Observational Essay-Success In Person

It was a beautiful day; I went to see my friend who worked in Heaven Dragon Chinese restaurant. This was my first time here, and everything was fresh. I had an interview from Dan Tang, who I never saw before. He left China at eighteen years old and spent time in a refugee camp, then came to the United States. Tang still works at least fourteen hours every day, saving so his three kids can go to college. Tang spent a year in California living off a $221 monthly welfare check, learning English and partially repaying the charity that bought his plane ticket. He then moved to Colorado, where some friends owned a Chinese restaurant. In the next three years, Tang worked for his dream that was to have his own restaurant. Tang’s real journey was in 1985, and he opened Heaven Dragon in a nondescript strip mall off East 120th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. It has since become an institution. President Bush had ordered three times takeout from Tang when he was in Denver town. Now Tang is very modest about his success, he did his best on developing new food, and shared his best food with his customers.

Before I interviewed Tang, I did a long observation on my subject. There were seven mud stoves, two big oil-pans, two big food cabinets, a big bowl washing machine, two tables for cutting vegetables, a hot water stove, a huge refrigerator, and other stuff. It made up a huge kitchen. Tang wore a clean uniform with a white apron in the front. He had a separated hair style, but it was a little bit disheveled, and there were tiny wrinkles on the side of his eyes, and his nose is bigger than normal. When he smiled the deep lines were around his mouth, and a line of white teeth leaked out. If you paid attention to observe him, you would discover he was a little bit humpbacked.

See Tang was teaching his cook how to cook; he requested the cook to control the fire that made the food more delicious. He shook a wok at regular times, the stove fire was roasting his face, and his face turned to red; he perspired all over his face when he stood in the front of the stove. After he went to wash his face and hands, he was going to make food sauce. He put soy into the bucket, and then mixed with the other sauce. He tasted the mixed sauce time and time again until he thought the sauce was perfect. The sauce spattered on his face and clothes, and the black pepper went down his nose and he started to choke. The tears streamed down his face; he took a wet towel to wipe the tears and his face. He mopped the kitchen floor after he finished the food sauce. And then Tang was going to cook the lunch for his works; everyday he tried to make different kinds of food for his workers. In this lunch, he cooked a combination sea of food soup and Chinese style cooked ribs which you could not find on the Heaven Dragon’s menu.

Tang invited me to their lunch, that was great food and so delicious which I had never tasted in other Chinese restaurants. He made jokes during the lunch hour that made the monotonous and boring job interesting. After the fifteen minute lunch hour, he began to develop a new style food. Tang sat in the corner of the kitchen, and tried to make new sauce for his new menu. I just peeped at his action in the side of a corner; he was so serious about doing his job and there was a serious expression on his face. He knitted his brows and scratched the back side of his head, and then he put that sauce into the garbage bucket. Tang called an old cook and asked the old cook about some problems who is about sixty years old and the years have silvered his hair. He was very thin and bony, but he was in high spirits. They were discussing the problems, and they still did not have a complete answer. A fat man walked in the kitchen and joined in their discussion; the guy was about two hundred pounds, but not very tall. I asked my friend who is that, and my friend told me that is Tang’s brother who was managing the second Heaven Dragon in Broomfield. After ten minutes, their discussion had a result. Tang put a new food sauce prescription into a small bucket, and then stirred the mixed sauce by a wood bar. They moistened the new sauce on their fingers and put it into their mouth; Tang moved his tongue in his mouth, and then shook his head. He used new sauce to cook the Happy Family, and then all of the cooks tasted his new sauce. Every cook erected their thumbs, but Tang did not really agree with the other cooks. He said: “the new sauce did not really accord with American taste; it is too light.” He recorded a new sauce prescription in a notebook and put it into the drawer, and then Tang turned around and continued doing his job......

In the end of the interview, I asked Tang one question: “how can you face one bored job for twenty seven years?” Tang’s answer was so simple that he liked this job, and it was his life. I will borrow Confucius’ advice: “choose a job you like and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Fortunately for Dan tang he did.
From this observation and interview, I understood a simple lesson. I need to find my goal and finish it. As you was badly cut up when you failed; you can only succeed if you do your best on your job.