Roti Bola

The scenario is familiar: Close to 15 tables, about a dozen of which are occupied with only one patron who orders a single teh, or kopi, panas (if you don't know what these are, write me).

This is weekend football night at the mamak restaurant at my apartment.

We, the customers, are all there to watch the game. We're generally not hungry. All we want to do is sit and enjoy flat-screen English Premier League. Our one beverage order is a (really cheap) grunt of reciprocity.

It's not a pretty sight for the manager, who maybe comforts himself by saying well at least I still have customers. Of course he does. And yet I imagine it would make him more comfortable if he labelled, bannered and declared Football Night as special, giving an occasion to offer any of the following promotions:

• A special menu whose items are 20-30% cheaper than normal
• 'Set Dinner' or 'Set Supper', $5.55 for noodles/rice, roti and one beverage
• 10% off the (usually) pricey steak or chicken chops
• Special dish just for Football Night (maybe mini-footballs in the form of powdered meat-balls?)
• Buy-3-get-1-free
• New 'Roti Bola' (to complement Roti Pisang, Roti Bom, Roti Telur, Roti Sardin, Roti Planta?)

These would be *especially* for the weekends, say, between 9pm and midnight. If people ask, he can say it's special and he loves serving lots of good lower-priced food on soccer night.

And if people say it's nothing more than a gimmick, why, he should just wink right back.