I’m seventeen. I worked as a box boy at a supermarket in Los Angeles. People came to the counter (柜台) and I put things in their bags for them and carried things to their cars. It was hard work.
While working, I wore a plate with my name on it. I once met someone I knew years ago. I remembered his name and said, “Mr. Castle, how are you?” We talked about this and that. As he left, he said, “It was nice talking to you, Brett.” I felt great, he remembered me. Then I looked down at my name plate. Oh, no. He didn’t remember me at all, he just read the name plate. I wish I had put “Irving” down on my name plate. If he’d have said, “Oh yes, Irving, how could I forget you?” I’d have been ready for him. There’s nothing personal here.
The manager and everyone else who were a step above the box boys often shouted orders. One of these was: you couldn’t accept tips(小费). Okay, I’m outside and I put the bags in the car. For a lot of people, the natural reaction(反应)is to take a quarter and give it to me. I’d say, “I’m sorry, I can’t.” They’d get angry. When you give someone a tip, you’re sort of being polite. You take a quarter and you put it in their hand and you expect them to say, “Oh, thanks a lot.” When you say, “I’m sorry, I can’t.” they feel a little put down. They say, “No one will know.” And they put it in your pocket. You say, “I really can’t.” It gets to a point where you almost have to hurt a person physically to prevent him from tipping you. It was not in agreement with the store’s belief in being friendly. Accepting tips was a friendly thing and made the customer feel good. I just couldn’t understand the strangeness of some people’s ideas. One lady actually put a tip in my pocket, got in the car, and drove away. I was puzzled and didn’t know what to do. Should I d have had to throw the quarter at her or eaten it or something?
I decided that one year had been enough. Some people needed the job to stay alive and fed. I guess I had the means and could afford to hate it and give it up.
小题1:. From the second paragraph, we can infer (推断) that ________.
A．the writer didn’t like the impersonal part of his job
B．people can easily start talking with a name plate
C．Mr. Castle mistook Irving for Brett
D．Irving was the writer’s real name小题2:. The box boy refused to accept tips because ________.
A．customers only gave small tips to
B．some customers had strange ideas about tipping
C．he didn’t want to fight with the customers
D．the store didn’t allow the box boys to take tips小题3:. The underlined phrase “put down” in the third paragraph probably means ________.
A．relaxed
B．upset
C．bored
D．surprised小题4:What can be the best title for this text?
A．How I Could Find a Job
B．How I Got along with Customers
C．Why I Gave up My Job
D．Why I couldn’t Take Tips
