Catch up

In 1990, while studying in a college in Canada, my wife was working part-time
in a local Chinese restaurant as a waitress. We came from China. A Mr. Ma
also came from China. He came as a visiting scholar, but also found a part-
time waiter job in the same Chinese restaurant.

One day, my wife came home and told me what had happened in the restaurant.
It was Mr. Ma's second or third day of working there. He was new and he
had not worked as a waiter before.

It was early evening, the restaurant was not busy. Only one table was occupied
by a family of four white Canadians. They were quietly eating. Ma was standing
nearby not knowing what to do. Then the husband at the table turned to Ma
and said, "Catch up, please!"

"What could that mean?" Ma was a bit nervous, "Catch a bus...hurry up...well,
he probably wanted me to get busy. But what can I do? Well, He must be being
humorous and making fun with me. I should make him happy." Ma started to
run, circling inside the restaurant, and came back smiling to the husband.

"Catch up, please!" this time the wife ordered him. Ma ran another circle,
this time pretending breathless.

"Catch up! Catch up!" even their little boy called to him. "Wow, these Canadians,
so humorous!" Ma thought to himself and began another circle.

At this time the restaurant owner came out from kitchen. Seeing Ma running,
he shouted to Ma in Mandarin with a Cantonese accent:"Hey! Ma! This is a
restaurant, not a gym! You can do jogging after work!"

"Well...these guests are playing fun with me. They ... asked me .... to catch up,
to get busy while there's nothing to do." Ma said with smiles all over his face.

"Catch up??? ...... Ketchup!!! That's tomato sauce! Go and get it!"

I had no idea if the Canadian family finally knew what had happened or not.
If they knew, they should give Ma a good tip. Because for the delay of
their ketchup, they witnessed a beautiful misunderstanding which can
make them laugh a lifetime whenever they think of it.


(teachers, pls make corrections where necessary, thanks!)

[RonBee]

That's a funny story. I hope everybody enjoyed a good laugh over it afterwards.

[RonBee]

Corrections/suggestions

In 1990, while studying in a college in Canada, my wife was working part-time in a local Chinese restaurant as a waitress. We came from China. A Mr. Ma also came from China. He came as a visiting scholar, but also found a part-time waiter job in the same Chinese restaurant.

In 1990, while studying at a college in Canada, my wife was working part-time at a local Chinese restaurant as a waitress. We had come there from China. A Mr. Ma, who had also come from China, was there also. He had come as a visiting scholar, and he was working as a part-time waiter at the same Chinese restaurant that my wife was working at.

8)