"xiu ze!"

same table, same order... no prizes for guessing which was taken by me and which was by my asst manager...

bah. this chinese restaurant thing is every bit as difficult as i imagined! sure, my manager made it sound easy: "just take their order! copy from the menu!"

puh-leeeeease... who actually orders from a menu in a chinese restaurant?? everyone just pulls their favourite dishes out from thin air.

which fish. what cooking style. which condiments.

or worse. they ask for your recommendation.

"er... this first page has all the chef's recommendations. yes, they're really good." (lameness.)

long hours. heavy trays. who needs the gym. (technically i don't have to stay throughout. but i don't quite get why the managers are always the last to come and the first to leave... i really pity all the waiters and waitresses!)

but i was quite satisfied to have successfully presided over a private room dinner the other night. 2 tables, 22 people, 2 set menus across both tables. had to know exactly who was having each set.

in a cheongsam, in a chinese rstaurant, and people STILL ask me if i'm malay or chinese or mixed.

perhaps because i always approach them first in english. and i only switch to cantonese/ mandarin if they ask. and i liberally switch back once the conversation goes beyond my cantonese/ mandarin capabilities. which doesn't take long...

am also broke this month from having to cab home all the time. and taxi drivers always seem to think i'm filipino.

-photo taken for some HR roadshow about our management training program.