English
Growing up at Mama Tan’s Restaurant was one of the most valuable education in life a young boy could ever have wished for. The name of our magical restaurant was Bamboo Gardens. Even as a kid I told customers, “I learned at an early age to kiss a$$.” This generated a laugh 98% of the time. If that didn’t work I would introduce myself as a “Twinkie” When the few looked baffled, I said,”You know… I White on the inside and yellow on the outside.” The shock? pause on whether to laugh or not was
priceless. Breaking the ice is a must have skillset to play global and local.
I started washing dishes in the back. We had two five gallon buckets holding set over large serving spoons. This created an opportunity for a game between the workers. We stood approximately 20 feet away and tossed the spoons in the gallon bucket soup stacked two buckets high. Mama Tan disapproved of our game. because it distracted us from working.
From washing dishes, I moved out front to become a busboy. It wasn’t because I graduated to this position, No. I started playing with cleavers I had a few bird boss
that escalated my departure from the back.
Our restaurant was alive during a time when we could afford a full staff, from hosts/hostesses, to tea and water girls, to busboys, to kitchen
help with chopping and prep work. We typically had one host or hostess, one tea and water girl. Tea and water were always women and busboys were always
men. Depending on days, we would have one to three busboys and we would
stagger them.
For serving, one to two waiters or waitresses for non-busy days to four to six when times were crazy busy. We even had dedicated take out. This became my most dedicated position. One to three dedicated take-out – processing team. Our free standing building had a drive thru. We crushed take out! This was a game we loved to play. It was a game we excelled at. Take out revenue was always great.
Running cashier and take-out taught me fundamentals on math making change. Making change may sound non-trivial, but run out different permutations. For example, if the total was 12.27, I may make change several different ways. We lived in a very high trust environment (control boundary in Engineering terms), In this case I would bring out 17.73 +10.25+ 10. This gave me 3 of the most probable outcomes.
If the drive-thru was busy, we would go through the line and take orders or deliver orders. This was when cash was king and before credit cards were used like they are now.
Running take out took over most of my life in middle school and high school.
Because I worked so much, I naturally had older, much older, friends. I never
took that for granted. I nurtured all my relationships, One thing I did pick up when I was
in high school. I learned how to cook on a restaurant-grade work. I learned every dish, now to prep, all of it. It was part of learning the business. Years later that skill would help me help our family, I remember it being my sophomore year in College.
Mama Tan called. Aunt #3 in Sanford had an emergency. Her cooks were in Charlotte taking care of immigration work. It was Friday & she needed a cook for the weekend. I drove after class from Raleigh to Sanford. By then the restaurants were running buffets. We still had take out and a few direct order dishes, but mostly cooking for the buffet.
At that moment I knew my aunts and uncles would forever see and treat me differently. I was always respected because Mama Tan was the oldest. Now I gained respect by performing one of the most demanding tasks in our family business. One task I forgot to mention was bookkeeping. Mama Tan taught me that when she had a trip to China.
My father was left behind with me. I got a taste of his wastefulness. When I left for college, Mama Tan said to me in 2019 when she moved in with me, “I didn’t see you for 20 years.”
Moving in with me, Mama Tan could once again take care of me. We are super close, which makes this Baker Act Ex Parte (BA8) extremely difficult. I have been locked up and trapped in Elos, formerly known as PEMHS, since March 07, 2026. Today is Day 24
day sentence driven by a court with my lawyer as the proxy. Words cannot describe
what a rollercoaster of feelings and emotions. The one of many saving graces is sharing my personal bouts with sleep apnea with one tech who also has apnea. And my
love of food, restaurants, and Mama Tan. Food and love bridge mountains and roles.
The things I have witnessed, the insanity of what Pinellas County calls Crisis Mental Illness Center” RFK In said it best, “We don’t have a healthcare system. We have a
sick care system.” Lets table my current situation for now.
简体中文
在“谭妈妈餐厅”（Mama Tan’s Restaurant）里度过的成长岁月，对于一个年轻男孩而言，无疑是人生中最宝贵的一堂教育课。我们这家充满魔力的餐厅，名字叫做“竹园”（Bamboo Gardens）。哪怕还是个孩子，我就会对顾客说：“我从小就学会了如何‘拍马屁’。”这句话十有八九都能引得大家哄堂大笑。如果这招不奏效，我就会自我介绍说我是个“Twinkie”（一种夹心蛋糕）。当少数顾客露出困惑的神情时，我会解释道：“你们懂的……我‘内心是白的，外表却是黄的’。”那种顾客在震惊之余，犹豫着该不该笑出来的短暂停顿，简直是无价的体验。这种打破僵局的能力，正是无论在国际舞台还是本地社区立足，都必不可少的一项技能。
起初，我在后厨负责洗碗。我们有两个五加仑的大桶，桶口上方架着几把大号上菜勺。这为员工们创造了一个玩游戏的绝佳机会。我们站在大约20英尺（约6米）开外，把勺子往桶里扔——那些大桶通常是叠罗汉般堆了两层高。谭妈妈并不赞成我们玩这种游戏，因为这会让我们分心，耽误工作。
洗了一阵子碗后，我被调到了前厅，成了一名收拾餐桌的服务生（Busboy）。这并不是因为我“晋升”到了这个职位——绝非如此。真正的原因是我开始在后厨把玩那些切菜刀（菜刀），结果惹出了几桩小麻烦，最终导致我被“请出”了后厨。
在我们餐厅生意兴隆的那个年代，我们有财力聘请一支完整的员工队伍：从迎宾员（Host/Hostess）、专门负责倒茶水的服务员，到收拾餐桌的服务生，再到后厨负责切配和备菜的帮工，一应俱全。通常情况下，我们前厅有一名迎宾员和一名倒茶水的服务员。倒茶水的总是女性，而收拾餐桌的服务生则总是男性。根据每天客流量的不同，我们会安排一到三名收拾餐桌的服务生，并采取轮班制。
在正式上菜的服务岗位上，非繁忙时段通常有一到两名服务员（Waiter/Waitress）负责；而在忙得不可开交的“疯狂”时段，服务员人数会增加到四到六名。我们甚至还设立了专门的外卖服务窗口。这后来成了我投入精力最多的一个岗位。我们有一支由一到三人组成的外卖专职处理团队。我们那栋独立的餐厅建筑还设有“免下车取餐”（Drive-thru）通道。我们的外卖业务简直火爆到了极点！这不仅是一份工作，更是我们乐在其中的一场游戏；而且，这也是我们表现得最为出色的领域。外卖业务带来的营收总是非常可观。
负责收银和外卖工作，教会了我许多基础的数学知识，尤其是关于如何准确找零。找零这件看似微不足道的小事，实际上包含了各种各样的排列组合与计算逻辑。举例来说，如果总金额是12.27元，我可能会用好几种不同的方式来找零。我们当时身处一个高度互信的环境（用工程术语来说，这属于一种“控制边界”），在这种情况下，我会拿出17.73元、10.25元和10元这几笔钱。这样一来，我就能涵盖三种最可能出现的找零方案。
如果得来速（免下车服务）窗口生意繁忙，我们会直接走到车队里去，挨个为顾客点餐或送餐。那还是个“现金为王”的年代，信用卡的使用远未像如今这般普及。
在初中和高中时期，经营外卖业务占据了我生活中绝大部分的时间。
正因为我工作量巨大，我自然而然地结识了一些年长的朋友——甚至比我年长得多。我从未把这份情谊视为理所当然。我悉心维系着每一段人际关系。高中时期，我确实掌握了一项特别的技能：我学会了如何在餐馆那种高强度的专业环境下烹饪。我学会了制作每一道菜，学会了如何备菜，掌握了所有的细节。这正是学习经营餐馆业务不可或缺的一部分。多年以后，这项技能派上了大用场，让我得以协助家人度过难关——我记得那是在我读大二的时候。
谭妈妈（Mama Tan）打来了电话。住在桑福德（Sanford）的三姨那边出了急事：她店里的厨师正好去了夏洛特（Charlotte）处理移民事务，人手短缺。那天是周五，她急需一位厨师来顶替周末的班次。下课后，我便驱车从罗利（Raleigh）赶往桑福德。彼时，餐馆的经营模式已经转为自助餐为主了。虽然店里依然保留着外卖服务和少量单点菜品，但绝大部分的烹饪工作都是为了供应自助餐台。
就在那一刻，我意识到我的姨姨和舅舅们从此以后会以一种截然不同的眼光来看待我、对待我。过去，我之所以受人尊敬，主要是因为谭妈妈是家族中的长辈；而如今，我凭借一己之力——通过承担家族生意中最繁重、最具挑战性的工作——赢得了大家的尊重。还有一项我之前忘了提及的任务，那就是记账。谭妈妈是在有一次去中国探亲期间教会我这项技能的。
那段时间，父亲留守在家，由我照看。我也因此亲身体验到了他那挥霍无度的生活习性。后来我离家去读大学；直到2019年谭妈妈搬来与我同住时，她对我说了一句：“这一晃眼，我都整整二十年没见过你了。”
搬来与我同住后，谭妈妈终于又能像往常一样照顾我了。我们的感情亲密无间，正因如此，如今面对这份“贝克法案”（Baker Act）下的“单方强制评估令”（BA8），我才感到如此地艰难与痛苦。自2026年3月7日以来，我一直被关押并困在 Elos（前身为 PEMHS）。今天是第24天——这是一段由法院裁定、并由我的律师作为代理人代为接受的刑期。言语已无法形容我内心那如过山车般跌宕起伏的情感与心绪。在这段经历中，为数不多的慰藉之一，是能与一位同样患有睡眠呼吸暂停症的技术人员分享我与病魔抗争的个人经历。此外，还有我对美食、餐馆以及“Mama Tan”的深切热爱。美食与爱，足以跨越山川阻隔，消弭身份差异。
我在此目睹的一切，以及皮内拉斯县（Pinellas County）所谓的“精神疾病危机中心”里所上演的种种荒谬与疯狂……正如 RFK（罗伯特·肯尼迪）所言：“我们根本没有一套真正的‘医疗保健体系’，我们拥有的不过是一套‘疾病照护体系’罢了。”不过，关于我目前的处境，还是让我们暂且搁置不谈吧。