My Cultivation Experience Working in a Restaurant

(Clearwisdom.net)

I started working in a Chinese restaurant at the beginning of the year 2000. There were all kinds of people with different backgrounds there. One of my classmates, who was familiar with the people working in this restaurant, told me in advance about who was a thief and who I needed to be wary of in this restaurant and so forth. I thought this interference would be of no concern for a genuine Falun Dafa practitioner who could easily handle it. What I could do was to change the environment around me using my pure righteous thoughts. Workers in the restaurant usually rest right after they finish their duties, never thinking of helping others. After I worked there, I helped others every day. They asked me why I did this. I told them that I practiced Falun Dafa and learned from Dafa that I should consider others first in any situation. They were all stunned and deeply moved. Since then, the practice of specifying duties to each helper in the restaurant has stopped because of the harmonious relationship among helpers and the fact that everybody is willing to help others. My colleagues were all surprised to see that everybody in this restaurant has been so happy since I started working there. The conflicts between co-workers disappeared after all.

Some Chinese workers in the restaurant who just came to America could not drive. I drove them back and forth from home to the restaurant everyday. Some colleagues persuaded me not to do such a "stupid" thing. I said, "If they didn't have to do this to earn a living, nobody would come to the restaurant to do these heavy and dirty jobs. We cannot only think of ourselves all the time. We also need to consider others." After this conversation, my co-workers kept silent.

A customer who frequently visited our restaurant never left tips after he finished his meal. The manager and all of the employees in this restaurant did not show any friendliness towards him. At that time, I recalled Teacher's Fa in Falun Dafa (Lecture at the First Conference in North America) "In regards to this point, I think Caucasian European businessmen have a very good state of mind. A Caucasian businessman considers his business a profession and a duty, and he does it whole-heartedly to the best of his ability. He doesn't mind even if there's only one customer a day. He thinks that it's his job, it's part of life, he's doing something, and it's fine as long as he can support himself or his family and save a little. This is the state of being human." So I treated him the same way as I treated other customers. Surprisingly, he gave me a two-dollar tip. All of my colleagues were stunned. I told them, "Everyone has a compassionate mind. If we did not think of earning as much money as possible from the customer's pocket, the situation would change." My colleagues' minds became less occupied with money since then and business in the restaurant got much better. The manager said that I brought good fortune to the restaurant.

Whenever I had a chance, I would introduce Dafa and clarify the truth of Dafa to them. The conversation topic in the restaurant changed to how to be a good person. A 40-year-old man who used to be a department director of a university in Shanghai had to work in this restaurant because he could not find another job due to his poor English. Nobody talked with him because they suspected that he was not a good person. I thought I should be responsible for everybody around me to know the truth of Dafa, so I introduced Dafa to him. To my surprise, he was immediately interested in knowing the truth of Falun Dafa. His wife posted a Dafa flyer on the wall. I gave him a Dafa book. Since then, I noticed that he has turned out to be a generous person.

Three months later, my husband found a job with good pay, so I did not have to work in that restaurant any more. Everybody was very sad when I left. They said they would like to work with me if I could run a restaurant by myself someday. The manager and his wife also told me that they would help me whenever I needed it. The chef, whom I had barely talked with said, "I have worked here for more than ten years, but I have never met such a kind and good person like you." I told them that it was their good fortune that they hired a Falun Dafa practitioner. All of the Falun Dafa practitioners are as good as I am or even better.

I used to be very sensitive about my reputation. If I did not practice Falun Dafa, I would not have accepted a waitress job in a restaurant without any complaint. Because of Dafa, I did not feel any fatigue after arduously working all day. It is Falun Dafa which generated my new life, gave me a strong will and helped me to discard all kinds of bad notions that are part of everyday people's lives. Tears rolled down my face because I felt Teacher's grand compassion. I told Teacher in my heart: I am not afraid of suffering hardships, wherever I go, I will keep up the good image of a Falun Dafa practitioner and will never do anything to discredit Dafa.

A couple of days ago, the classmate of mine called me, "We had more newcomers from China in the department after you moved out [Translator's note: this classmate shared a room with the author]. I told them your stories; they were all astonished. They could not believe that such a kind person exists in the world." My classmate told them the reason why I could be so nice was because I practiced Falun Gong. I am really glad that she can promote Falun Dafa.