The One With The Part-time Job(s)

A phone call came. He picked up. His friend was on the other line. She said it was good news. They got the part-time job they applied a couple of weeks earlier. It was at a Chinese restaurant. Mr Chu's they called it. It is supposed to be the biggest Chinese Restaurant in UK and possibly Europe too. The girl sounded excited and thrilled that they got the job but the guy did not share the same feelings. He wondered if he should take up a second job. He wondered if he could handle the workload. How he wished this part-time job had come earlier. Again, he faced a dilemma. Nevertheless, he decided to try the second job out.

That day, that fateful Saturday, 10th of March 2007, he got ready real early for work. He shared a taxi with a few friends and reached Mr Chu's China Palace at 5pm. Work starts at 6pm.

He changed and sat in the changing room waiting. Waiting for the time to start work. Was he nervous? Not really but something else clouded his mind. "Am I able to adapt to this place?" he asked himself. Most of the workers there are from China and the chefs are from Hong Kong. They spoke in a language he was not accustom to and especially not with their strong accent.

Then the time arrived. He was to work in the kitchen that day. He listened attentively to the seniors as they taught him the ways and learnt as much as he could. The table numbering, the place to store the bowl and plates, the way to put the dishes on the tray, etc. As a kitchen boy, he was mainly supposed to carry those dishes the chefs cooked outside to the their respective tables and wait for the waiters and waitresses in charged of that area to place them. It was not a complicated job he was told but when the busy time comes (around 8-ish), it would be a different kind of story.

People started coming in and before he knew it, the place started to fill up. He looked at his watch. Yup, it was 8pm. Busy time. All of the sudden, the lady boss came in. Mrs Chu probably. She asked, "What are you doing here? Today you are to work outside" and sent him out. She assigned him to a waitress whom, later on he found out, was the fastest waitress in the restaurant. She told that waitress that he was to learn from her today and should follow what she do. That waitress looked at him with displeasure. People are now pouring in. Not only she had to deal with all those customers, now she had to deal with a noob. Luckily for him, she did what she were told and taught him as much as she could, as soon as possible. There just weren't enough time. He had to start learning all over again and had to do it straightaway. She taught him how to clear the table, how to set the table, where and how to put those utensils and dishes, etc. He got nervous and started to sweat. He had never wait on a customer in a restaurant before. The fact that she spoke in her China Mandarin accent did not help. He struggled understand her. She could repeat the sentence three times and still he would not understand what she was trying to say. Nevertheless, he did it. Although he was not in charged of more important things like taking orders and bringing the bills, he was relieved that he was able to cope. A few mistakes he made but they were irrelevant. The customers left happy and satisfied. He was just glad he didn't screw anything up.

Soon, the people got less and less and he was able to breath again. Everyone started clearing the tables and cleaning up the place so he followed the same. With a sigh of relief, he was glad the day was over. Working in a restaurant was difficult compared to the job he had at the stadium and especially so when the colleagues spoke in an accent so difficult for him to catch.

There were a couple of birthday celebrations that day. It was a common sight he was told. The Brits loved to celebrate their birthdays at a Chinese Restaurant. To them, going to a Chinese Restaurant was like going to "somewhere special". Funny how back in his country, "somewhere special" would usually mean a fancy restaurant like "The Ship", "TGI Friday" and "Chilli's". He remembered how he and his friends used to enjoy western food at those places for a nice dinner. It is probably the same for the Brits. Just that to them, a nice dinner would mean going to a Chinese restaurant.