44.
The passage is mainly about ________.
A. an
experiment in the U.S.A
B. how to lose weight
C. the
importance of breakfast
D. the writer’s advice given to us
B
I’m
seventeen. I had worked as a box boy at a supermarket in Los Angeles. People came to the counter and
you put things in their bags for them. and carried things to their cars. It was
hard work.
While
working, you wear a plate with your name on it. I once met someone I knew years
ago. I remembered his name and said, “Mr Castle, how are you?” We talked about
this and that. As he left, he said, “It was nice talking to you, Brett.” I felt
great, he remembered me. Then I looked down at my name plate. Oh no. He didn’t
remember me at all, he just read the name plate. I wish I had put “Irving” down on my name
plate. If he’d have said, “Oh yes, Irving,
how could I forget you?” I’d have been ready for him. There’s nothing personal
here.
The
manager and everyone else who were a step above the box boys often shouted
orders. One of these was：you couldn’t accept
tips.Okay, I’m outside and I put the bags in the car. For a lot of people, the
natural reaction(反应)is to take a quarter and give it to me. I’d say, “I’m sorry,
I can’t.” They’d get angry. When you give someone a tip, you’re sort of being
polite. You take a quarter and you put it in their hand and you expect them to
say, “Oh, thanks a lot.” When you say, “I’m sorry, I can’t.” they feel a little
put down. They say, “No one will know.” And they put it in your pocket.
You say, “I really can’t.” It gets to a point where you almost have to hurt a
person physically to prevent him from tipping you. It was not in agreement with
the store’s belief in being friendly. Accepting tips was a friendly thing and
made the customer feel good. I just couldn’t understand the strangeness of some
people’s ideas. One lady actually put it in my pocket, got in the car, and
drove away. I would have had to throw the quarter at her or eaten it or
something.
I had decided
that one year was enough. Some people needed the job to stay alive and fed. I
guess I had the means and could afford to hate it and give it up.