Flash Fiction #179
It is said that there are two kinds of Asian restaurants in America—one kind caters to Americans and the other caters to Asian immigrants. The food choices, the food presentation, the management, the waiters or waitresses, and the price can be slightly different or significantly different, depending on who you ask.
Yue is a manager of a restaurant of the latter kind, which often presents whole-fish dishes with head and tail still attached and fishbones still embedded, stinky tofu as appetizers, chickens steamed or baked in lotus leaves rather than fried, dried plum leaves as veggies and many other delicacies that are usually ignored by the mainstream.
“Do you know Yue got his MBA from a well-known school?” Pammy says to me.
“He is not the first one to waste his degree. We are all over-educated. Don’t you think immigration is one of the most wasteful deployment of intellectual resources?” I reply.
“Well, the entire civilization has wasted women’s intellectual resources for thousands of years.” Pammy says.
It’s impossible for Pammy and me to have a nice conversation since we tend to up each other’s game. If I say something is wasteful, she has to come up with something even more wasteful. I don’t know why we engage in this meaningless competition, but we can’t seem to stop it.
Pammy proceeds to tell me Yue’s story. It turns out that Yue was offered a job as a manager in a hotel somewhere after getting his MBA.
“No way. I’ve never seen an Asian doing that kind of job. A manager? A hotel?” I say to Pammy as our food comes up.
“Wait, this shredded pork dish needs more vinegar and garlic.” Pammy says and waves to the waiter, who promptly goes to the kitchen and brings back a little dish of vinegar mixed with garlic.
“You know I love raw garlic, but nobody eats it raw in America. So I have to give it up.” Pammy says as she skillfully use a spoon as a spatula to remix the whole thing. “What are you saying? Asians can’t be managers? Google’s manager is an Asian, isn’t he?”
“A hotel manager is very different. I mean Yue is an immigrant. He didn’t grow up here and has no idea how to deal with a diverse workforce in a hotel.” I say to Pammy.
“You always complain that you feel like being holed up in a place without an exit. However at the same time you also like to say Asians can’t do this and Asians can’t do that before you even try it.” Pammy says.
(To Be Continued)
Haoyan Do 