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Like most people, I’ve long understood that I will be judged by my occupation, that my profession is a gauge people use to see how smart or talented I am. Recently, however, was disappointed to see that it also decides how I’m treated as a person.
Last year I left a professional position as a small-town reporter and took a job waiting tables. As someone paid to serve food to people, I had customers say and do things to me I suspect they’d never say or do to their most casual acquaintances. One night a man talking on his cell phone waved me away, then beckoned (示意) me back with his finger a minute later, complaining he was ready to order and asking where I’d been.
I had waited tables during summers in college and was treated like a peon (勤杂工) by plenty of people. But at 19 years old, I believed I deserved inferior treatment from professional adults. Besides, people responded to me differently after I told them I was in college. Customers would joke that one day I’d be sitting at their table, waiting to be served.
Once I graduated I took a job at a community newspaper. From my first day, I heard a respectful tone from everyone who called me. I assumed this was the way the professional world worked—cordially.
I soon found out differently. I sat several feet away from an advertising sales representative with a similar name. Our calls would often get mixed up and someone asking for Kristen would be transferred to Christie. The mistake was immediately evident. Perhaps it was because money was involved, but people used a tone with Kristen that they never used with me.
My job title made people treat me with courtesy. So it was a shock to return to the restaurant industry.
It’s no secret that there’s a lot to put up with when waiting tables, and fortunately, much of it can be easily forgotten when you pocket the tips. The service industry, by definition, exists to cater to others’ needs. Still, it seemed that many of my customers didn’t get the difference between server and servant.
I’m now applying to graduate school, which means someday I’ll return to a profession where people need to be nice to me in order to get what they want. I think I’ll take them to dinner first, and see how they treat someone whose only job is to serve them. 52. The author was disappointed to find that ________.
A) one’s position is used as a gauge to measure one’s intelligence
B) talented people like her should fail to get a respectable job
C) one’s occupation affects the way one is treated as a person
D) professionals tend to look down upon manual workers 53. What does the author intend to say by the example in the second paragraph?
A) Some customers simply show no respect to those who serve them.
B) People absorbed in a phone conversation tend to be absent-minded.
C) Waitresses are often treated by customers as casual acquaintances.
D) Some customers like to make loud complaints for no reason at all.
54. How did the author feel when waiting tables at the age of 19?
A) She felt it unfair to be treated as a mere servant by professionals.
B) She felt badly hurt when her customers regarded her as a peon.
C) She was embarrassed each time her customers joked with her.
D) She found it natural for professionals to treat her as inferior.
55. What does the author imply by saying “. . . many of my customers didn’t get the difference between server and servant” (Line 3, Para. 7)?
A) Those who cater to others’ needs are destined to be looked down upon.
B) Those working in the service industry shouldn’t be treated as servants.
C) Those serving others have to put up with rough treatment to earn a living.
D) The majority of customers tend to look on a servant as server nowadays.
56. The author says she’ll one day take her clients to dinner in order to ________
A) see what kind of person they are
B) experience the feeling of being served
C) show her generosity towards people inferior to her
D) arouse their sympathy for people living a humble life
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