Zhang Zhaohong: Story of the Stone

Zhang Zhaohong: Story of the Stone When I visited Guilin that year, my friends said that the snails there tasted good, so I might as well give it a try. After dark, the lights and fires in the food street complement each other...

When I visited Guilin that year, my friends said that the snails there were delicious, so you might as well give it a try.

After night falls, the lights and fires in the food street complement each other. For a while, the sound of frying snails and dishes is heard; the smell of ginger, green onion and black pepper is tantalizing. With my mouth watering, I hurriedly found a restaurant to sit down, and my buddy asked for a bowl of fried snails.

Although the Guilin snail is not big in size, it is delicious. It is spicy and tangy when paired with red pepper, turmeric, perilla and black black soybean. Just as he was moving his index finger, he suddenly sucked a small stone. After hearing my brother's discussion, the boss's wife came to me and apologized repeatedly: "I'm sorry, the pebbles are as big as snails. I can't see clearly when I stir fry them. Don't be angry." As he spoke, he added half a spoonful of fried snails. At that time, the reform and opening up in mainland China was not long ago, and people doing business in the sea came from all walks of life. Although there was a mix of dragons and snakes, most of them still relied on their ability and hard work to make money, and they talked about reputation and credibility. It is rare to see shady goods and immortals after crossing the sea. While chatting while eating, I found that the landlady was a talkative person, and she looked like an intellectual who abandoned education and went into business. She also said to us humorously, "Where do the stones come from?" Please listen to me singing a folk song: "My brother was touching snails in the field, and my sister was walking slowly by the field. My brother raised his head to look at her, and mistakenly touched the stone into the basket."

After coming to the United States for many years, I no longer remember the deliciousness of Guilin's snails, but this "story of the stone" has never been forgotten. Especially when I first started working in the restaurant industry, I became a busier role than a snail cook, and my service target was wider than the "street people" in the past. After a lot of hard work, he became the owner of a small restaurant.

Day after day, when going from dish to dish, there will inevitably be moments when "I put the stone in the basket by mistake". At this time, I will immediately give the guest another dish to make up for it, and apologize with "I'm sorry" and "Don't be angry". Of course, the money will be reduced accordingly. Usually after such a situation, most people can be forgiven, and the days of peace and harmony have indeed passed.

But the "story of the stone" did not seem to be over. Just one summer, another "stone incident" occurred. After a female customer bought a takeaway, she called and complained shortly after, saying that there was a pebble in the takeaway chicken soup, which broke her teeth while drinking the soup, and she promised that she would settle the matter "after the fall". The next day, she brought the stone to "prove her identity." Looking at this yellow hard object as big as a grain of rice, I really don't know how it got into the "basket", and God knows it will break the lady's teeth. But in a country where the customer comes first, in order to calm the situation, he still took responsibility and notified the insurance company.

A few days later, the insurance company called and said that the female customer had had her teeth filled, and unfortunately, this pebble collided with the fragile tooth, causing it to break. Why do we have to declare "Autumn Queen" to settle accounts? Because she is pregnant now, in order to protect the fetus, X-ray photos of the teeth cannot be taken, so the compensation will not be now, but around winter...

It seems that these things will not end as long as there is a catering industry. Always beware of "putting the wrong stone into the basket", so that you can "never forget the past and be the teacher of the future". So, I wrote this "story in stone" for myself and for the rest of the restaurant industry.

(This article was published in the World Supplement of "World Daily" on February 2, 2013 013)