Coffee Pots are Pure American
I asked my hotel for a pot of coffee. It did not go as expected. I just recently moved to the lovely Kiev, Ukraine. I've been staying at a hotel while waiting for my apartment to get good internet installed. Working late last night I called my (5-star) hotel roomservice to ask about coffee.
"Hello, Room Service"
"Yes, I'd like a pot of coffee please"
"A... pot"
"Yes, I don't just want one cup, I'll be up for a while."
".... You want ... in pot. Ok we can put the coffee from the cups into a pot for you"
"No I just... are you saying you would make cups of coffee, and then pour the cups into a pot?"
"Yes sir if you want the coffee in a pot we can put it into a pot for you. What sort of pot you like?"
I marvel at their service. But I have to laugh at the complete cultural breakdown.
"uh.. Actually that would really defeat the purpose completely so how about just send up 4 cups of coffee"
"ok sir"
A few minutes later a nice lady comes with 4 cups of coffee on a lovely silver tray.
"so you guys don't do coffee pots here?"
"Sorry I don't think I understand"
I explain the whole concept to her. That Americans drink a LOT of coffee so we just brew a big batch, all at once, and then pour it out as we go. Companies even buy extra big pots for their staff, 1-2 feet tall - constantly refilled.
She marveled for a second and then said, "You must all have strong heart"
For the countries that make espresso, then water it down to make "Americano", this makes perfect sense.
I literally laughed out loud at this post. I recently moved to a different country from the U.S., I totally understand the confusion of, "....You mean that's not normal here?" haha
The thing that got me was it was so not something I expected. There are coffee shops here EVERYWHERE. So it really just hit me right out of the blue.
That is so funny! One of the things that we have noticed here in Chile is that there are no vents in any bathrooms, even in up scale houses. Instead, they have windows in the shower...What? I love waving to my neighbor while showering.
Now I'll Take A Coffee pot When I Travel
LOL
When I lived in Vietnam I could only find one and it was like 70 dollars. Exotic!
It's so funny what's normal for one is completely foreign to another. Enjoyed this! Id love to read more about what it's like living in Ukraine.
Ah, the hilarity of unvaultable language/culture barriers. I resteemed this. (And I only resteem funny shit.)
Haha, great story. In Northern Europe you can have coffee-pots. Especially in Germany., but also in Scandinavia where I live. The coffee is stronger though than the US coffee, so there is no refill in dinners.