Thank you, Auntie Mei · Camden takeaway

Where & when

• Camden Town Chinese takeaway · London · United Kingdom 2009–2011 Saturday shifts in the back kitchen

About them then

Auntie Mei · about 52 then

The head cook at the Chinese takeaway where I washed up on Saturdays. Small, quick, with flour up to her elbows and a pink radio above the fryer that she turned up whenever the Cantonese opera came on.

Who I was then

The skinny sixth-former in the too-big apron who washed up on Saturdays and ate cold dumplings behind the freezer.

Why I'm writing

To say thank you · Just hoping my words reach them

I was seventeen and washing dishes for cash. Every Saturday before service you put a bowl of something hot in front of me and watched until I finished it. When I dropped a whole stack of plates, you did not shout. You handed me the broom and kept chopping. In the spring you slipped extra char siu into my rice box and said I should study so I would not wash dishes forever. I am a teacher now. Last week I heard myself telling a pupil the same thing, in the same voice.

Passed on by 3 · reached step 3 · 2 keeping an eye out

Could this letter be about you? This is me