The Dishes I Served in UK in Those Years

Jojo was sitting in the Beijing office and working on documents when a QQ message popped out on her phone. That was a piece of recruit information for part-time jobs at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Over three years ago， when Jojo was still a freshman， she got informed of a part-time job in the same chat group and that’s also when her three-year part-time career in Chinese restaurants started.

Jojo really wanted to be one of the people who have a part-time job at that time， especially after she realized almost all her local classmates worked part-time at supermarkets or restaurants nearby， but she couldn’t speak English very well back then， so she supposed she should be qualified to work at a Chinese restaurant. During the interview， the Chinese employer asked her to pick up phone calls and deal with complaints in English. She hesitated because she hadn’t thought she would also use English working here. In that evening， sitting in the restaurant and seeing the part-time counter busy picking up phone calls， taking orders， communicating with chiefs and chauffeurs， and dealing with various complaints， Jojo didn’t believe she can handle the job. Fortunately， the owner eventually gave her an opportunity to work part-time -- help in the mess kitchen and help packing up food in the kitchen on busy weekends.

After a semester working as a part-time in the takeaway shop， Jojo’s English is good enough to have basic communications with people around. Plus she’s got the experience working in the kitchen. Her friend then got her a job in another Chinese restaurant as a waitress， responsible for taking orders and serving food.

When worked as a helper in the kitchen， Jojo may get oppressed because she was too slow or she made some mistakes. After working as a waitress for a while， Jojo learned what the real aggrieved feeling was. One night， after a local game， people eating in the restaurant were more than usual， but there were only two waitresses and they were really caught up. Although they served Chinese food， there were still starters， main courses， soups， and desserts. The order cannot be wrong. The next one must be served immediately after the guests finished the previous one. The chiefs were also as busy as the waitress. Some guests waited for 20mins after the starters and the main courses were still not served. One guest got mad and shouted angrily at Jojo. He threw the money for starters and beverages on table and then left. Apart from apologizing， Jojo was too afraid to say anything else. After work， her boss said to her， “Although we were slow today， it’s because of the special situation. Every people can see it. One or two apologies were enough. If you keep apologizing， they will blame everything to us. Pay attention to what you say！” It’s after midnight when Jojo got back to her dorm that night， but the pressure from work and what the boss said made her feel tension and cannot fall asleep. She couldn’t help thinking： I came to UK for school. Is it worth it for me to work and suffer like this？

It seems that Jojo never found the answer to the question “is it worth it？”， but one thing is for sure that Jojo’s working experience and English grew rapidly in the process. She then even worked two part-time jobs at the same time. In addition to working as a waitress in the Chinese restaurant， she also worked as a counter in a Chinese takeaway restaurant. At that time， Jojo has become the person she used to admire， who can use English fluently taking orders and communicating.

Watching freshmen discussing part-time jobs in the chat group， Jojo asked herself again： was it worth it？ Indeed， part-time jobs deprived her from some opportunities to go out and play， and made her work harder in the libraries for school. However， without those experiences that made her stronger， she maybe as vulnerable and weak as other overseas students who cannot fit in the abroad life. Without those working experiences， she may not know that much about the UK society and blend in. Without those experiences of dealing with complaints， she may not know how to fight for her own rights.

At least， in those three years， if she didn’t serve food but devoted herself wholly to books， she may not be appreciated by her current boss who emphasizes ability of practice.

Note： UK Student Visa stipulates student cannot work over 20 hours every week and the student must apply for a NI number （national insurance number） to pay tax and get employee benefits. In most Chinese restaurants， the hour salary for part-time workers is less than the minimum standard of UK. Workers don’t need to pay tax or apply for NI number. Most owners of the Chinese restaurants don’t care whether students work more than 20 hours. Therefore， overseas students usually refer to working part-time at Chinese restaurants as “work underground”.

Jojo坐在北京辦公室里寫著文案，突然手機里跳出一條QQ群消息推送，群里有人發唐人街中餐館兼職招聘消息。三年多以前，剛到英國上大一的Jojo也是在這個群里看到了兼職招聘，從此開啟了她在英國三年的中餐館打工生涯。

Jojo剛到英國的時候，看著身邊的本地同學都在附近超市或酒店打工，她也很想加入打工行列，但當時她的英語水平還比較低，當她看到中餐外賣店招兼職的時候，她覺得自己去中餐館打工肯定沒問題。Jojo去外賣店面試的時候，華人老板直接讓她演示一下用英語接電話和處理投訴，她愣了一會兒，沒想到在中餐館外賣店還要全英文工作。那天傍晚，Jojo坐在店里看著前臺兼職不停地接電話下單子，跟廚師、司機溝通，還要處理各種客人催單投訴電話，她覺得自己做不來這份兼職。所幸，老板最后還是給了她一個兼職的機會——幫廚，周末忙時到后廚幫忙分裝打包。

Jojo在外賣店做了一個學期的兼職，當她的英語可以跟周圍人進行基本交流之后，加上之前的幫廚經驗，很快在朋友們的介紹下，她開始到另一家中餐館當起了樓面。樓面實際上就是負責點餐和上菜等一些工作的服務生。

做幫廚的時候，如果說有可能受氣，最多也就是因為手腳慢，或者裝錯單被廚師和老板說幾句。剛開始當樓面沒多久，Jojo就感受到什么叫委屈了。有天晚上，當地球賽結束后，中餐館里吃飯的人也比以往要多，但當時店里只有兩個服務生，根本忙不過來。在英國的中餐館，盡管賣的是中餐，但也分頭盤、主菜、湯品和甜點，上餐的順序不能錯，客人吃完一道，必須趕緊上下一道。那天晚上，后廚也跟Jojo他們樓面一樣忙得不可開交，有一桌客人吃完頭盤以后，等了將近二十分鐘，都沒有上主菜。客人一生氣就沖著一旁的Jojo大罵了一頓，扔下頭盤和酒水錢就走了。除了不停地跟客人道歉以外，Jojo一句話也不敢多說。一肚子的委屈還沒消，下班后，老板冷冷地對Jojo說：“即使我們今天慢了，但也是因為特殊情況，所有客人也都看到了。你道一兩次歉就夠了，你不停地道歉，客人就會把問題全賴在我們頭上。以后說話注意點兒。”那天晚上，Jojo回到宿舍已經過了夜里12點，忙碌的工作和老板的話讓她的腦袋一直處于緊繃的狀態，無法入睡，她一直在想：我是來英國上學的，這樣受累受委屈打黑工，值得嗎？

Jojo那個“值得嗎”的問題一直沒有答案，但她的中餐館打工經驗和英語水平也在摸爬滾打中成長起來，后來，她除了在中餐館當樓面以外，周末晚上也會到一家中餐外賣店去當前臺，那時候的Jojo已經基本可以像她一年多以前羨慕的那個前臺兼職那樣，自如地用英語接單和溝通。

Jojo看著群里的新生在討論打工具體事宜的時候，她又問了自己那個問題：值得嗎？打工確實讓自己失去了不少外出游玩的機會，也讓自己起早摸黑去圖書館比別人更多。但是，如果沒有那些委屈鍛煉出來的堅強，18歲的她可能也會像那些無法適應海外生活的留學生一樣脆弱。如果沒有當樓面和前臺的經歷，她也不會對英國社會各類人有那么多的了解，不會那么快融入一個新的社會環境。如果沒有那些處理客戶投訴的經驗，她可能不懂得如何更好地為自己爭取權益。

至少，如果那三年，她沒有端過盤子，而只是一個小書蟲，她可能不會在一群海歸當中被現在這個看重實踐能力的老板看中。

注：英國學生簽證規定每周打工不能超過20個小時，而且打工必須要申請NI號（national insurance number社會保險號），以便納稅及保障雇員福利。在大多數中餐館打工，時薪都低于英國規定最低時薪，而且不納稅，因此也不需要NI號，中餐館老板大多數也不在乎兼職學生每周打工是否超過20個小時，因此在留學生當中，往往稱呼到中餐館打工為“打黑工”。

[The original series of articles are available on UE app. 該系列文章原載于UE app]