Servisio

A year almost to the day from our time in Morocco, we face the problems of service in Oaxaca in almost exactly the same ways. The problems of communication, of the actual language, the problems of culture and expectations and worst the problems within ourselves, of responsibility and planning, of raising the family, setting rules, enforcing codes, trying to anticipate, to reward and juggle the words and deeds so as to do no harm and generate the maximum good. Like ruling a small germanic kingdom in the 1600’s, or even just one castle and it’s surrounding lands. Everyone has a problem, an attitude and all they are really doing is just trying to please as best they know how. And if in your eyes they aren’t doing such a great job, it’s fully up to you to show them how. And who has the energy for all that.

No matter how much you tell the cook what a great job she is doing, you will never convince her you are telling the truth unless all the food had disappeared. Leftovers are the great creators of mistrust between you and the cook. On the other hand choosing between your own good health and the happiness of your cook can be the most delicate of balances, a nother fine dance where glass in the porridge, perpetually burnt toast, clogged arteries, high blood pressure and utter starvation are all potential outcomes of a misstep or two.

The sheer impossibility of solitude, (and we cannot yet speak on why solitude is so necessary to begin with, why quiet and the alone are so desirable) but the deprivation, the expectation of interruption, the sudden and most likely disastrous disappearance of a coherent working environment is a feature of service one never talks about