The Chinese New Year is just around the corner, but I'm still worried about finding a job, and I've been in New York for almost half a year, and I've never left New York to go to any other city in the United States.

Brooks reminded me not to go to some of the self-employed. He said that many private Chinese restaurants are constantly recruiting chefs, and they pay $3,000 a month for food and lodging, but many of them can't get work visas, and it is easy to become black households.

I think everyone fantasizes about what their future selves will look like, a few years ago when I was just in college, I used to sit in the shade of Hyde Park, sit in the movie theater and experience the love-hate parting of the hero and heroine, and fantasize about what I would look like after graduation: maybe I joined the opera troupe and said the lines of the vow to a man with blue eyes in the rehearsal room, maybe I would have a few more suitors, send me flowers backstage, invite me to his party, and then I would be very arrogant to reject them and make them feel that they were not worthy of me. They may need to work harder, buy a house and see my family again. Maybe I don't sing anymore, and in a favorite group company, I am a modern girl who gets up at half past six in the morning to squeeze the subway, sits in the cubicle and is busy dizzy, and has to wear a black suit, endure the pain in my feet, step on the new fashionable high heels, walk into the SOHO area with a bag, wait for the partner with a cup of coffee, and occasionally cry at the toss of difficult customers, and scold my mother every day.

But none of these fantasies came to pass, and it happened to me.

When I went out to look for a job on a new day, I told myself that as long as I went out, I would go wherever I saw and where I could apply for a work visa, and I would go wherever I saw first, and I was not allowed to choose, otherwise I would be driven back by the immigration bureau.

In this way, I found a Western-style fast food restaurant "yummy" a kilometer away from the residential area, and I finally got a job. It was a burger, fries, and cola restaurant, much like the big-name restaurant chains.

When I was interviewed, the young female store manager was shocked by my fluent English and asked with wide eyes, "Are you really here to apply?" ”

"Yes."

She glanced at my passport and said, "Yihua, can you tell me why you want to work here, after all, the salary here is not high, and your English is very good, you can do something else." ”

Hearing her words, I smiled modestly, and after a while, I replied to her: "The current situation is that I need to find a job with a work visa before the end of the month, and here can help me." ”

"Is that because of this?"

"Yes."

"Okay." She said, "Lina, pour me a Coke." ”

The store manager said to an employee at the service desk.

"Okay, right away."

The store manager turned to me and said, "Your conditions are quite in line with our standards, but can you accept closing?" ”

"Closed?"

"Yes. It is to be responsible for cleaning and other work such as the restaurant after it closes at night, and it is estimated that it will work until more than 12 o'clock in the evening. ”

"I can accept it, it just so happens that I have been suffering from insomnia lately."

"We need you to close twice a week, maybe three times if you don't have enough people."

"It's okay, I can take it."

Then the store manager talked to me about some things about work, and we ended the conversation very happily. She said to me, "Tomorrow I will prepare your documents and come over for onboarding." ”

"Okay."

She shook my hand, smiled at me very officially and said, "Welcome to the 'yummy' family!" From now on we are a family! ”

"Thank you!"

We shook hands as if we had signed some great contract for hundreds of millions. I went home happy, and no one shared my joy with anyone.

But so what, I'm still very happy, maybe it's the manager's caring words that warm me.

The next morning, I got up early, didn't stay in bed, changed into neat clothes, sprayed some perfume, and walked briskly to yummy. Lina took out a stack of A4 papers from the manager's office, on which was the contract I needed to sign, and the store manager took my ID for registration. I signed my name five times, and I signed it very carefully, just like the correct block letters required to be signed when applying for a passport, and the handwriting was clear and legible. It's the first time I've taken on such a formal job, even if it's just an out-of-field meal service.

However, it turns out that the job is not so easy.

I spent the first week in the infield in order to familiarize myself with the product and what I do, and the manager said that my familiarity with the dishes would allow me to make the least mistakes when ordering for customers.

There are five people in the infield, and when the weekends are busy, students come over to work part-time, and the number of people increases to seven or eight. My first day at work was to make pasta at the most relaxed noodle station in their mouths. This was also completely unexpected: the noodles were cooked in advance, weighed according to the standards set by the company, put them in a plastic bag, and then take them out and pour them into the pot when they were ready.

It was Thursday, and I wasn't busy, but a boy took me to make pasta, and he patiently taught me, telling me that the pot used to make bolognese noodles should not be used to make basil noodles, otherwise the color would change and the taste would be different. Moreover, each pot makes a flavor of noodles, and you don't need to wash the pot after cooking, just wait for the next order and then take it out to continue frying noodles.

At the end of the day, I was a little dizzy, but fortunately I have a good memory and quick reaction, and I can already remember the ingredients of the noodle table.

Sunday night was my close, and I thought it would be easy, but I needed to dismantle the oven and take the grill to clean, and there were three large baskets of ceramic bowls waiting for me to clean in the dishwashing room.

Later I learned that every newcomer will be assigned to do the most annoying work by the old staff to wash the dishes.

The first heavy snow of February fell after the end of the day. I came out of the store in a long black down jacket, and since I was the last one to leave, I was responsible for closing the door with the key. When I put the key in my bag and was about to go home, I found that the other shops had turned off the lights and closed, and the street was surprisingly quiet, and there was not even a single passerby. I yawned a few times, and white gas immediately came out of my mouth. It's too cold in winter!

The sparkling snowflakes shimmered in the light of the street lamps. I stretched out my hand, and a little cold little snowflake that landed on my hand was immediately infected and melted by the temperature of my palm, and instantly turned into water droplets. The cars that passed by not only brought choking exhaust fumes, but also cold air currents. I didn't have a scarf, so I had to shrink my neck hard, tremble a few times and continue walking. The way home is not far away, and there is no need to take the subway, but after walking for a while, I still haven't arrived. Obviously, there is only one kilometer of road as if there is no end, but fortunately, I am alone, I don't need to rush anything, walk slowly, walk slowly, until the sun rises, until the next day, until the sun sets, it doesn't matter. Because no one is waiting for me.