Thursday, August 30, 2007

This Is Why There Never Was a 'Lu' Dynasty

I work with alot of temps. 99% of them are of the Asian persuasion. They are all very nice and polite and all the things Asians are known for. I work, on ocassion, with an older woman. YiYi Lu. We talk about our families and one day she's telling me about her brood. One in Med scool, one a lawyer, the other two..well..nothing special. The other day she brings her youngest gal to work with her. She seems like a nice enough kid. Young, about 18, 19. Quiet, polite....again, the Asian thing right?
Well for the last two days I've had the younger Lu, LeLe, working with me. She is helpful and seems to be a hard worker. She's doing a really good job actually. Her mother, YiYi however, keeps coming over and trying to show LeLe how to do her job. The first time I tell YiYi the kid's doing fine and we're all set. She says 'okay' and walks away. I turn my back and quicker than you can say "Look out! It's O.J!!", mamasan is back. The conversation turns to screaming. I can only make out a few words, as they are screaming back and forth in Chinese. The words I get arein English and are"Shut up Mamma! Shut UP!!!" I look across the table to Lu, the 75 year old Vietnamese dude that's helping me. He wears a ballcap that's pulled down to his eyebrows and he watches quietly, and cautiously. We exchange looks and he smiles slightly, revealing his five teeth and a whiff of Wild Turkey. I look at him and raise my eyebrows slightly and he says so very, very quietly,'no good'.
I gently send mamma back to her machine and tell the kid not to feel bad, I have a mom too. She laughs and the day goes on with only three more mother-daughter incidents. I tell my super Boris and he looks at the two of them in the midst of one of the shouting fests and starts to step foward and then pauses, and maybe wisely, walks away.
Today the same routine starts again. The calm shown by Asians on the tele is clearly lacking here and by 9 a.m. mama is at it again. This time the screeching is horrible. Like two cats in a burlap bag heading to the river......And again, I get only a few words, as they are yowling in Chinese. The words I get are these, 'Enough Mother! Fuck OFF!!! and with that, sweet little LeLe kicks a box of postcards with all her little might.
Man.......I would love to be a chopstick on the walls of that house let me tell ya.

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