Much like An Entrepreneur’s Story, After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town (both by Ha Jin) is a long-winded and entertaining sort of satire on capitalism and wealth. For this story specifically, however, it looks at the “American way of doing business” within Chinese culture.
I found it incredibly telling the way so many of the “Americanized business tactics” put customers above employees. The employees at CC were constantly being exploited by the American boss while also being harassed by the other Chinese shop/stand owners for being “foreign lackeys.” But the employees needed to make a living and never had to worry about on-time pay at CC.
The female employees were used for cheaper meals, and the male employees were treated poorly by Mr. Shapiro, the American boss. But Chinese officials were thrilled to have an American business to learn from, and so there was very little the employees could do to improve their situation.
“The customer is always right” motto and the idea of a buffet were things the employees did not understand. These are things I had not considered to be specific to American culture. What did not surprise me was the general exploitation of a foreign people; the CC owners in America used the cheaper Chinese labor for a profit.
I also found the notion of suing as a way of making a living in America to be comical when considering how other cultures might never consider this. The way the employees went about debunking a claim of “fly in food” was clever and I found the whole interaction to be interesting to read.
The end of the story made me think a lot of labor issues in America when the employees discovered the “American way” of dealing with leftovers. Peter burning the food which otherwise could have been eaten was upsetting and true to the way the world works. Food waste and strict rules about where food can go after a restaurant closes are problems all over the world, and especially America.