Matt and I have a practiced aversion to fast-food, but Matt couldn’t resist trying out ChicKing. I’m pretty sure it was because of the name. We would walk around saying it to each other: “Chic-KING, Chic-KING, Chic-KING!” and fall apart chortling to ourselves. Anyway, the temptation proved too great, so we walked in one balmy evening to see what ChicKing was all about, and what followed was a very weird clash of cultures.
The Filipino girls behind the counter eagerly awaited Matt’s order (I sat down in a booth because I didn’t want anything).
“I’ll have a number 11.”
“But don’t you want…” and they extravagantly gestured to a poster of a back-to-school ChicKing promotion, which was a Fulla backpack for little girls. Now, Fulla is basically the Islamic version of Barbie. She wears a lot of pink shailas (head wraps) and spends her time frolicking with butterflies. She is extremely popular in this country, but nevertheless, Matt in all his bearded glory didn’t really want a backpack with Fulla’s rosy visage emblazoned all over it.
“Uh, no thanks.” The Filipino girls looked a little disappointed and surprised.
“Do you want to up-size?”
“No, I’ll just get the normal size.” More disappointment. Then they started getting desperate.
“So would you like two?” Matt was confused and asked what they meant.
“Would you like two number 11’s?”
“No, just one, thanks.” They were clearly heart-broken, but put his order through as they had no more options. (We wondered later if there was some guy in the back brandishing a cane and commanding them to up-sell everything on pain of death or dismemberment.)
While waiting for Matt’s food, we noticed that the girls (women probably in their twenties) were both wearing the Fulla backpacks themselves, and we felt kinda bad that they were subjected to this humiliation. But then some music came on. It was the Cranberries’ “Zombie” and the two girls started head-banging, dancing around, and belting out the lyrics… all whilst wearing their Fulla backpacks. They were having a grand old time…
“Zombie, Zombie, Zombie, ee, ee, ee, oh, oh!”
Surreal. Filipino ladies wearing Islamic girls’ backpacks, rockin’ out to the Cranberries at a chicken joint in the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, we looked across the aisle and there was a Muslim lady, in full garb, sitting at another booth while “Zombie” was blasting. She was sitting there, very regal with her chin leaning on her hand, looking utterly disdainful. She was not amused.
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4 comments:
Wow! (Do I always begin my comments with "Wow"?). Well, Wow! Thanks, Matt and Lo, once more for sharing your stories.
I almost feel like I've been there to witness all of the adventures.
They might make an amazing book someday, (hint, hint, hint).
Ah haaaaaaaaaaaaa! Laughed out loud on reading this post and my secretary now thinks i have totally lost it. You MUST submit this to Rick Steves!
Fast food in other countries is often very strange. This summer in Costa Rica we took the students to a food court with a Burger King, Papa Gino's and Church's Chicken. The food was anything but fast, and if you can believe it, the worst items on their menus were the fountain drinks. They tasted like the condensation in the bottom of a window airconditioner.
This made me laugh out loud!!
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