You get what you ask for?

I was recently stranded in a Chinese airport while my flight was delayed for several hours. Because it is not possible to check in for a Chinese domestic flight more than an hour in advance, I was stuck, with my luggage, outside security, where there were no shops with Olympic paraphrenalia, no comfortable lounge (OK, there's no comfortable lounge in any Chinese domestic terminal, but a lounge anyway).

My only options were the Chinese airport restaurant - huge, with no customers, surly staff, plastic-wrapped dishes (more on that in another post), and food that manages to be at once bland and incredibly salty - or the Chinese airport bar - Chinese wine, Chinese beer, maotai, a couple of cocktails you've never heard of, and pickled anything snacks. I went with the bar.

The waitress appeared by my side as soon as I sat down, not saying a word but indicating with her bored countenance that I should order immediately. When I asked if I could have a minute with the menu, she said yes and kept standing there.

What to order? My new departure time had not been posted, but the airline representative reported our aircraft would not arrive for at least 3 hours. I didn't feel like beer, and I definitely did not want to take my chances with Chinese wine - after all, what I really needed was to relax. Every cocktail on the small list included either blue curacao or rice wine, not a good sign.

As I was about to resign myself to a bottle of water and some boiled peanuts, I spied "Bailey's coffee" on the list. I didn't feel like caffeine, but if they have Bailey's with coffee, they must have Bailey's right? But Bailey's as it's own drink was not on the list. Not on the list = will not compute with waitress.

I chose my words carefully. "You have Bailey's coffee, right?" Bailey's coffee, yes, she replied, turning around and walking away. "Wait! Wait!" She came back and stood over me silently. "So, can you bring a glass with Bailey's in it, like from the Bailey's coffee, but don't put any coffee?" She stared. "You get my meaning? Baileys, but I don't want any coffee?" Wait, she told me, and turned around and walked away again.

Wait, instead of the anticipated, No, sounded promising. Even better, she reappeared and said. Yes, we can do it. "Great, then, I'd like that - Baileys, no coffee. Oh - and I'll need some ice with that, OK?" She didn't reply, but slid off and I waited happily. And in fact, I did receive Bailey's, no coffee, with ice. Like many things in China, it was not exactly what I expected...
... but it did the trick.