curiouser and curiouser

HOM and i make a half-day trip across the causeway into a peculiar series of encounters:

• the waiter who has such limited short term memory that he repeats our order thrice before showing us his (incorrect) order 
• but that's ok because we learn how to place an order in their system for him!
• although the wrong food still manages to arrive 
• the older gentleman at the next table who stares with unabashed curiosity at our fish before asking, are those dumplings?
• my temporary incarceration when the loo lock gets stuck the old-fashioned way i.e. mechanically and the cleaning lady her colleague her supervisor and HOM try (successfully!) to get me out, and
• this, which is a poodle masquerading as a duck, whaddayathunk