Taiwan is a country of delicacies. Food stands and restaurants can be easily seen on the roads or in night markets. Cooks who own their restaurants or stands provide a variety of cuisine for Taiwanese people or foreign people from all over the world. They are nobodies, but they spend their life and time serving people and earning their living. In the second year of university, I gained a chance to experience the life of working in a restaurant. I got close to the owner of the restaurant, realizing that she is a nobody of an extraordinary spirit.
It was a hot summer evening. The muggy and humid air was killing our appetite. My friend and I were hanging around the street near our school wondering what to eat. Suddenly, a Chinese restaurant named “Ch’uan Min Fang(全民坊)” caught our eyes. The kitchen was set outside. There were a big pot for cooking white noodles and dumplings, and a place for boiling soup and sauce. On seeing the water-boiled noodles and dumplings, and smelling the aroma of the sauce and soup, we decided to step into this restaurant. The dining room was in plain decoration which you could see three calendars with beautiful pictures on the wall, and two pieces of Chinese knots hang on the pillar. Besides the decorations, there were some electric equipment, such as a television, an air conditioner, and two electric fans. The environment was not gorgeous, but it provided a cool place for us to escape from the hot weather. So far, I was satisfied with the environment. I ordered a dish of dumplings. Dumpling is one of my favorite foods, so I have a picky mouth about dumplings. The boiled dumplings were on the table later. The dumplings were shiny and full like little purses with lots of treasure in them. I took a bite of one dumpling, and felt the juicy meat and fresh vegetable mixed up fairly in my mouth. I was satisfied with the dumplings. You can say that it was the dumplings that opened the door to make me willing to step into this restaurant.
It was no doubt that the delicious food made me interested in observing the restaurant. If I didn’t like the meal, how could I go there again and again? By this chance, I discovered something special about the female boss. One day, I was buying some dumplings for dinner. I heard that a table of students was waiting for their meals which the boss forgot to cook. In order to show her apology, she immediately gave a free appetizer. Since then, I began to notice that she is not just a boss only care about how much “money” she can earn. Instead, she is a boss concerning about her “credit”, which I can also feel from the food she serves.
One year later, I joined a part-time job there and I began to know more about her. My boss is not tall and a little heavy which makes her look cute. Her hair is short and her skin is yellow with a little red on her cheek. It is impossible for her to dress in pretty clothes, and wear a necklace or a bracelet which will generate heat when she stands before the stove. She has to wear an apron, convenient clothes and pants for six days a week. Although there is no much extra time for her to wear pretty clothes, she does something to decorate herself. She likes to wear a pair of white bush shoes with a little pink flower decoration on the left feet, and a shiny plastic decoration on the right one. “The decorations are not cheap”, she said, “They are given by my relatives”. In spite of the fact that there is only a small “place” to decorate her outside looking, I think her inner is already pretty. Her laughter is loud and clear, and always can make me laugh with her. “Her smile is not for business purpose,” one of the part-time job worker said, “Her smile is the real smile.”
My boss is undoubtedly a typically diligent woman, but there is something unique that makes her different from the “traditional” ones. All I know about a traditional woman is that she has to be good at housework, such as cooking, weaving, cleaning or even fixing. My boss is not an exception. And in fact, she had been learning many skills and doing a variety of jobs. She had been selling hand-made noodles near an elementary school, selling tofu pudding in a night market, and being a Ticket Inspector of the railway administration. However, there are some jobs out of my imagination.
She had been working for serving women, and also working in a man-major company. When she was a student, she studies accounting and she became an accountant for the first job. Several years later, she was introduced to work in a Water- -and-Electric company and there she learned how to draw down the electric line of a house. She said, “I was the only female worker in the accounting department. The boss of the company needed somebody to draw the electric line and the other men were busy for another work. So I took this work and I learned the skill from my boss.” As I know, the water and electric company was mainly run by men. I was curious how she felt when she needed to work in such a company.
“I didn’t think so much. It was lucky enough to have a job at that time. How should I feel weird?” She gave me an easy frowned face with a little smile.
She even had a job as a salesman who sold cosmetics and also provided customers makeup in a department store. She learned the skill from this job and she was really “skilled” of it. “Some relatives even asked me to help their brides’ makeup!” She said. For me, it is really hard to imagine a woman who has no time to make her dressed up, and is always sweaty when cooking that once she was master in makeup.
Another thing that appeals to me is her easy-go-easy-come personality. She doesn’t like to argue for her money. I think all the part-time job workers can feel that, for she treats us very well. Whenever I went to work, she would ask, “Do you want to eat something? There are some cookies.” She would give anything she had on hand. Sometimes there were some foods that I hadn’t seen before, such as coconut candy, and “pig’s brain” which she uses to make soup. That’s my first try to eat pig’s brain, and I was glad it tasted not so bad. My boss also provided meals for us, and we could eat whatever we wanted. My boss even lent the workers the kitchen to cook anything they bought, so sometimes we would have a variety of cuisines for dinner.
About her marriage, she was not the dominant one with her husband, but if she needed to, she would be a decisive character. Her husband was a supervisor of Hsueh-Shan Tunne(雪山隧道)l. His job was to supervise the workers, but he was indolent in the work and hanging around drinking. My boss wanted to stop his irresponsible behavior, and one day, she gave him two choices. “Come with me to learn cooking skills, or get divorced.” And, obviously, her husband didn’t choose the latter one because we can still see him working in Ch’uan Min Fang.
“If life restarted again, would you get married?” She answered, “No. Before marriage, you only take care of yourself, but once you get married, you have to take care of lots of people, such as your husbands and his parents, and sometimes you cannot avoid some quarrels.”
“Maybe I would get married with another guy. I was hot at that time!” She gave me a long and clear laugh. Indeed, from her album I saw an elegant and delicate girl dressing in her high school uniform with a smiling face from which I could easily recognize she was my boss. As one picture came after another, I saw the young girl grew up and became a much more mature and beautiful lady whom I could hardly recognize. “One time one of my relatives came to visit me, she saw my wedding picture and asked, ‘Is this the famous singer Li-Chung Teng(鄧麗君)?’” My boss gave me the impressive laugh again.
“One of my friends said that, ‘I wish I had a family like yours.’ I don’t know why. All I know is that my parents treated their children very well, and so did my grandparents.” To talk about her family background, it was not difficult to find some clues that formed her personality. She was born in Yi-Lan(宜蘭) where is known for beautiful natural scenes and historic monuments. This is a place where traditional Taiwanese culture is preserved well. Not to mention traditional family ethics rooted deeply in this area. However, when my boss talked about her family, I found that there was no obvious idea that claimed boys were better than girls. In traditional Taiwanese culture, parents expected to have more and more boys because they thought boys could bring prosperity. So relatively, girls were often neglected. Living in that circumstance, my boss and her brothers and sisters shared a harmonious and fair care from their family whom I thought were unique and considerate.
My boss is widely loved by not only her family, but also her friends, her teachers and her coworkers. Actually, her life has been so smooth and peaceful due to many helps from her friends. Most of the jobs were introduced by her friends. She needn’t have to worry about being unemployed. Even when she started to run a restaurant, she was still in other people’s help. For my boss, cooking was not a difficult thing. Even when she decided to sell another kind of food, she didn’t think it was a big deal. The things she had to worry about were the place, the rent, and the material. In fact, Ch’uan Min Fang restaurant has been moved for two times. The first place was small and inconvenient to attract passers-by. So they moved to a bigger place where it was much convenient. However, the owner of the place needed this place back and my boss almost gave up running a restaurant at the street. At that time I hadn’t yet worked there. Fortunately, another landowner said she could provide a place for my boss. Although my boss had to spend lots of money to equip the new place, she was glad she needn’t to leave the school. And thank god I had a chance to have a job there.
A person like my boss is not born to have such a smooth life and considerate personality. In fact, she had been impulsive when she was young. She was once unsatisfied with her husband’s attitude toward her mother. “The way he talked to my mother seemed not so respectful.” She said. Indeed, she had thought to act as the same way as him to treat his mother. However, there jumped out a person who changed her mind to take revenge. Her uncle said, “You will not get anything if you insist to take revenge. The only thing will cause is endless rage. ‘Ke jen tsao yeh, ke jen tan’ (個人造業個人擔) If you treat his mother like what he does, don’t you think there would be more troubles coming along?” Since then, my boss has learned how to deal with annoying things happening to her, with the attitude “Ke jen tsao yeh, ke jen tan” which means “you are responsible for what you have done.” The motto is not only saying that avoid getting into unnecessary troubles, but also encourages yourself to be honest or you will come into some bad results.
Several years ago, my boss attended her father’s funeral. Something happened that my boss had to tell someone the motto as her uncle did to her. She heard that the elder brother’s daughter went to blame on her elder aunt because she didn’t attend the funeral. “I was shocked at that time!” My boss spoke with a high-pitched voice. “I have told you that ‘Ke jen tsao yeh, ke jen tan.’ Your father even didn’t scold on your aunt. Why did you still poke yourself into this business?” My boss would think it was the aunt’s business if she didn’t come. If there was any troubles happened, it was also her business. Other people needn’t have to do any reaction. This kind of attitude was also used when someone intentionally gave her bad privilege. “Just talk whatever he wants to talk.” she said. Doing some businesses is a competition, so some gossips are unavoidable. But she doesn’t worry. “The materials I use are the best. I can eat the food here every day.”
Running a restaurant near a school is not as easy as I thought. We may think students are the great customers that will bring fortunes. Actually, my boss doesn’t save much money since she has this restaurant. It was true that she could make fortune during school semesters, but when summer and winter vacations came, the money she earned flowed away. Especially she is the one who would rather spending lots of money buying the best food severing the students than selling cheap meal at high price. I remember one time a student came to buy a bowl of Braised pork rice and a dish of vegetable. I told him, “Forty-five dollars.” He suddenly gave me a doubtful facial expression. “Only forty-five dollars?” he asked. Although my boss always gives me an energetic and optimistic impression, I could feel the burden behind her back. Her husband starts to have dialysis recently. He cannot work as usual. The cost of medical treatment and her job have squeezed her time and money. One time I went by the restaurant, I saw my boss was sitting and counting money alone. For that time, I felt she was really tired. Her work and family have occupied her lifetime. She cannot return to be the young pretty girl again.
I am glad that my boss’s honesty and privilege are known by many customers. Some are regular customers. Whenever they come to the restaurant, they would order the same dishes they like. The boss of the photographic printing shop nearby would order twenty dumplings. The male office worker would come here ordering a bowl of braised pork rice and a plate of vegetables. And two girl students would order tomato soup noddle with spicy sauce. They are the fans of Ch’uan Min Fang.
I asked whether she would like to dress in nice clothes when I took a picture of her. She said with straightforward voice, “Nature is beauty!” Indeed, being honest and nice seemed so natural that my boss didn’t even know how they came out from her mind. When she was a student, she said, the teachers liked her so much. But she didn’t know “why the teachers were nice to her.” She made her head tilted, looked somewhere, thought and said, “Maybe it was because I was diligent.”