I am a self declared rasam enthusiast. Not the variety who experiments with lemon, pineapple, paakarkai or the likes. I prefer the traditional, uncorrupt rasam. Ok, Expecting the taste of a homemade rasam in a hotel may be unfair. But is expecting the rasam to be fresh too much to ask for ? It appears yes.

Udipi Cafe in Atlanta served us stale rasam. Not just beginning to stale. But horribly stale. The taste of that appetizer was enough to spoil my appetite. This after a 20 minute wait to get me a cup of rasam. I was too tired to say anything as the meal was immediately after a 5 hour drive. I just called the manager (who was serving us) and gave him the rasam back. I expected just an apology. Is that too much to ask for ? It appears yes. He just took it back without any apology.

Having read the Rancid chicken story from Freakonomics just a few weeks back, I was reminded about Behavioral Economics and Anchoring. I thought he may offer a discount like the manager in Freakonomics story. But I wasn't planning to ask for any discount. That was until I saw the bill. It had a "rasam soup" in it. The manager's reason - "everyone else was having it". (There were three other groups. I don't know how many of them had rasam). I explained to him that it wasn't just me. My father confirmed that the rasam was bad too. He wasn't ready to accept that. Only when I started raising my voice mentioning stale rasam he asked me what I wanted him to do. Thanks to Dubner. Now, I wasn't ready to take anything less than 10% off. He took that off the bill immediately as if he wanted me to leave soon.

Happy eating at Udipi, Atlanta.