Café Coffee Day rips off its loyal customer

Sadly, last Sunday (15 Nov), my lunch at Café Coffee Day (CCD) at Mumbai Domestic Airport Terminal 1 lounge turned sour. It started off as a happy lunch with fish and chips – not offered in most CCDs but a rather substantial and tasty offering I might add – and a portion of toasted garlic bread (not mentioned on their menu but served on request) on the side.

I relished my meal and, although the air conditioning wasn’t working effectively at the CCD lounge, I decided on a cup of hot coffee to pass the time... before clearing ‘security’ on the way to board my flight. So, I placed my usual CCD order of a cup of strong cappuccino and a walnut brownie with the young lady in a short navy blue skirt and a white blouse with a navy blue scarf (not the usual CCD service attire).

The young lady asked if I wanted a sizzling brownie or a plain one. I replied, “No, not sizzling, a plain one will do.” She then asked if I wanted the brownie as it is, or did I want the brownie warmed up. I suggested that if the brownie was cold, then could she warm it up for me in a microwave. She accepted my order and, not too long after, my strong cappuccino and my plain warm brownie were served.

Needless to say, I enjoyed this part of the meal as well. But, when I asked for my bill, I noticed that it contained a charge for a sizzling brownie for Rs.167/-. I drew this to the attention of the young lady who had taken my order and suggested that there was an error in my bill. That, a plain brownie at CCD doesn’t cost that much. The young lady, however, said that there was no error at all and that I had been billed correctly.

Now, I’m a regular at CCD outlets and I know that a plain brownie costs Rs.45/-. And, this plain walnut brownie looked no different from the ones I normally have. In fact, I had my usual CCD order of a cup of strong cappuccino and a walnut brownie at the CCD outlet inside Crossword Bookstore at Nirmal Lifestyle in Mulund, Mumbai, just the day before (Saturday, 14 Nov evening) and my bill was within Rs.100/-.

To the young lady, I pointed out my loyalty to CCD and our earlier conversation when placing my order for a plain brownie, warmed up, and not a sizzling one. The young lady, nevertheless, said that a heated brownie, which was what I had ordered for, was the same as a sizzling brownie – and that I should now pay my bill.

I was aghast. This was CCD ripping off its loyal customer. Since I didn’t want any unpleasantness at the airport lounge, I cleared my bill in cash, suggesting that their brownie at the airport lounge was overpriced and should be noted. Of course, these words fell on deaf ears, and the entire experience left a sour taste in my mouth.

I wondered about the customer-client transparency levels and the service levels that I had just experienced at CCD at the Mumbai Domestic airport lounge. I wondered how, in this day and age of customer consciousness and customer delight, when customer service is a key driver of a brand’s reputation, a well-known brand like Café Coffee Day could treat its customers so shoddily. This was against all principles of marketing.

And then I wondered if Café Coffee Day even cared for such things.

A romance on illegal immigrants

In his 2002 film Dirty Pretty Things, British film director Stephen Frears paints a wonderful colourful picture of survival for a small group of illegal immigrants in London.

In the lead is Okwe (played superbly by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Nigerian with a past. His story unfolds slowly over the entire film, but right from the beginning we realise that Okwe is a man of honesty and integrity... and education. Although a doctor by profession, he makes a living as a part-time taxi driver and as a night receptionist at a mid-level hotel, The Baltic.

In fact, it is The Baltic on which Dirty Pretty Things is centred. The hotel also offers work to Senay (played by the lovely Audrey Tautou), a young and somewhat naive Turkish woman who dreams of going to America to join her cousin’s restaurant there. As a member of The Baltic’s housekeeping staff on the morning shift, Senay rents out her couch in her tiny flat to Okwe during the day.

For company, Okwe and Senay have a colourful menagerie of characters on the side: Juan – the hotel’s supervisor (played by Sergi López), appropriately called ‘Sneaky’ for his suspicious dealings; Ivan – an opportunist East European doorman (played by Zlatko Buric); Juliette – a prostitute with a heart of gold (played by Sophie Okonedo); and Guo Yi – a philosophical Chinese morgue attendant (played by Benedict Wong) who is Okwe’s friend.

But, when British immigration officers raid Senay’s flat and attempt to catch her working without a work permit, life becomes difficult for both Senay and Okwe.

Matters are further complicated when Okwe uncovers a racket in the sale of kidneys run within The Baltic by his supervisor, Sneaky, in exchange for false passports for illegal immigrants. In turn, Sneaky finds out about Okwe’s Nigerian past (Okwe being a doctor and being charged with his wife’s murder) and blackmails Okwe into performing kidney operations for his personal gains.

This is where Dirty Pretty Things moves away from ordinary human drama and into the realm of a crime thriller... climaxing with Senay taking up Sneaky’s offer in exchange for her passport to America.

With Dirty Pretty Things, director Frears works on a tight script by writer Steven Knight. The dialogues are minimal, but within those words, the story is told rather well. Together, Frears and Knight present a London most of us know very little about. Beneath the bright lights of the big city is a life lived by people who would be best described as marginal: people who have little going for them except their instinct for survival and their hope for a better life.

And, Frears delivers on that promise. Dirty Pretty Things, Stephen Frear’s romance on illegal immigrants of London, is a film crafted to perfection. It shows us why life is still worth living no matter how adversely our immediate circumstances overwhelm us.