TVB actor Sunny Tai has played waiters in a number of dramas but who knew he would be one in real life too?
Recently, it was reported that the 52-year-old had started working at a cha chaan teng in Hong Kong’s Wong Tai Sin. The eatery is owned by gastronomy industry scion-slash-actor Billy Cheung.
Sunny’s current job scope includes serving tea, waiting on tables, washing the dishes as well as throwing out the trash.
In an interview with Hong Kong media hk01, the actor clarified that this is not a career change, but simply a source of income when he’s not acting.
“Given the unstable nature of acting and since I have free time before my next project, Billy suggested I try working in F&B,” said Sunny.
“I don’t have many jobs recently, and you know as actors, sometimes we go jobless for an entire year, or we can be bound by a contract for many years. If we have no jobs, we want to pick up a new skill so we can at least survive.”
Sunny emphasised that he’s very serious about his new job, likening it to him learning to be a waiter for a role.
“I’ve been working here for two weeks. The working hours can get really long and I have to wake up at 5am,” he shared, adding that they have two shifts and that he only knocks off at midnight when he’s on the night shift.
The actor went on to say that serving customers can get really awkward.
“People would ask me if I’m filming and it was hard to overcome that emotionally. Having to serve plates of char siew rice to customers is such a weird feeling and I’m really not used to it,” he said.
Sunny would laugh it off and tell the customers that he’s just standing in for a friend for a couple of days.
When asked about his pay, the actor revealed that he can earn about HK$300 to HK$400 (S$51 to S$69) a day. He typically gets a day off every week. If he works for 28 days a month, he would earn about HK$10K (S$1,729).
He also shared that he takes the train to work every day, though some days he gives in to the temptation of taking a cab.
Serving food and drinks in a cha chaan teng is already no easy feat, but it’s even tougher when you have to wash dishes in a stuffy kitchen.
“It’s quite a narrow space and I really couldn’t get used to the 30-something degrees temperature at first. Some of the stoves were right next to me,” he said. “There was once, I squatted to wash the dishes. When I stood up, I felt that my world was spinning.”
Sometimes, when business is too good, Sunny has to help with food delivery too.
“One time, someone thought I was filming for [TVB’s infotainment show] Scoop when I delivered food to them. I told them it is a real delivery and that I wasn’t filming,” he recalled.
Though Sunny’s job doesn’t require him to wash the toilet, he sometimes takes on the task as he can’t stand it when customers don’t flush.
“There was one time, the customer took a dump and I had to flush it for him. Usually when we see that in public toilets, we would walk out immediately,” he lamented.
So is working at a cha chaan teng harder than acting for TVB?
“It depends on how you look at it,” Sunny said.
“As an actor you don’t usually have to get wet. You just enjoy playing the role and can leave the set once you’re done. But as a waiter, you need to take care of many things,” said Sunny.
“Most importantly, it’s a lot of physical work. You have to take orders, clean the tables and attend to the customers. You’ve to juggle so many more things as a waiter than as an actor,” he added.