One stereotypical but reliable way to distinguish a FOB from an ABCD is their attitude towards ice. Whereas an ABCD will load their drinks cup up with ice before filling it, a FOB will (usually) leave their cup entirely devoid of crushed frozen water.
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Mmmmm … bacteria! |
Or is it? A 7th grader in Tampa Florida decided to compare the bacteria in the ice at a fastfood restaurant to the bacteria in its toilets. Her findings:
Roberts set out to test her hypothesis, selecting five fast food restaurants, within a ten-mile radius of the University of South Florida. Roberts says at each restaurant she flushed the toilet once, the[n] used sterile gloves to gather samples. Roberts also collected ice from soda fountains inside the five fast food restaurants. She also asked for cups of ice at the same restaurant’s drive thru windows.
Jasmine Roberts: “I found that 70-percent of the time, the ice from the fast food restaurant’s contain more bacteria than the fast food restaurant’s toilet water…” [Link]
Note that the ice is not necessarily more unsanitary than the toilet water because bacteria is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, bacteria in yogurt is good for you. Most types of bacteria are benign and the ice in question probably has high levels of harmless bacteria in it. Toilet water may have lower levels of aggregate bacteria (because they are regularly disinfected) but still higher levels of unhealthy bacteria, so you don’t want to start emulating your dog just yet.
In short, her study is far from an argument that fast food ice is unhealthy. Still, I suspect that the ice at a fast food restaurant probably is kinda gross (via Boing Boing).
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Filing a glass up to the brim with ice, and then adding an itsy bit of liqud to fill up the crevases is an American thing. I dislike it for the following reasons:
I want a drink. If I wanted to eat ice, I’d ask for it. I prefer my drink to last more than three gulps, without having to wait for all the ice to melt and turn the drink into a watery mess. The only time that is a good idea is while drinking scotch on the rocks – or sambuca.
Parts of this continent are frickin cold! I’ve just walked into a bar when it’s 15F outside. I order a vodka tonic. He hands me a mound of ice that I’m supposed to hold for the next 20 minutes while trying to look cool and scaning the room for potential dates while my hands are being cryogenically preserved. Not a pleasant experience.
It only takes about 3 decent sized cubes of ice to keep a drink cool until you finish it, without turning it into a watery mess. Maybe 4 or 5 if it’s summer in LA.
Loading a glass with ice simply continues the American tradition of excess at the dinner table – in line with the 2000 calorie entrees. Ice doesn’t just happen. It has to be produced and the process consumes a lot of energy. Tossing 20oz cups of soda half filled with ice is just as bad as tossing a half-eaten steak, or driving Hummers. Maybe a necessary evil during LA/FL summers, but an unnecessary excess in NYC in January.
That’s all. It has nothing to do with ingrained notions of ice being dirty, or cold drinks giving you brain-freeze in a hot country. It’s a cultural difference. Once you’re hooked on a soda glass filled with (gasp) soda, it’s hard to settle for the frozen stuff.
There’s a time for slurpies, and there’s a time for sodas!
FOB
I am a FOB who does not like ice in her drinks because it reduces the liquid temperature to uncomfortable levels and because my dentist and the ADA say that ice chewing is bad for teeth. It has nothing to do with kanjoosi, cultural conditioning, or vestigial health mechanisms.
I’m sorry to ask but was does ABCD mean. I think FOB means Fresh Off the Boat.
Before everybody mocks me, I was born and grow up area 98% white with only 8 other brown familes. So I’m not down with alot of the lingo. Sorry.
PJFan: its AmericanBornConfusedDesi
Savya, bajoowali aunty: STFU
In BC I heard the kiss of death is not to be a FOB but there’s another word they use. all these kids were in deathly fear of being called it, it was very funny
So that makes me a CanadianBornConFussedDesi or a CBCD
I may live in BC but since I have no desi friends[not into punjabi gang culture] I have no idea about not being FOB as bad
ah, thank you internet…its called being a “dip”. the worst thing you can call an indo-canadian teenager!
Oh I don’t know…I’d say they should all (Manish, Vinod, Abhi..the only ones I’ve met) duel it out WWF style, preferably in boxers. Let us ladies decide who is the handsomest!
JoAT,
Sepia Mutiny. Like Duran Duran, but brown.
There’s a mutineer for every taste…
Now now DD, don’t go tasting the mutineers, you don’t know where they’ve been 😉
Janeofalltrades, have we ever met? I don’t think so. If we had then you’d know that I’m a lover and not a fighter. 😉
Some more typical FOB stuff:
Ouch…that hurts…yes we’ve met in one lifetime. I’m obviously not as memorable as I think I am 🙂 BTW WWF is fake fighting you know that right??
Wait, why didn’t you say anything before? NOW I think I remember who you are and how we met. Was it through DS?
Eh yeah doh, considering I got a bloody nose on Sulekha defending you we need to think of a appropriate punishment for you! 🙂
Ennis: You make some valid points, however ‘Third WorldÂ’ does not connote the same thing today as it did during the days of Jawaharlal. And while you are ‘so so’ right when you say that people in the developing world do not necessarily mind being called the ‘Third worldÂ’, they do not necessarily consider themselves ‘third-rateÂ’ – which is the connotation associated with it, especially in the western world. To the perople in the developing world ‘Third worldÂ’ means poor – nothing more. And there is nothing wrong with being poor.
Think about it – ‘Third worldÂ’ is primarily used when something negative has to be said.
Okay fine. Anyone that defends me deserves better than that. I will fight Vinod. Just remember that I bruise easily 🙂
OOoooooo drool I’m sorry did you say something else???
Never knew that was another way to distinguish between a FOB and ABCD. Usually I don’t prefer ice in my drink if it’s already pretty cold. What you said about the bacteria in the ice being harmless makes sense, but I’m sure there’s some bacteria that can alter the taste of ice (before the ice in our freezer had a salty disgusting taste to it).
bare handed, I lay odds on the heir of the Nawab of Blogpur. But remember, Vinod is often armed.
In Bangladesh, I once ate an ice-cream while at a theme park in the afternoon probably around early autumn (I ignored my relative’s advice) and literally minutes after I finished it I got a sore throat and by night a raging fever.
Drinking/eating anything cool in non-summer months is just asking for a cold…
My mother always told me not to eat/drink cold stuff whenever I had a sore throat as it exacerbates the cold. But when I pointed this out to an Aussie friend of mine who was eating ice cream when she had a sore throat she said she’d never heard of such a thing and didn’t get the logic of it either!
Four years ago, wracked with the terrible neck cramps that came from spending graduate student days hunched in front of a computer, my mother suggested that I see this Ayurvedic doctor in Kerala. I did, and after his treatment (chavittuu) – stomping all over my back, he suggested that I stop drinking ice with my water to prevent sudden temperature changes. Lo and behold, I’ve never had to go back to the doctor, and will never ask for ice again.
“One stereotypical but reliable way to distinguish a FOB from an ABCD is their attitude towards ice. Whereas an ABCD will load their drinks cup up with ice before filling it, a FOB will (usually) leave their cup entirely devoid of crushed frozen water.”
Well, I guess I’m just a FOB who was accidentally born in the U.S. I always ask for drinks with no ice … but, then again, that’s because I live in Boston where it’s colder than ice for 8 months out of the year. I have to say that I never understood why a drink with ice is always the default, especially in cold climate places. What’s the sense of having an icy cold beverage in the middle of a snowstorm?
Anyone here try masala coke? with or without ice?
From a waiter’s view:
Two things happen when someone orders a drink with no ice. The server knows that you are high maintenance and you won’t tip. What happens when you want a water refill? Water pitchers have ice. The server has to empty out a entire pitcher of water and ice. Refill the pitcher with water. Fill your glass. Then fill the pitcher with more ice. Would I travel to Italy and ask for ice in my coke? NO. I respect their customs, traditions and memes. Cursed McDonalds.. “have it your way” when did diners become so picky? Just remember who handles your food, then be nice to them. Has anyone ever noticed the quality of service when “ice vs. no ice” are the variables?
Annnnd from an ex-cocktail waitress/bartender:
I agree with a healthy dislike for high maintenance customers, if they are assholes, but then, I loathe all assholes.
I’ll type it loud and proud– I HATE ICE…I have sensitive teeth and anything very hot OR cold hurts. Because I ask questions and have certain usually ice-related requests which apparently place me in the “high maintenance” category, I NEVER tip less than 20%, because I appreciate it so much when someone helps me without acting like it’s a chore. Unless I was dealing with someone who was just abysmal/rude/thoughtless (in which case I leave 10-15%), I always make sure the people who are kind enough to serve me well are well-compensated for their efforts.
I remember exactly what it felt like to make someone 6 Alabama Slammers or Dirty Girl Scouts (i.e. drinks more labor-intensive than a vodka tonic) and NOT get tipped and it totally sucked, so not everyone who asks you to go out of your way is going to leave you hanging monetarily. When did diners become picky? When they realized that paying for a service meant expecting…service.
Yeah from another waitresses perpective: 20% is the average good tip now-a-days. We make two dollars an hour. So we really rely on tips. That means if your bill is 45 dollars then you are supposed to tip about 9 dollars. ….. not 4 or 5.
I hear the phrase “water, no ice” all the time, I am a server next to the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. I will say that the people of India are the nicest people you can meet, they are also the worst tippers. An appropriate tip for your food server should be 15-20 % of the original amount of the bill, so many Microsoft employees bring along their dining discount cards, and tip even worse. In Washington our tax rate is 9.4, so a quick and easy way to calculate the appropriate tip to leave your server is to simply double the tax, that would be about an 18% tip in Washington. So if you wish to receive the best of service, a completely vegetarian meal and, yes, water no ice, than take care of your server and we will take care of you.