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.
像大多数人一样，我早就知道我的职业将左右别人对我的判断，我的工作室人们可以用来衡量我的聪明和材质的标准。

Recently, however, I was disappointed to see that it also decides how I’m treated as a person.
但是最近，我非常失望地发现工作也决定了别人怎样对待我。

Last year I left a professional position as a small-town reporter and took a job waiting tables.
去年我辞去了小镇记者的工作，该做了一名侍者。

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.
在这份为人们提供食物的工作中，我遇到的一些顾客对我说了一些话、做了一些事情，这些话和是我认为他们从来不会向哪怕是他们最熟悉的人去说或做的。

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.
有一天晚上，一个正在打电话的男人先是打手势把我赶走，一分钟后又用他的手指示我回来，对我抱怨说他正在准备点菜，问我究竟去了哪里。

I had waited tables during summers in college and was treated like a peon(勤杂工) by plenty of people.
上大学期间，在暑假我就做过侍者，但是就被很多人当勤杂工。

But at 19 years old. I believed I deserved inferior treatment from professional adults.
但是那时19岁的我认为那些职场中的成年人对我差一点也理所当然。

Besides, people responded to me differently after I told them I was in college.
此外，当我告诉他们我在读大学时，我得到的对待又有所不同。

Customers would joke that one day I’d be sitting at their table, waiting to be served.
顾客们开玩笑说，总有一天我会坐在他们的位置上，等候服务。
Once I graduated I took a job at a community newspaper.
毕业之后我在社区的报社找到一份工作。

 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.
从工作的第一天开始，其他人就用充满敬意的语气称呼我。我以为这就是职场的方式--亲切。

I soon found out differently, I sat several feet away from an advertising sales representative with a similar name.
我很快发现并不是这样。我坐的位置和我的名字相似的广告部销售代表只有几英尺远。

Our calls would often get mixed up and someone asking for Kristen would be transferred to Christie.
我们的电话经常会被弄混，有人要找克里斯滕会被转到克里斯蒂这里来。

The mistake was immediately evident.
这是明显的错误。

Perhaps it was because money was involved, but people used a tone with Kristen that they never used with me.
或许是包含了金钱的因素，但是人们对克里斯滕的语气是从来不会用在我身上的。

My job title made people treat me with courtesy.
我的共组头衔让很多人礼貌地对待我。

So it was a shock to return to the restaurant industry.
所以回到饭店行业之后我真的很受打击。

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.
当侍者忍受很多，这早已不是什么秘密。但幸运的是，当收到小费的时候，大部分的不快都可以轻易忘掉。

The service industry, by definition, exists to cater to others’ needs.
服务业的定义就是满足他人的需要。

Still, it seemed that many of my customers didn’t get the difference between server and servant.
但是，我的很多顾客四壶分辨不清侍者和侍从的区别。

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.
我现在在申请研究生，这就意味着将来有一天我会回到那种职位，那时别人为乐得到他们想要的东西就必须对我礼貌一点。

I think I’ll take them to dinner first, and see how they treat someone whose only job is to serve them.
我想我会把他们带去吃顿饭，看一下他们是怎么对待那些专职为他们服务的人的。