Indians in the US have a great technique of tackling long lines at food stands. They walk up to the front of the line with their wives and husbands and sons and daughters, all in a group looking way too flabbergasted and point towards the inside of the food stand with a quizzical stare that proclaims ignorance about the purpose of the line and of the food stand.
And the other people standing meekly in line allow these folks to stand there because they feel, hey these are just cute little confused foreigners who need to find out what the line is for and once they find out, they will probably get the hell back in line.
Sadly, they don't. And the cute foreigners continue to stand there in front of the line and then they look at each other with their wrinkled brows and questioning eyes and they giggle self-consciously and ask each other questions in some Indian language till the person serving the food sheds his inhibitions and talks to them and tells them what the line is for. And then this allows them to grab this opening with both hands and before you can say "that's my sausage", they've ordered food, been served, paid the money and left, while everyone else standing legitimately behind them in line is speechless in disbelief at the gall of these bastards including those who are natives of the same country as theirs.
Goddamn, that's enterprise.
11 comments:
Happens all the time in my in-laws middle eastern restaurant. What makes it funny is that one of the guys that works as the order taker is Indian (although been here 25 years and is as un-desi like as they come). They come to the restaurant because they have a decent selection of reasonably priced veg food. My brother-in-law is frequently amazed that four adult Indian men can come in and order ONE vegetarian plate (hummus, tabouleh, stuffed grape leaves, 6 pieces of falafel, and two pieces of bread) and share it amongst the four of them and not order anything additional.
You generalize too much.
Actually I have noticed this more than once but with Chinese.
Now is that being politically incorrect - or can you point fingers only at your own ethnicity ?
On the money....gawker.
jokerinwonderland knows from everyday experience in the CVS where he works.
Initially he thought the natives were too nice to let the foreigners get ahead but it seems that desis dont understand the purpose of a line (or rather, they choose not to understand).
He has seen this happening all too frequently: A desi comes near the checkout counter, sees the line, makes a failed attempt to guise his dissappointment and with an ignorance and innocence of a 5 year- old, barges right in front.
Jokerinwonderland thinks this is the result of lack of lines back in desh and the instilled idea that the person who stand in line is weak and the one who breaks it is the powerful one.
Battling with fellow brownies back in college days enabled me to cut a 3 hour fee paying que to a 15 minute affair and yet come out looking like a person of high moral virtues. Of course, being friends with the opposite sex helped a lot.
However, with the whiteys I feel so bad for undercutting them that I just go back to the start of the line. I havent yet jumped que in America....
Gawker, U must be joking.
I have never seen any such thing.
Oh, I have seen the same thing back home, outside trial rooms. The same befuddled look, like the rest of us are there to just hold the clothes and feel the fabric! They even have the cheek to say "Excuse Me" and march right past the head of the line even before I have put the words and the exclamations together in my head for "No, YOU Excuse ME!!"
Totally agree with you. Have seen this many times :)
No way :-) Visitors from India by and large queue up ok in the US. You will see them pull such stunts in India or in the boarding line for the flights to India.
gg
lumi : Ah for those days of graduate penury.
anonymous : All Indians generalize too much.
bongo : You may point fingers at an ethnicity as long as you are related to one of its members through marriage. That is why I keep making fun of Koreans.
anonymous : That is a good theory. But it will have to wait in line.
car : yes women are notorious for letting others cut in line.
happy-go-lucky : you should get out more often.
vini, swapna : yes, i think its genetic.
ggop : i love how they gradually create a second line during boarding flights. Boy, we Indians rock.
I was recently standing in line at what was a queue for food, at a conference. It was going to the moon and back through New York city so I knew I was in for the long haul.
But there was this guy who was standing too close and the tip of his badge was touching my back. I would squirm and move slightly forward and he's close the gap. I'd try to stand sideways and he'd actually get closer. I eventually turned around and told him the minimum distance requires was a half arm length, enforced by law. Does this crowding in happen in the US also?
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