Telur & Koay Teow

En route to Ipoh for majlis bacaan tahlil at Atok's place yesterday, we stopped at R&R Tapah for breakfast. Undecided on what to eat, I wandered around the plaza until I saw this cafe selling koay teow and noodles. There were fresh eggs on display too. Two female workers were present that morning - one was behind the counter while the other one was busy cooking in the kitchen. I approached the counter to make my order.

"Koay teow satu kak. Tambah telur mata."

"Telur takde."

I wasn't really paying attention when she said this. Hence when my order was ready, I noticed something was missing. So I asked again.

"Er kak, tambah telur mata satu."

"Telur takde."

"Tu bukan telur?" I pointed at the display beside the counter.

"Tak goreng lagi," she replied. Yes I can see that, thank you very much.

"Tak boleh goreng ke kak?"

She turned to her colleague who was cooking at the kitchen and asked, "Telur ni boleh goreng tak Asiah?"

"Tukang masaknya takde," the cook explained, not even looking back.

Confused (and not wanting to make things look even weirder), I paid for the plate of koay teow and walked away. Before I got back to our table, I bought a fried egg from the stall next to theirs.

All the time while I was having my breakfast, I couldn't help but wonder what really went wrong that morning.