零食小站的大熊扑满 Bear "Tong Kong" for Snack Station

前天请两个助理到佳士客的佐尼火锅餐馆吃开斋晚餐。大小S两个活宝整个过程都叽叽喳喳地讲个不停，让我发现一个喜欢吃肉一个喜欢吃菜的她们在常笑的脸背后，也是希望工程师们可以用朋友的身份静静地聆听她们的声音。而这，是她们在公司里面并不容易得到一样东西。

Two days ago, I treat two engineering aides that very close with me for a Buka Puasa dinner at Johnny's in Jusco store. These two funny fella were talking non-stop along the dinner, making me realized that besides letting others know that one of them likes vegetable a lot while the other prefers more meat, they also wish that their engineers can just sit down and listen to them like a friend. And, this is something that they hardly get in the office.


吃饱后，大S到佳士客去购买她最喜欢的维尔尼达冰淇淋。小S和我不约而同地在冷藏部发现一个可爱的熊形扑满，扑满里面装了许多的水果布丁。在没有多想的情况下，我就决定把它买下来了。

After dinner, Big S go into Jusco store to grab her favorite Vienetta ice cream. At the same time, little S and I spot ted a cute bear shape "Tong Kong" that filled with fruit pudding in it. Without a second thought, I decided to bring it home.

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多年前我到美国硅谷的总公司，在他们的办公室里发现一个我个人很欣赏的摆设——零食角落。人们在想要吃零食的时候就会去拿自己喜欢的货品，然后根据价钱表上的数目将零钱放在事先准备好的罐子里。每个办公室都会有个人负责定期收集这些零钱来维持零食的货源充足。“如果马六甲的人可以像你们这样诚实地付钱就好了”，我记得当时是这样告诉带我去买零食的大肥约翰。

Few years ago when I was introduced with an idea that I personally like it very much - The Snack Corner in my Santa Clara HQ office. When someone wish to get a snack, he/she will just go grab one from the Snack Corner and pay per listed price on the menu in a pre-prepared box. There is someone that will constantly collect the money and ensure that all food are being re-filled. "It will be great if the Malaccan can pay honestly like you guys here", I remembered that I told Big John when he was introducing the Snack Corner to me.


先涵是马六甲办公室里第一个实现类似零食角落概念的人，她的柜子里总是充满了个各式各样的零食。知道这件事情的人总是会时不时到她的柜子里去找东西吃，我本身就是其中一个馋嘴的人。可是，和鬼佬不同的是——大方的主人并没有向我们这些贪吃鬼收取一分一毫的费用。不时，有良心的人就会赞助一些货品，但一部分的零食却是有去无回。

Tantan is the first one to practice the idea of Snack Corner in our office, her cabinet is always full with various kind of food. Those that know about this will always go to find snack from her cabinet and I'm also one of them. But, different from the Americans, the kind owner is willing to share her food with everyone free of charge. Although some guys will sponsor some food from time to time, but some of them just never think of this.


为了减轻零食小站主人的负担，我决定把大熊扑满放在零食小站，并在它大大的肚子上面贴一个告示牌。目的是要利用它可爱的样子“感动”（好不要脸的讲法）所有零食小站的顾客，记得在拿取货品后要付钱！毕竟，天下是没有白吃的午餐，因为只有这样我们才能够确保零食小站能够长久地经营下去。

In order to help to reduce tantan's burden, I decided to put my bear "Tong Kong" at her cabinet and paste a notice shown in the photo above on its tummy. I hope that by doing this, it will help to encourage the "customers" to pay for the food that they take in order for us to help sustain the Snack Corner for long time.

p/s : "Tong Kong" is money bank ( a.k.a. piggy bank ) in Hokkien language