day - one (cheecheongfun)
I wasn’t all alone for this assignment in Texas. I was actually joined by another engineer from China - let’s call him - cheecheongfun.
The first time I met cheecheongfun, he kinda gave me a good impression. No he did not look like a filthy mainlander who snorts out phlegm from their nostrils every single minute. He’s clean .. polite and kinda neat. He gave me an impression that he’s not actually from China at all … more like some university student that was here for a holiday.
That all went well, until the first day I went to work with him (which was on Monday 21st Austin time). I was told by the management to share my car with him .. so, I kinda have to fetch him to work everyday. Well… I’m ok with that, it was fun to drive there anyway.
So, on Monday morning, I hopped into our rented car and cranked the engine. He hopped in too … but instead, he hopped into the back seat (there’s only 2 of us). I was like … “goddamn, wtf ?”. Well, maybe it’s the culture thing - I thought… and so, I politely asked the guy to sit at the front seat - coz my real occupation isn’t a full time driver. He complied. (I told him in broken mandarin as I just discovered he couldn’t speak proper English…)
And then, when I started to screech down the highway (everyone’s speeding there…), I noticed that the seatbelt warning light was blinking. Cheecheongfun did not wear his seatbelt. Again, I politely requested him - better wear his seatbelt if he wanted to live in case of any accidents. And that’s the time when his eccentricity started to become more apparent — he got himself entangled with the fucking seatbelt !
I was stupefied by the entire incident. It appears that he doesn’t know what’s a seatbelt for … and doesn’t know how to wear them… all the while still entangled to it. I refused to believe that initially. I even told him to stop fooling around.. but I finally learned that he’s for real when I saw his upset face trying to wear the seatbelt.
Like a caring father, I had to teach him step by step how to wear a seatbelt. Heck, I even explained to him that seatbelt is fucking important for his safety …it saves life .. that the airbag won’t inflate if seatbelt is not worn…. shits like that. I was like teaching a newborn kid the concept of safety inside an automobile.
That was the time, my negative side attempted to take over myself. It’s telling me that he’s stupid - but I was struggling with my good side to argue that he’s just inexperienced. I refuse to submit to the evil side of myself of antagonizing the young china-man. No i won’t.
But…. as the day progresses, I began to discover more bad things about him. Things that convinces me that he’s worse than a retard. Here’s the list of them … summarized (i wouldn’t really want to go into the details..).
- his breath fucking stinks. And boy he loves to talk. Always in mandarin and always about redundant stuffs. It’s already very frustrating of not being able to understand most of the things he uttered .. and yet, I’ll have to endure his pungent breath of decomposing corpse.
- he eats like a pig. No, I’m not referring to his appetite. I’m referring to the acoustic level of him eating. When he eats, he could emit noises that could be heard from a few city blocks.
- when the American techs started explaining something, he would nod in acknowledgement - without really paying attention. Later, he would ask me tonnes of questions (in mandarin) about the things that has been explained. And I had to explain all over again to him … in broken mandarin.
- when I was working and analyzing some system, he would stick his head in front of my field of view - looking at what he wanted to look…. entirely blocking me from continuing my work. I felt like jamming his head into the pile of computer junks i’m working on .. but my instincts told me that it ain’t legal.
Somebody tell me that this guy is normal - and that I’m actually all wrong about him. Arghh..