We have here, an elderly, who ENJOYS his work a lot, from the Front Page Sections, translated…
In the earlier times, the ice cream vendors would honk the horns as they rode the vending bicycles all around. The ninety-three year-old Cheng-Yi Wang, is the oldest ice cream vendor using the old methods, he’d sold his ice cream from the streets for over sixty years now, and, he’s still, riding in the city of Taipei and Hsinbei, selling his ice cream.
“Today only, one for $10N.T.!” on the streets of Nanking E. Road’s office buildings next to the streets, you’d see Wang, on his tricycle, selling his ice cream, and, it’d just taken the sign that he had, and he was able to attract, a ton of customers. He skillfully scooped up the pineapple, strawberry, and taro flavors, and sold them to the office workers, as the customers walked away with an ice cream in hand, they looked satisfied, as they licked on the ice creams.
Growing up in Shihlin, Lin told, that after elementary school, he’d started selling items on the streets, he’d sold sausages, sugar-coated tomatoes on a stick, mochi, and a dessert made from sweetened starch, gave him the temperament of not fearing the hard times in his life.
When we asked Wang why he was still vending on the streets, he’d smiled and told, “because I needed the money”. For the sake of making the money, even as the temperatures rose to above thirty degrees Celsius, he’d still headed out, at seven in the morning, and, sold for over ten hours each and every day, until dark, and, he’d relied on a tricycle, to get to and fro.
He’d worried that his customers may get tired, and, he would go to various places, sometimes, he’d gone to Sinchuang of Hsinbei City, or Banciao, sometimes, he’d headed over to Wanhua in the city of Taipei, the surrounding areas of N.T.U., Taiwan Normal University, etc., etc., etc., and he’d needed to ride for over twenty to thirty kilometers a day.
And, whether or not he would do well in his business, he said, it was pure luck, if he’d stayed at a location and nobody came, he’d made his quick exit, to the next spot.
And now, the students are on summer vacations, he’d not gone out to the schools now, instead, he’d zoomed in on the working class, sold in the parks, and, he’d gone to the Software Development Park in Nangang to sell too. The recent hot spot is in the new children’s amusement park, on the weekends, if you want some of his ice creams, you’d have to stand in life.
But, Wang also sighed, that there are just, too many variations for frozen treats now, sometimes, he’d gotten beaten by the ice creams from the super convenience shops. And, there are, less and less who’d sold the traditional kinds of ice creams, and “they’re all of the elderly population”, after all, it gets hot out, and, you can’t make that much money.
Yang, a member of the regular nine-to-five population said, that the traditional ice cream vendors had become almost extinct on the streets now, they’d only shown up, at large carnivals, or street fairs, and so, he’d felt surprised, as he saw Wang selling from his tricycles. Compared to the too creamy, ice cream, he’d loved the simplistic, original ice cream scoops.
And so, this, is on staying true to tradition, and, this man still works, because he wanted to provide for his customers, and, sure, he could probably retire, but, this man focused on customer service, providing what his customers wanted and didn’t care if he is actually, making a profit.
