Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Ping Fu's Memoir: Bend, Not Break

Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds (ISBN-10: 1591845521), a New York Times Best Seller.

According to Ping Fu’s memoir, Bend, Not Break, pages 60-61:

Santa Fe was an artistic city, and many Hollywood stars had second homes there. Linda Evans, John Wayne, and Miles Davis all came to our restaurant. I didn't know who any of these people were, so my boss often assigned me to wait on them, knowing that I wouldn't get starstruck or ask for autographs.

One night, a large, muscular man with dark hair and an asymmetrical face came into our restaurant. The boss told me to serve him.

I approached the table. "What would you like to drink?" I asked.

The man said nothing, but startled me by reaching around and grabbing my rear end with his enormous right hand. Without hesitating for a second, I slapped him on the cheek, hard. Then I gasped. What had I done? Surely the boss would fire me for such insolent behavior.

The man sat quietly for a heartbeat, staring me straight in the eyes. Then he laughed and said, "Do it again."

I raced back to the kitchen, still convinced, with my Chinese mentality, that I would lose my job. But everyone who had witnessed the event was cheering. "Ping, you slapped Rambo!" they squealed with delight. Even the boss, who had followed me to the back room, was chuckling. The customer, they told me, was Sylvester Stallone, a famous action hero.

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