Ice please!

The hotel we stay at in Phnom Penh is great for $19 a night but the service is not always 5 star. Not because they aren’t trying but because of lack of training. So when I asked for ice last night and it didn’t come for 30 minutes I thought I’d better make sure the language barrier didn’t mess us up and they were making me a pot of rice instead.
So I took a glass to the front desk and asked politely “Can I get ice?”
“Ice.” the man behind the desk said looking serious.
“Yes, ice.” I said looking in his eyes to see if he understood.
“Ice.” he said nodding
“Yes, ice.” I said holding up my glass and pointing inside of it.
“Ice.” he said nodding and standing at attention
“Yes, ice.” I said smiling holding up my glass again.
“Ice.” he said smiling again proudly. Then standing ramrod straight like a proud soldier he said. “I inform you.”
I looked at him quizzically and he picked up the phone and called the restaurant down stairs. Then he took my glass and gave it to a male hotel staff who promptly got on the elevator to take my glass down stairs. no sooner had the elevator shut than the other elevator opened with a female staff with an ice bucket. But now my glass was gone. Finally the guy with my glass returned and all was well in the world again.