“Every Trade Has Its Master” 「三百六十行 行行出狀元」

There is an old saying in China that "Every trade has its master". Recently, I had a wonderful personal experience in the US that truly illustrated this ancient Chinese wisdom. 

中國有句老話，叫「三百六十行  行行出狀元」。近日在美國新澤西的一次親身經歷，讓我對這句話有了更深的體會。

On May 4, 2017, before watching Shen Yun at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), I randomly drove into a public car park near the theater. After stopping my car, I was asked to leave the key inside. Then I walked to a nearby restaurant to have my lunch. 

那是在2017年5月4日，我開車到新澤西表演藝術中心去看神韻演出。快要到劇場時，我隨意將車駛入附近一個露天停車場。一位工作人員告訴我，把車鈅匙留在車裏再走人。我照做了，然後走到附近一個餐廳去吃午飯。

It was still quite early after I had finished lunch; so I walked back to my car to take a rest. While I was inside the car, a staff member, a fairly young man walked over and drove me into the shade of the tall building next to the car park, saying it was cooler there. He also asked me when I intended to leave; and I told him that I was here for the Shen Yun performance and would leave at about 4:00 pm, when the show was over. 

吃完飯，時間還早，我想：乾脆回到車裏休息一會兒。當我在車裏休息時，一位很年輕的工作人員走過來，將我的車挪到旁邊一座高樓形成的陰影裏，說這裏更陰涼。他還問我打算何時走，我說我是來看神韻演出的，演出結束大約是四點左右，就那時走。

Before he left my car, he reminded me to keep my windows open so that the car wouldn’t get too hot inside. I was very much moved by his thoughtfulness. 

他停好車就離開了，並叮囑我說：在車裏休息，千萬別把車窗關死，否則會太熱。我心下十分感動。

After the show had finished, I walked back to the car park. As soon as he saw me, the young man who had driven my car before, immediately pointed to the car and said to me, “This is your car, right? 

看完演出，我走回停車場。之前那名年輕人一見到我就指著一輛車說：「這是你的車，對嗎？」

Sure enough, that was my car, only it had been moved to a third spot, which was now very close to the exit. I was astonished by the fact that he had actually managed to remember which car was mine, as there were hundreds of different cars in the parking area. I asked him in surprise,  “How did you remember that this is my car out of those hundreds of cars in the car park?” He smiled quietly and said, “I try my best.” 

我一看，確實是我的車，只是已經又被挪了一個地方，挪到了很靠近停車場出口之處。我吃驚地問：「這停車場的車有好幾百，你怎麼記得這就是我的車？」他笑笑說：「我努力地記。」

Then he led me to the corner of the car park so I could pay for the parking. After the payment was done, he immediately fetched my key, which was hung on the wall with dozens, if not hundreds, of other keys of all sorts; and handed it to me.

然後他就領我去角落上的工作間交停車費。交完費後，他毫不猶豫地從牆上密密麻麻的、沒有幾百也有幾十的鈅匙串中取下一個遞給我，說這就是我的鈅匙。

My very ordinary looking car key 我的毫無特色的車鈅匙

I was again shocked by the fact that he knew exactly which key belonged to me, that I started thinking that the key he handed me didn’t quite look like mine.  I had not attached any other personal items to the key, so it looked quite similar to any other car key.

我再次驚呆了，以至於看著手裏的鈅匙，都不敢確認它到底是不是我的鈅匙了。因爲我的鈅匙就是一把廠家給的單個鈅匙，上面沒有任何其他辨識度高的個人飾物等東西。

So I asked him again, “Are you sure this is my key? How do you remember that this one is mine when there are so many keys?” He smiled and once again said, “I try my best.” 

我又問：「你確定這是我的鈅匙嗎？你這裏有這麼多鈅匙，你怎麼記得這把就是我的？」他還是笑著說：「我努力地記。」

Still not quite sure, I said to him, “Well, I will try it. If it isn’t mine, I will come back to you.”

我還是不太放心，對他說：「那我去試試吧。如果這把不是我的，我回來找你換。」

I walked to my car, and opened it with the key! And it was so easy to drive away as the car was just next to the exit!

我走到車子邊，一按鈅匙，真的打開了！而且因爲車子就在出口，非常容易就開走了！

Whiling writing this article, I am still wondering as to how that young man had managed to remember which car was whose; which key belonged to which car, which car was parked where, and who was going to leave when...

我到現在還在納悶：車場裏有那麼多車，幾百部是有了，他怎麼記得哪部車是誰的、哪串鈅匙是哪部車的、哪輛車又停在哪裏的、哪個人又將何時離開？？？

car park sign 停車場標牌

By the way, I took the above photo of the car parking sign before I left the car park for lunch, in case I couldn’t find it afterwards. Have you ever experienced panic when you couldn’t find where you had parked your car, or when you did find the car park, but just couldn’t locate your car as the parking area was just too big and had too many different levels? If you have, you must be as amazed as I was by this young man attending this car park. For me, he is definitely the master of his trade!

對了，以上這張停車場照片是我第一次離開，要去吃飯時照的，主要怕自己等一會兒忘了車停在哪裏了。您可否有過辦完事回來忘了自己將車停在哪裏，或者雖然記得停車場在哪裏，卻因爲它太大、樓層太多而找不到自己的車子的尷尬經歷？

如果有，您一定跟我一樣驚異於這名年輕人的本事。人說「三百六十行，行行出狀元。」這次真是見識到了！

If each of us could put as much heart into what we are doing like this young man, and be as kind and thoughtful, how many more inspiring experiences we could have within our daily lives!

於我來說，這位在「平凡」的停車場崗位上，能做得如此用心、替顧客考慮得如此周到的小夥子，就是一個化平凡爲神奇的典範。如果大家都能像他一樣在工作中這麼用心，這麼善待他人，那我們每個人都一定都能有更多類似的開心而神奇的經歷！