customer-service on S Anand

An excellent air hostess

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 10:49:16 +0530

On the Indigo 1163 from Mumbai to Singapore, an air hostess was serving food, which they had to pause just before me because of turbulence.

In such cases, I’ve sometimes been skipped in the past, and I usually stay alert for when service resumes.

This time, I wasn’t paying attention. But the air hostess walked over right on cue and asked, “Mr. Subramanian, have we served you yet?”

She didn’t know. That’s normal.
But she checked. That’s not.\

(These sentences are human written, on a flight. But if Claude had written the above, I would have rewritten it because it sounds too much like AI.)

When she asked for my beverage, I picked “Masala chai”. (The Indigo masala tea is lovely. Or, as my daughter puts it, “Appa, you’re just getting old!”)

“We’re not serving hot beverages now sir, but I can get it after the seat belt signs go off.”

Every time I’ve heard this, I tell them “I’ll have buttermilk, please,” simply because I’m worried they’ll forget.

This time, I said, “I’ll wait.”

Before I finished my sandwich (and even though the seat belt signs weren’t off, but the turbulence subsided), she placed the tea in my hands.

I had my laptop open and was eating my sandwich without the tray table open, so an ultra-thoughtful air hostess might have opened the tray table and placed the tray there, but an ultra-thoughtful neighbor did that for me. (This happened on my onward flight as well. Either air-neighbors are getting friendlier or I’m looking more helpless than I thought.)

I went up to use the toilet, but she suggested that I not use it during turbulence - gently enough that if I felt the need, I could tell her it was urgent.

Fifteen minutes later, the seat belt signs were still on and I walked over again. She didn’t stop me - she remembered. Another air hostess was cleaning inside, so she suggested I use the toilet at the rear. She called them up and let them know to let me use it, though the seat belt signs were on.

Maybe because this was an international flight. But whatever the reason…

Thank you, Sharadha.

Update: 2 Jul 2026. On my flight from Singapore to Bangalore, the air hostess served me a sandwich. I ate it. She came back and offered me a biryani.

“But I already had a sandwich.”

“Oh, sorry sir, I served you wrong. Could you please have the biryani anyway?”

So, yeah, while I preferred the sandwich to biryani and have no complaints, some air hostesses do better than others.

Americans get better service because they complain more

Mon, 26 Apr 2004 12:00:00 +0000

The Economist: Americans get better service because they complain more. (subscription required)

Rant on HP customer service

Thu, 12 Sep 2002 12:00:00 +0000

Rant on HP’s customer service. Long, but interesting. I read it end-to-end. It’s curious, how impersonal a big company can get. via Metafilter

Convert cremated ashes into a diamond

Fri, 23 Aug 2002 12:00:00 +0000

Bizarre. Funeral homes offer to convert cremated ashes into a diamond.

Dominos to charge for delivery

Mon, 12 Aug 2002 12:00:00 +0000

Domino’s Pizza is trying to charge for delivery. But I thought the whole point of Domino’s was to deliver pizza, as opposed to eating it “there”. They may as well hike the price – which is what this effectively translates to.

Speaking of which, I ordered a Deep Dish with jalapenos, tomato and onion a couple of weeks ago. I really liked it. When I called Domino’s yesterday, they remembered the order and delivered it within 10 minutes. Impressive.

Oh, and their spelling of Indian locations sucks. Spot Adheri (W), Ahmadabad, Banglore, Hyderbad and Maylapore at their locator.

Check your mobile phones serial number

Thu, 21 Jun 2001 12:00:00 +0000

A note from my friend Ashish: “To check your Mobile phone’s serial number, key in the following digits on your phone:

* # 0 6 #

A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Should your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset. So even if the thief changes the SIM card your phone will be totally useless. If everybody did this, there would be no point in stealing mobile phones.”

Comments

Kathy 1 Feb 2007 1:15 pm: Didn’t appear for me!
Fran 21 Jun 2001 12:00 pm: Didn’t work for me either? Is it only for certain providers?
Somsubhra Ray 21 Jun 2001 12:00 pm: great things man …..can u plz tell me how to check mob model no if the documents and the paper i have lost.
shaun 21 Jun 2001 12:00 pm: worked 4 me tanks!!
prabath 21 Jun 2001 12:00 pm: how can i know that good brand pones from IMEI number
Marj 1 Jan 2009 10:42 am: Did not work for me verizon
silverfaewolf 14 Jan 2009 10:12 pm: The code works for certain providers. However, you can also go into your phone settings, and find “phone information” or something similar, and it will also give you the equipment serial number (ESN). Phones w/an IMEI, that’s the same as an MSN or ESN (manufacturer’s or Equipment). It depends on the network. Sprint, Verizon, Cricket, and Metro PCS all run on CDMA towers. Nextel runs on iDEN towers. T-mobile and AT&T run on unicel. Unicel towers are the most common worldwide, but CDMA are the most common in the US. This is why you can use a japanese at&t phone in the states, but can’t always transfer it to the sprint network. They’re designed and programmed to run on different towers.
Waqas 18 Apr 2009 8:41 am: Hi. This trick is useless because if you’ve got a stolen mobile and its IMEI number is blocked by the service provider, there is still a way to use this handset. Reinstall the software of the handset and change the IMEI number too:)). In some countries, the person who does this job would ask the 50% amount of the handset for doing this job.
binu 23 Sep 2010 12:11 pm: its working……………………
sunny lonkar 14 Jan 2012 1:58 pm: Hello I did this but it didn’t helped me. I had also given my stolen mobile no.’s serial no. to police for racking, but it didn’t.

inc.com

Thu, 17 Aug 2000 12:00:00 +0000

inc.com has lots of good articles on anything to do with business – business plans, customer service, e-commerce, law, strategy, etc. Especially their guides.