Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the fields grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of there. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

                                                                                               ------Matthew 6:25-34

要说一下上面说pagan只是当时耶稣用的一种说法，因为当地的人瞧不起外邦人，所以现在我们没有外邦人这一说了自然用在这里也不恰当，但是重要的是意思能领会就好了。（中文和合本翻译的是“外邦人”，但是一般的字典都是翻译为异教徒。到底是什么我也不很清楚但不研究了，但是这似乎也并不影响理解。）

好了就说到这里吧，祝大家夏天快乐！！

Coni是个美国小女孩，才16岁（虽然看起来已经很成熟了……）可是已经在那里做了将近一年了。当时刚认识的时候吓了我一跳，因为她说着流利的英语，西班牙语和日语！店员是由日本人，拉美裔人（母语西班牙语）和美国佬组成，因此那个女孩子操着三种不同的语言和各种人交流！最奇怪的是她竟然还会说日语。后来才晓得，那女孩子是智利人（虽然是白人，估计是早期的欧洲移民的后代），因此母语是西班牙语，可是在学校都是说的英语，因此可说生来就是双语；至于日语是因为曾经随父母去过日本3年所以会说的（不过不认得汉字，呵呵）。我于是感慨纽约语言人才之丰富——不好意思，跑题了。说回日本人。

在见识到了日本人的抠门（意思是小气，各位广东香港朋友）之后，再见识到的一件事情就是他们的礼貌和爱干净。其实我是觉得在纽约人人都已经很礼貌了，至少比国内礼貌的多，可是日本人还要礼貌。因此他们虽然苛刻，可是还是让我感到了一丝安慰，至少他们是很客气的。至少，他们在努力营造一个和谐的气氛，尽管多少有些虚伪的成分——可是至少比许多中国人的冷淡和苦瓜脸强多了。在这之前曾经在一家台湾人开的手机店打过工，同事也几乎都是part-time中国人的学生，可是在那里我却非常的郁闷，刚去的时候谁都不理我，吃饭也不会问一声，只是碰到了麻烦的事情（客户服务之类的……）才叫我做。也许是我缺乏跟人交流的能力，直到3个月之后我离开之前都仍然是老样子。可是在日本人的店，同时也几乎都是学生，讲的还是非母语的英语，我却觉得和他们要相处的融洽的多。我确实不得不感慨他们素质还是要高一点，即使仅仅是出于礼貌和谦虚。至于传说中的干净，其实在纽约的日本人已经有点被肮脏的纽约同化了，据说比起日本来还是远远不如；可是比起中国人的店那简直是天上地下。其实没有生来就干净的地方，都是靠人为的维持和每天坚持的打扫卫生。

然后就是很令人气愤的事情了。15号第一次拿到工资的时候，却发现少了二十块钱，还有一封信里面说是店里的保险箱被人偷了700块钱。为了警示员工，从每个人的工资里面扣掉20块钱。这种事是我从来没有遇到过的，给我的感觉是，有人家里失窃却找邻居要赔偿。所有员工都觉得不可理喻，可是这却是日本人的纪律。之后当我问Coni,你什么感觉，她说，我会很快辞职。我说，我也是。

不久发生了另一件事，更加坚定了我辞职的决心。一周以前来了一个新店员Yin，是个中国女孩子，因为说国语的关系很快我们就熟了。谁知道她刚刚做满一星期的时候，那天店里来了一个来面试的日本女孩子，很快就被录用了，叫她明天来上班。我当时还在纳闷，因为店里那个时候已经不缺人了。谁知就在这时候Yin走过来跟我说，她被fire了，理由是说她动作慢，不能胜任这份工作，还说“You can leave right now if you wish.”很明显，她被fire的理由是假的，真正的原因是他们请到了另外一个日本女孩。Yin当时快要哭了。我的信心被彻底打碎，心想，看来中国人跟日本人真的是没办法相处阿。

我于是下决心辞职了。在家里都打好了辞职信，还在信封上照日本人的样子写上了“退職屆”的字样。可是这个时候又发生了另外一件事。我在店里收钱的时候不小心收掉了100块钱。等到他们一天下来算帐的时候发现少了100块钱。后来我自己也回想起了当时的情形，很明显是我的疏忽。可是我却说不清楚。当时旁边的几个日本人都说相信我是诚实的，可是按照店里的规矩，所有的人都必须共同赔偿损失。我当时觉得心里十分过意不去，因为自己的关系害得大家赔钱。想着不能在日本人面前丢中国人的脸，我于是说，所有的责任我会一个人承担。

第二天我向经理提出了辞职。我向她说明了所有原因，说我不能理解关于扣掉的20元钱的事，还有不能理解Yin被解雇的事，至于100块钱的事，我会一人承担。经理当时说，那你至少要做到下星期吧，我说，不，今天是我最后一天，也就是我写第一篇连载的那天下午。

之后却发生了我想不到的事情。我的辞职惊动了老板和公司的主管，老板亲自来问我辞职的原因，并且表示不希望我辞职。我说明了原因之后，他们对于我的疑惑做出了解释，说关于“分摊”的制度是出于希望能够促进团队精神，一个人犯错，所有人都要承担责任。因此，当时店里保险柜被偷的事是其中的一个店员干的，那个人已经被解雇了，可是对于其他人也是一个警示作用。至于Yin被解雇的事，是因为她的英文不够好，无法和日本人或是老美进行良好的沟通。最后关于我的疏忽的事情，主管表示谅解，说以前她当店员的时候也发生过类似的事情，因此她能够理解。但是他们认为我决定一人承担虽是对自己负责，可是却是不可为他们所接受的，因为违背了团队的精神。

我最终没有辞职。虽然并不代表我完全同意他们的做法，可是对于日本人，我却是有了自己新的认识。至少，我接触的日本人对中国人并没有明显的偏见，可是他们却有苛刻的要求，并且在我们之间虽然相互尊敬可是却难以达到真正的融洽。他们对于西方的崇拜也是可以感受到的。另外一件事就是他们对于团队精神的解释，对我这个中国人还是头一次，可是这也许就是他们成功的秘诀。

爸爸妈妈早就跟我说了，不要跟日本人打工，钱又少，说不定还要让你受气。偏偏我是那种不到黄河不死心的人。虽然总是听说传说中的日本人，自己却从来没有遭遇过：即使是在纽约这样的大都会里面，他们也似乎谨小慎微的躲在城市的某个地方，很少会走出自己的圈子，所以在此之前几乎没交往过什么日本人。对中国人而言日本人似乎是两个极端，一种印象是有礼貌，讲卫生，总而言之高素质；另一种印象则是蛮不讲理，谄上欺下，尤其是一条：歧视中国人。也许是抱着想要真正见识一下的心理，寒假开始的时候我去了一间日本饼屋打工；到现在差不多三个礼拜的样子，今天则会是我在那里的最后一天。对于日本人，我也终于能够讲一下我自己的故事了。

初次的面试时在是在上东城的一间连锁店进行的。店堂十分干净雅致，和中国人的店完全不同。当时遇到了老板，是个长相不错的年轻人，加上又是彬彬有礼，还有流利的英文和印象中的日本人完全不同，让我对这个日本人有了十分好的第一印象。不过当他跟我说，I am the President, the owner的时候，我心里稍微有点奇怪。中国人的老板都是不希望别人晓得他是老板的。他跟我介绍了他们做的法式pastry，一种叫什么choux的东西。问到薪水的时候，他说6块半一小时，支票，每个人都一样。我听到就有点不想干了——我的底线是7块，8块的话才觉得有点做头——而且是支票，意味着老板可以籍此逃税。当时我想着说不定可以学点日语什么的，再加上他已经说雇我了，我最终放下了架子。

之后被分到了曼哈顿中城的另外一间连锁店。在那里见到了经理，一个日本年轻女人。我以为开头会说些什么“初めましで”之类的寒暄话，可是事实上并没有。她说着一口带点美国黑人口音的英语，问我的时间表。我跟她说寒假可以做full time,也就是一周6天一天8小时以上。可是她却只给我了一周5天，一天5-6小时。我简直是硬着头皮接受了，想着这个寒假又荒废了。

第二天正式上班。头天说的时间是2：30，由于是第一天上班加上对于路上时间的把握不好，我2：10就到了。经理一看到我就说，Ten minutes late.（I was like：WHAT??）我说昨天你说的是两点半的。她说，两点，那没关系，然后就赫赫然在我的出勤卡片上写了2：30，而我开始工作的时候才2：15。

这些都不说了吧。反正做工嘛，辛苦什么的都不在话下了，而且事实上也不是很辛苦，因为冬天生意比较冷清。不过却慢慢的发现一些实事：每个人都瞒着经理吃东西，因为员工都要付钱吃东西——如果经理在的话。这种事情中国店里是不可能的。渐渐的我还发现事实上每个人都要求拿现金，因为店里80%的人都是非法打工——日本人大多数是留学生，是不允许在校外打工的；还有一些拉美裔的小美国佬，他们虽然在美国长大可是大多数还是没有社会安全号码，因此也是非法打工，都是不能够拿支票的。这个店里雇用这么多非法工人也是为了省钱，因为按照纽约州的规定bakery的最低工钱是6.75/h.一切都很清楚了。并不是说雇佣非法工人有什么不合情理——在纽约——像中国餐馆几乎雇用的是清一色的非法工人，可是问题是不会像他们一样说一套做一套，明里暗里，而且都是清清楚楚拿现金。

之后和那里的工人们慢慢熟了起来……

to be continued...

It is the first job to work in the bakery as a shop assistant I’ve got since arrived in America, precisely speaking, New York. Enrolled in that bakery was a little bit by chance. I’d been dwelling in New York for only 2 months that time when I was expecting to attend college in fall, so I’d got nearly 4 months’ free time. I was thinking about something to do. But what should I do? My stock of knowledge about New York was almost blank, my English was poor, yet I didn’t have any experience in any work in China before coming here. As thinking of the core spirit of the majority new immigrants’ American dream I realized that I should acquire my opportunity myself. Thus, one day I was wandering about in the local of my home when I saw a notice that engaged shop assistance put up on the door of a Cantonese bakery, I walked in, asked the woman manager if they need employers.

I’ve never thought of being hired. I was kind of timid when introduced myself toward the woman manager who observed me up and down, asked me how old I was and if I had any experience. How come they need a rookie to waste their time earning money? But one subsequent day I received a call form that Cantonese woman, asking me if I still would like to work in their bakery. I said yes, sure.

Of course I know the temporariness of the job, but I worked hard in order to keep the job as long as I planed. Actually I had an idea before that all the hard workings in America were on the bare purpose of gaining more money. As days went by I’d been working among a group of Cantonese from whom I really learned a lot, which changed my opinion. Their diligence, their way of luring customers, which seemed to be an art, or just enthusiasm, their wisdom on utilizing all the materials that helped them saved money, and most of all, their passions on serving the people with delicate dessert and fresh baked bread. As far as I concerned, there are 3 most important things in the bakery service: the speed, or timing; the settled formula; the health.

Speed is fatal. Time is money. For sales person, in the morning there are always people who go to work flooding in. If you delay to wrap up the bread and the coffee, or if you fail to put a certain kind of bread in a certain place on time, the queue that lines up in front of the cashier will soon be hard to tackle. For the bakers, timing is desperately important. It has to be precisely calculated that when the bread in the oven is due, especially it cannot be late.

Maybe every work has its own formula, and so does the work in the bakery. Once a baker worked in our bakery said to me: “flour, sugar, salt, leaven and butter, without any ingredient that is not bread.” It is a bad news for the vegetarians, because when they ask me, “is this vegetarian?” I have to tell them, there is a little bit butter. Work as a baker is not easy, there will never be any seasons other than summer in front of the ovens, which you can never leave alone when heating. And for the bakers who work on birthday cakes, the job is more complicated. However, I think it is a creative work rather than a skilled work. Strawberries, slices of pineapples, honeydew melons, kiwis, cherries, grapes, chocolates and puddings, when they are put on the cream on the cake and turns out to be a gorgeous birthday cake, you’ll appreciate it to be a work of art.

There is no doubt that in the bakery everything has to be clean, because what we are working on is all for eating. It is vital, for the boss just cannot afford the penalty which is charged due to a customer’s complain to the relevant administration apartment. What’s more, health problem any happened is deadly to a bakery’s reputation in the local, from where most customers come.

Most of the time I’d been really happy working in the bakery. During the days I learned one thing besides all that mentioned above as well, that is, however swift the modern technology develops, however high the civilization level reached, some of the manual labor can never be replaced by the machine. Imagine that one day you will buy the food that is made by a robot which is programmed in advance, and all the same food has exactly the same taste, and there is also nothing new be invented，that must be terrible. And it can be awful and impossible that everyone will be working on their brains. Working on physical activities is the best way to have fun, this is my conclusion.