The deal on packaged living now a trend

JAKARTA (JP): I was irritated by the server as I placed my order at a fast-food restaurant one day. When I asked for fried chicken and rice with a glass of orange juice, she stared at me with her "no can do" expression and then offered package "A", consisting of fried chicken, rice and coke.

As I insisted on having orange juice to go with the rice and fried chicken, she looked at me in disbelief as though I had just come from another planet. My raised voice invited the concerned supervisor, who explained that the meals were sold in packages. If I wanted my coveted glass of orange juice, I would have to buy it separately and still pay for the coke.

I related the story to other family members at home, but their unsympathetic response made me even more upset.

"If you want to have meals a la carte you don't go to a fast food restaurant," my youngest child advised me as though he were a social consultant.

"Where have you been?" interjected my wife. "Everything is sold in a package these days! And it is more convenient. All you need to do is mention your package of choice."

In a way, she was right. In a fine restaurant, you would be "interrogated" by the head waiter as if you had gone astray at the Pentagon. It begins with the appetizer. If you choose soup, want kind do you want. Bread with it? Dressing with your salad? Take your pick from French, Italian or Thousand Island Dressing.

The steak selection is a question list in itself. For imported beef, you can choose from U.S., European, Australian or New Zealand. How do you want that done --rare, medium rare, well done, charred to a crisp.

There are so many questions that you are left exhausted -- by the time your order is taken and arrives, you've lost your appetite. Now, with the package system, it is so easy that one guesses restaurants did their research to find out what is best for customers' harried lifestyles.

Packages in every shape and form have taken over our lives in the past decade. Everything comes in a package. If you reserve a hotel in Bali, for instance, the travel agent will persuade you to opt for a package that includes plane tickets, sight-seeing tours, tickets to cultural shows, etc.

When our neighbor, Mas Iman, arranged the wedding party for his son, the in-laws showed him an assortment of wedding packages offered by a wedding company. Package "Prima", for instance, included an expensive wedding gown from a famous designer, a wedding party complete with traditional procession for two thousand people at a five-star hotel, a honeymoon cruise on a luxurious yacht and a pair of diamond wedding rings. If he took this package, he would not have to do anything but could just go to the party like a guest. All for just one billion rupiah!

He was enraged. It wasn't the price as he is very wealthy. But Mas Iman is an ordinary kind of man who'd love to have his relatives ngerewang (pitch in to help) his party at his big house. But the way things were organized made him think that his in-laws were bulldozing him into an uncomfortable situation.

When I recently had a bout of the 'flu, and our family doctor was out of town for the general election campaign, I called a prestigious hospital for an appointment with an internist. The receptionist asked a few questions and then decided that I should take a check-up package.

"In that case, sir, you'll have to take our Medium package," she said brightly. "This gives you an opportunity to have a blood test, thorax X-rays and abdominal examination. By taking this package you also have an opportunity to win our grand prize, a trip to Sydney including a visit to the Famous General Hospital...."

I hung up before she finished her pitch. I had enough of commercials from TV -- all I needed was a simple treatment, not the whole shebang. In this case, an aspirin would do!

-- Carl Chairul