Getting a run around in Pondicherry

This was my second trip down to Pondicherry. I wanted to get out of Chennai's craziness and just not deal with India for a few days. So I went down and took my sister who is visiting. I was surprised to see how the service changed somewhat. Here are three examples of shitty service (not typical as far as I can tell for Pondy)

1) We went to an internet coffee shop clearly owned by a muslim man. Above the counter he had a plaque written in English that read "Masha Allah" Which I would say as Insha'allah, but I'd forgotten that's what it meant. So I asked him about it and he said "It's an arabic word." I told him I knew it was an arabic word and wondered what it meant. He replied again "It's an Islamic word." So I left it at that. I went to check my email and such. In the meantime I'd ordered some eggs and tea. When they came I said in Arabic, "thank you very much." I had assumed this would show that I have some familiarity with Arabic and that I really had meant nothing disrespectful by my first question. The lady serving me the food was apparently his wife and she snapped at me. She said "what's with all your constant Arabic questions!?" I was taken aback and told her I had a little familiarity with it not really knowing what else to say. She said "you may speak arabic, but my husband is a muslim. Arabic is not compulsory for us to know. My husband is a devout muslim and he speaks Urdu." I had no idea "thank you very much" was a question or that it was offensive... So I didn't leave the lady a tip. The coffee and tea was overpriced anyway.

2) I wanted to withdraw some cash for some walking around money. Luckily SBI (State Bank of India) has a branch in the middle of the french quarter of Pondy with several ATMS. I was pleased and so I went to the ATM and they were both out of service. But supposedly the next closest ATM was only a few blocks away at the railway station. (Not exactly a few blocks, but whatever, I wasn't in a rush) So I walked to the railway station to find out that the SBI ATM had no cash either. I walked my sorry ass back to the bank branch and asked to withdraw some money from my account. But no, I had to take a number first. I had to wait 1/2 hour for my number to be called. Then, when it was called, the lady told me to go to the ATM. I told her is was out of order. She told me to go the other one. I told her I'd been and I only need a few thousand rupees. I have my bank card AND a valid ID. Unfortunately, they can't do that for me.... She sent me to every damn person in the bank and they subsequently sent me elsewhere. It was a miserable experience. In the end they wouldn't even give me a few thousand rupees from a bank teller EVEN WITH MY ACTIVE CARD AND VALID ID!
It turns out at 7PM they were restocking the ATM and fixing it, but no one told me that. If they'd just said, we're restocking at 7PM tonight I would've left for a while and come back at dinner time. But no one seems to know how to do anything. STUPID INDIAN BUREAUCRACY.

3) In the bar that evening, after I'd finally retrieved a little money from the ATM I went to the expat bar. They have a really lovely rooftop bar under some shade and usually playing someone's iPod. Sadly, being south India they still close at 10:30 PM. Although usually they let us sit around until close to 11. (thanks a bunch for that extra half hour of nothing <--- sarcasm) Anyway, as the Indian servers were ready to go home at 10, they cut the music off, turned the lights OFF, put all the chairs on the table. Told us it was last order, brought the bill and kicked us out. They did this at 10:05 PM! Give me a break. When the guy came to show me his clock, he'd just changed it as my sister watched him do it. I showed him we still had about 20 minutes. I was only upset because I was just starting into my second beer and he wasn't allowing me to drink it. Furthermore, I'd already paid and tipped the guy. As I'm telling him, with my drink in hand on the way downstairs to drink in the smoky den for the last few minutes, that we still have 20 minutes, he says no and says go downstairs. I tell him I'm not happy and feel like he cheated me. THEN he asks if he can get a picture with me. Talk about no sense of timing! He and his friend were the first people I've denied a picture in India. I told him there is no way after that stunt that he could take my picture. Apparently they really loved my chops. But, I was pissed off. The whole day in Pondicherry was spent getting horrible service.

Generally speaking I think this is an unusual way to spend a day in Pondy, but instead of refreshing me, it just soured me further on my time in India. Even in the resort towns people will treat you like shit. Something is terribly amiss here.