Ang Mors at the Hong Kong Place
Last night William and I went to one of our favourite haunts in Sydney, Hong Kong Place. that’s what we call it, but I think its real name is Kingsford Restaurant or something along those lines. It’s near UNSW and previously when we used to stay at St Peters and still had our 1978 Mrs Benz, we’d go there 3 nights per week for dinner. Good and cheap. They not only give free Chinese tea, but also free soup. and not just the MSG with a dash of spring onions kind, actual “boil many hours” kind of Chinese soup, like last night, we got chicken and pear soup, so nice, especially now when it’s getting so cold!!! so cold!!!
Previously when we first came to Sydney and both of us were still struggling students, we would make sure we finish the whole bowl of soup, so oredi half-full when the actual food came. Such that even though we only order 2 dishes, we would still have enough left-overs to tah-pau for lunch tomorrow. But now that money’s not so tight anymore, not only do we only drink half the soup, resisting it even though very nice (because exactly we don’t want to become too full, then cannot eat when the actual food comes), we even order 3 dishes between the 2 of us. Last night: salted fish and chicken fried rice, stewed beef brisket in hot pot and Szechuan chilli king prawns. Shiok or what!
But anyway, back to the main point of this blog: the conduct of Chinese waitresses towards Ang Mor patrons, and the conduct of the Ang Mors themselves in Chinese eating places.
Part One: as mentioned, this was a Hong Kong owned and ran eating place. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but with most of these places, service does not come into play at all. The waitresses are rude and make it a point to show you how unhappy they are to be serving you. William “affectionately” refers to the lady boss of this place as “黑面神” (black-face-goddess), and that’s no exaggeration. It’s like you pay good money to eat here, but still have to suffer her temper. (what to do? the food so nice and cheap) I admit I am literally afraid of looking at her face, so much that I always make it a point to sit facing the outside of the store, instead of in at her. And of course, the workers of this place have learnt well from their master, all equally face-black-black. That is….
… until an Ang Mor walks into the store. Wow! Then suddenly their faces light up like the sun at midday in the height of summer! Like last night, the waitress could even banter with the Ang Mor, making playful jokes, asking how come they so long also never come — all the while，a smile plastered on her face. 我呸! 呸! 呸! 呸! These are the kind of people who I look down at the most! 作溅自己! Look down at your own kind, and kow-tow to the white, no wonder they feel it’s only normal to look down at you and treat you like shit.
Part Deux: some examples just from the 1 hour+ that we were there. One Ang Mor man in his 20s walked in with an Asian gf, and even though it was only the 2 of them and there were still seats available on the ground level, he demanded to sit upstairs, usually only reserved for large parties of like 8 or more. When the waitress and the boss took a mere 2 minutes to figure out what to do, while trying to seat another group of people that had also just come in, he got so pissed off that he made a big show of his displeasure and stomped out of the place, leaving his gf behind, she had to run off after him?!?
Not five minutes later, another Ang Mor, also with an Asian gf, started complaining out loud, obviously to make a show of it, at how the salt and pepper calamari the waiter had served them had turned cold. He kept repeating “this is cold, this is cold, you are serving me cold food, I’m not eating this, etc, etc” All the while, while arguing with the waitress, his meek docile asian gf only looked on haplessly, obviously embarressed by her partner’s antics.
See see, ang mors behaving badly. They are so used to being treated like royalty in chinese eating places, that the smallest of things can make them so disproportionately upset. Like, get a life oredi!
To both parties, I roll my eyes at you, and say “you get what you deserve!”