see that the taste was not compromised as well. I had a lot of questions and very few answers. Why would they give such offers? and Why wasn’t there enough crowd like the other restaurant? and Why do people buy from the same restaurant even if they know that the service is poor and the food is not as great as it was before? I was confused whether to be sad that I had waited for more than 35 minutes or to be happy that I had waited so long which lead me to find these amazing offers at the new restaurant. But at the end of the day, all I could do was to enjoy a plate of chicken fried rice.
I also realized that what I experienced was nothing but the NOVA EFFECT which means
“Every perception of your bad luck might turn out to be good luck and vice-versa”
