![]() ![]() It was usually me, Anthony, and another busboy named Kenny. The only drawback during these wedding nights was we worked non-stop, usually over eight hours on that shift alone. It was not unusual for me to make over a hundred dollars in tips on a typical wedding night just from these men alone. The more drunk they became, the more they began to flash money and press twenty dollar bills into my hand to get them more buckets of ice. The more Remy they drank, the drunker they became. I quickly found out to always bring out their dishes first, and keep their glasses filled with ice. They preferred to be seated as far away as possible so they could carouse and get drunk on bottles of Remy Martin, and usually this meant they sat in the area I was assigned to cover. Vietnamese men in their twenties liked to sit away from the bride and groom during these weddings. This is where all the young kids would sit so they would be away from the adults and their celebrations. Since I was the youngest, Ken and Brenda would assign me to the kids’ tables. The typical wedding usually took up about twenty tables, but we were told to set up close to thirty tables that evening. ![]() There was a big Vietnamese wedding scheduled that evening. I was fine with that compromise, because every dollar I got equated to more games to play at the arcade. He decided, in his words, to make things fair for us, we would begin skimming the tip money, which was rightfully ours in the first place. So I had convinced Anthony it was not that big of a deal. I sure didn’t like eating the meals the school would feed us for being an indigent family. Plus, I was supposed to start high school in a couple months, so the money I made at China Pearl would help throughout the school year. My father had just passed away, and my mother constantly complainedĪbout how poor we were, and the little money that I made helped to put clothes on me and my younger brother. ![]() I was afraid to get fired, and lose my only source of income. What more did I need?Īnthony had stated he wanted to confront Brenda and Ken. I sure didn’t know better at the time, and I really didn’t care I was just happy to have a job that paid me cash so I could buy my own clothes, shoes, and play videogames. Anthony also said we were supposed to be paid overtime on Saturdays because we worked close to fourteen hour days on wedding days. ![]() But each time Brenda would calculate our pay, she would still take out twenty percent to pay taxes. We were supposed to be paid under the table, because we were only fourteen years old at the time. For example, a few weeks before, he had informed me that Brenda and Ken were cheating us on our pay. He was a lot more knowledgeable when it came to worldly affairs, because he had two older brothers that taught him everything. Being a game addict, I would forget about eating dinner, and wait until the last moment before I rode my bike home to get in the shower, and then get back to work before four.Īnthony was my best friend at the time. The Chinese and Vietnamese wedding dinners usually lasted until well after midnight. We were officially on break until four pm it was during this time that Anthony and I would ride our bikes down to the arcade and play for hours on our favorite games at the time: Gauntlet, Tetris, and Punch Out! It was also during this time that we were supposed to eat and shower before we showed back up to work for the wedding dinners. I always ate the ha kow, and Anthony loved to suck on the chicken feet. After that, we as busboys could eat whatever was leftover. China Pearl Restaurant would open on Saturday mornings for the Dim Sum buffet around nine am, and would stay quite busy until noon. The owners, Brenda and Ken, also had a buffet set up with fried rice, orange chicken, chow mein noodles, beef broccoli, and sweet pastry desserts made from mung beans. The Dim Sum menu would have steamed stainless steel trays of chicken feet, shrimp dumplings, meatballs marinated in garlic and onions, and fresh cabbage cole. Our days began at about seven am, where we would come in to set up for the Chinese version of brunch, called Dim Sum. Saturdays were the busiest days for us, and this one would be no different. It was a little after noon Anthony and I were on our break as busboys at The China Pearl Restaurant. “Umm hmm.” I continued to dip my ha kow, also known as steamed shrimp dumplings, in the soy sauce and eat them with my plate of fried rice. “Cool! So that’s good for a couple hours at the arcade, huh?” “She gave me about four bucks too, but that one white family that just left had almost eight dollars in tips. “I think I got about twelve dollars,” I replied. “Brenda gave me four bucks, and I got about another six.” He continued to gnaw on his heaping plate of steamed chicken feet from the Dim Sum menu. “How much did you get in tips today?” asked Anthony. ![]()
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