They Thought McDonald's Was Their Kind of Place
By SARAH MASLIN NIR January 29, 2014
顾客一杯咖啡坐半天，麦当劳应该怎么办？
SARAH MASLIN NIR 2014年01月29日
With its recession-friendly coffee prices, plentiful tables and available bathrooms, McDonald's restaurants all over the country, and even all over the world, have been adopted by a cost-conscious set as a coffeehouse for the people, a sort of everyman's Starbucks. Behind the Golden Arches, older people seeking company and conversation, schoolchildren putting off homework time and homeless people escaping the cold have transformed the banquettes into headquarters for the kind of laid-back socializing once carried out on a park bench or brownstone stoop.
与经济衰退匹配的咖啡价格、充足的餐桌，又有卫生间可以使用，全美乃至全世界的麦当劳(McDonald's)餐厅，都被一群会算经济账的顾客当 成了平民咖啡馆，或者说像是老百姓的星巴克(Starbucks)。在金色的拱形M标志下，老人寻求陪伴与交流、学生消磨做作业前的时光，无家可 归者则进来御寒。这些人把餐厅的软垫条凳变成了某种悠闲社交的大本营，扮演了公园长凳或褐砂石楼的门廊过去的角色。
But patrons have also brought the mores of cafe culture, where often a single purchase is permission to camp out with a laptop. Increasingly, they seem to linger over McCafe Lattes, sometimes spending a lot of time but little money in outlets of this chain, which rose to prominence on a very different business model: food that is always fast. And so restaurant managers and franchise owners are often frustrated by these, their most loyal customers. Such regulars hurt business, some say, and leave little room for other customers. Tensions can sometimes erupt.
然而，主顾们还带来了咖啡文化的规矩：买一样东西就意味着获得了带笔记本电脑窝一天的许可。他们似乎在麦咖啡(McCafe)的拿铁上花着越来越 多的时间，有时会磨蹭很久，却只在它的连锁门店里花很少的钱。但麦当劳的崛起，倚仗的却是与此背道而驰的商业模式，即快餐至上。因此，餐厅经理与 店主常常被这些最忠诚的客户搞得焦头烂额。有人说，此类常客影响了生意，害得别的客人几乎找不到位子。有时还会爆发冲突。
In the past month, those tensions came to a boil in New York City. When management at a McDonald's in Flushing, Queens, called the police on a group of older Koreans, prompting outrage at the company's perceived rudeness, calls for a worldwide boycott and a truce mediated by a local politician, it became a famous case of a struggle that happens daily at McDonald's outlets in the city and beyond.
过去一个月里，这样的冲突在纽约市达到白热化的程度。在皇后区法拉盛的一家麦当劳，管理层报警驱逐一群韩裔老人。一些人对他们眼中麦当劳的粗鲁无 礼表示愤慨，呼吁展开全球性的抵制活动。一名地方政坛人士出面调停，暂时促成了和解。这一事件成为了知名案例，代表了纽约及更大范围内的麦当劳门 店时时面临的困境。
Stephen Lewis for The New York Times. Food stylist: Victoria Granof
Is the customer always right, even the ensconced penny-pincher?
客户永远都是正确的吗，即使他们一坐不起又不愿花钱？
The answer seems to be yes among those who do the endless sitting at McDonald's restaurants in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; Midtown Manhattan; Astoria, Queens; and the East Village.
在布鲁克林皇冠高地、曼哈顿中城、皇后区阿斯托里亚及东村占领了麦当劳的人看来，答案似乎是肯定的。
If Mike Black's friends are looking for him, they know to check the McDonald's on Utica Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn, he said. That is where Mr. Black, who is in his 50s, spends hours opening and reading his junk mail.
麦克·布莱克(Mike Black)说，如果朋友要找他，就知道去布鲁克林弗莱布许的尤蒂卡大道上的那家麦当劳看看。在那里，50多岁的布莱克一坐就是几个钟头，在那里点开和查 看垃圾邮件。
"I don't eat fast food," he said, arguing that his one coffee entitled him to all the leisure time he needed. "I just come here to hang out and deal with my mail."
"我不吃快餐，"他说，并且认为一杯咖啡足以允许他消磨所需的休闲时光。"我就是来这里待着，处理一下邮件。"
A few miles away at another McDonalds, a fedora-wearing crew holds court daily in a sunny seating area by the window. "Old-timers, we have been here for years; we're kids who grew up in the neighborhood," said Jerry Walters, 70, who was sitting with two friends. On the tables there was nary a coffee, but there was a Budweiser secreted in a paper bag. "We're accustomed to being here."
在几英里外的另一家麦当劳，戴着软呢帽的一群人每天在窗边的阳光位聚集。"怀旧嘛，我们在这里好多年了；小时候就在这一片长大，"70岁的杰里· 沃尔特斯(Jerry Walters)说。他和两个朋友坐在一起，桌上没有摆咖啡，纸袋里却藏着一瓶百威(Budweiser)啤酒。"我们习惯来这里。"
McDonald's is not alone in navigating this tricky territory. Last year, a group of deaf patrons sued Starbucks after a store on Astor Place in Lower Manhattan forbade their meet-up group to convene there, complaining they did not buy enough coffee. Spending the day nursing a latte is part of modern cafe culture, behavior reinforced by franchises like Starbucks and others that seem to actively cultivate the endless sitting, lavishing free Wi-Fi on customers who park their laptops in the morning and do not leave until after dark.
麦当劳不是唯一正在处理这个敏感问题的公司。去年，曼哈顿下城区阿斯特广场(Astor Place)的一家星巴克由于禁止一群失聪的客户在这里集会而遭到了起诉，星巴克的理由是这些人消费的咖啡太少。花整天的时间来品尝一杯拿铁是现代咖啡文 化的组成部分，星巴克和其他连锁店似乎也积极地促进了这种无休止的静坐的发展，用户可以在这里尽情享受免费无线上网，顾客早上带着笔记本过来，直 到天黑才离开。
At some of New York City's 235 McDonald's outlets, customers say they have adopted the fast-food franchise as a cafe for a less affluent crowd, a view bolstered by the company's newer offerings, like McCafe coffee drinks.
纽约市共有235家麦当劳，其中一些店面的客户说，他们已经把这个快餐连锁店当成了较贫穷阶层的咖啡馆，这个观点也因为麦当劳麦咖啡的咖啡饮品等 新产品而得到了加强。
"We're pleased many of our customers view us as a comfortable place to spend time," Lisa McComb, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an email, citing free Wi-Fi and areas for children to play as part of the appeal. "McDonald's offers convenience and value in a fun and familiar atmosphere."
"很多顾客都认为在我们这里消磨时光很舒适，我们对于这一点感到高兴，"麦当劳女发言人丽莎·麦库姆(Lisa McComb)在电子邮件中说。她说免费无线网络和儿童玩耍区域是吸引力的一部分。"麦当劳以一种有趣而熟悉的氛围给人们提供了舒适和价值。"
But the leisurely cafe culture and the business plan behind fast food are in opposition. Although signs hang in many McDonald's stores instructing customers to spend half an hour or less at the tables, Ms. McComb said there was no national policy about discouraging longtime sitting. "The individual franchisees do what they feel is best for their community businesses," she said. "In the case of Flushing, that franchisee welcomed those guests for years, and it was only when other customers felt they were no longer welcome that he attempted to adjust the visit time with the customers."
但是，轻松的咖啡文化和快餐业背后的商业计划是相互矛盾的。麦库姆说，虽然许多麦当劳店内都悬挂着告诉客户在餐桌上停留的时间不要超过半小时的告 示，但并没有任何禁止人们在店内逗留过久的国家规定。"每一家连锁店都会采取他们认为对社区商业最有利的行动，"她说。"以法拉盛为例，数年来， 店主一直很欢迎这些顾客，只是因为其他顾客觉得他们不受欢迎，他才试图对这些客户的逗留时间进行调整。"
Sango Pak, who was back sitting in the Flushing McDonald's a week after the uproar surrounding him and his peers, said convening at McDonald's staved off sadness. "You feel lonely and bored when you are home," he said. "Here you talk with these friends."
在这个引发了大量公众舆论的事件发生一周之后，当事人之一朴山高（Sango Pak，音译）又回到了法拉盛的麦当劳。他说在麦当劳聚会可以减少悲伤。"在家的时候你会觉得孤独而无聊，"他说，"在这里你可以与朋友交谈。"
In a McDonald's near Astor Place, a sign explained that customers were entitled to just 30 minutes of sitting time. But Raymos Martinez, an artist, sat tucked into a dog-eared paperback of historical fiction, and said the anonymity of the place held some appeal. "McDonald's, it's more like a bus stop. Nobody notices you."
阿斯特广场的麦当劳里悬挂着一个标志，上面说顾客们只能在这里坐半小时。但艺术家雷默斯·马蒂内(Raymos Martinez)却捧着一本已经破烂不堪的历史小说坐在这里，说这里的隐匿性具有一定的吸引力。"麦当劳很像一个公交站。没人会注意到你。"
Or maybe they do. On the other side of the restaurant, in her uniform cap with the Golden Arches, Samantha Reyes, 39, swept discarded burger wrappers off the floor. She refuses to kick out those who seem to find refuge in her McDonald's.
或许事实并非如此。在餐厅的另一边，39岁的萨曼莎·雷耶斯(Samantha Reyes)戴着带有金色拱形标志的制服帽，清扫着地上的汉堡包装。她不愿意把那些似乎在麦当劳寻求庇护的人赶走。
"For myself, I could be in the same situation," she said. "Tomorrow, it could be me."
"我觉得，我或许也会那样，"她说，"明天，可能就会轮到我。"
Jiha Ham contributed reporting.
Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
Jiha Ham对本文有报道贡献。
翻译：黄铮、陈柳
http://cn.nytimes.com/usa/20140117/c17mcdonalds/
Fighting a McDonald's for the Right to Sit. And Sit. And Sit.
By SARAH MASLIN NIR and JIHA HAM January 17, 2014
"占领麦当劳"，纽约韩裔老人的持久战
SARAH MASLIN NIR, JIHA HAM 2014年01月17日
NEW YORK — Shortly after New Year's Day, Man Hyung Lee, 77, was nursing a coffee in his usual seat in a narrow booth at a McDonald's in Flushing, Queens, when two police officers stepped into the fluorescent light of the restaurant.
纽约——新年刚过，在皇后区法拉盛的一家麦当劳餐厅，77岁的李万永（Man Hyung Lee，音译）坐在一个窄小的隔间里自己惯常的座位上，正慢慢地啜着一杯咖啡。这时，两名警察走进了这家灯火通明的餐厅。
Mr. Lee said the officers had been called because he and his friends — a revolving group who shuffle into the McDonald's on the corner of Parsons and Northern Boulevards on walkers, or with canes, in wheelchairs or with infirm steps, as early as 5 a.m. and often linger until well after dark — had, as they seem to do every day, long overstayed their welcome.
李万永说，警察之所以被找来，是因为他和朋友们——扶着助行架、拄着拐杖、坐着轮椅或是步履蹒跚地来到这家位于帕森大道和北方大道拐角的麦当劳餐 厅，经常从早上五点待到天黑以后的一个流动大军——待得太久，而且由于他们似乎天天如此，在这里已经不受欢迎了。
"They ordered us out," Mr. Lee said from his seat in the same McDonald's booth a week after the incident, beneath a sign that said customers have 20 minutes to finish their food. (He had already been there two hours.) "So I left," he said.
"他们命令我们离开，"事情过去一周后，李万永又坐到了这家餐厅的同一个位子上。他的座位上方写着一条提示：客人需在20分钟之内结束用餐。（他 已经待了两个小时了。）"于是我就走了，"他说。
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
"Then I walked around the block and came right back again."
"然后，我在街区附近转了转，又回来了。"
For the past several months, a number of elderly Korean patrons and this McDonald's they frequent have been battling over the benches inside. The restaurant says the people who colonize the seats on a daily basis are quashing business, taking up tables for hours while splitting a small packet of French fries ($1.39); the group say they are customers and entitled to take their time. A lot of time.
不少老年韩国顾客和他们常去的这家麦当劳餐厅已经为座位的事情争执了好几个月。餐厅说，这些人每天霸占着座位，影响了生意。他们占据桌子长达几个 小时，却只分吃一包小薯（1.39美元）；而这些人则说，自己是顾客，有权慢慢用餐。确实很慢。
"Do you think you can drink a large coffee within 20 minutes?" David Choi, 77, said. "No, it's impossible."
现年77岁的戴维·崔(David Choi)说，"你觉得能在20分钟之内喝完一大杯咖啡吗？不能，这是不可能的。"
And though they have treated the corner restaurant as their own personal meeting place for more than five years, they say, the situation has escalated in recent months. The police said there had been four 911 calls since November requesting the removal of the entrenched older patrons. Officers have stopped in as frequently as three times a day while on patrol, according to the patrons, who sidle away only to boomerang right back. Medium cups of coffee ($1.09 each) have been spilled; harsh words have been exchanged. And still — proud, defiant and stuck in their ways — they file in each morning, staging a de facto sit-in amid the McNuggets.
尽管五年多以来一直把街角的这家餐厅当做自己的私人会所，但他们表示，最近几个月，矛盾升级了。警方称，自去年11月以来，已经四次接到要求赶走 这些老人的911报警电话。这些老人说，巡警每天会来三次，这时，他们就会悄然离开，过一会再转回来。中杯咖啡（每杯1.09美元）被打翻过，双 方也曾恶语相向。然而，即便如此，他们仍然骄傲、顽强而执着地，每天早上鱼贯而入，在麦乐鸡飘香的地方，来一场"静坐示威"。
"Large group — males, females — refusing to get up and leave," read the police summary of one 911 call placed on Jan. 3 at 2:30 p.m. "The group passed a lot of sit-down time. Refusing to let other customers sit."
"一大群人，有男有女，坐在那里就是不走，"1月3日下午2点30分的911电话的警方记录中写道。"这群人干坐的时间过长。不让其他顾客坐 下。"
Neither a Burger King nor another McDonald's, both within a few blocks on Northern Boulevard, has the same allure.
在北方大道几个街区内的一家汉堡王(Burger King)和另外一家麦当劳都没有这样的吸引力。
Workers at the restaurant say they are exasperated.
餐厅工作人员说，他们恼怒不已。
"It's a McDonald's," said Martha Anderson, the general manager, "not a senior center." She said she called the police after the group refused to budge and other customers asked for refunds because there was nowhere to sit.
餐厅总经理玛莎·安德森(Martha Anderson)说，"这是麦当劳，不是老年中心。"她还说，这群人拒绝挪地方，没地方坐的客人要求退钱，她这才报了警。
After multiple requests for comment, a spokeswoman for McDonald's said the company would address the issue, but as of Tuesday evening it had not done so.
在记者多次发出置评请求之后，麦当劳的女发言人表示，将会回应这个问题，但截至周二晚间，还是没有回音。
The police in the 109th Precinct, which serves the area, say that calls to resolve to disputes at businesses are routine, though the disruptions are more often caused by unruly teenagers than by septuagenarians.
这片地方属于109警区。负责该地的警方称，要求解决商户纠纷的报警电话很常见，不过扰乱治安的通常是不听话的年轻人，而不是年逾古稀的老人。
The Flushing McDonald's looks like any other. Few among the crowd there on a recent Saturday said they even liked the food. "We prefer our own Korean food," said Hoick Choi, 76, a pastor at New Power Presbyterian Church, who comes about once a week. Many come after filling up on a free lunch at a nearby senior center.
法拉盛的这家麦当劳看起来和其他家别无二致。不久前的一个周六，接受采访的这群人甚至说，他们几乎没人喜欢这里的食物。现年76岁的霍伊克·崔 (Hoick Choi)是新力长老教会(New Power Presbyterian Church)的牧师，大约一周来一次。他说，"我们更喜欢我们韩国的美食。"许多人都会先到附近的老年中心饱餐一顿免费午饭，然后才来。
Some say it is convenience that draws them from the solitude of their nearby homes to spend the day sitting there in the Big Mac-scented air. Many are widowed, or like Jee Woong Lim, 81, who arrived in America two years ago from Seoul, say they are in need of company. They are almost without exception nattily dressed, in suits or dress slacks, brightly colored ties or sweaters, fedoras and well-shined shoes.
有人说，他们之所以从附近孤独的家中来到这里，在弥漫着巨无霸的空气中坐上一整天，是因为方便。许多人的老伴已经去世，或者，像两年前从首尔来到 美国的81岁的林梓雄（Jee Woong Lim，音译）所说的那样，他们需要人陪。他们几乎毫无例外地衣着光鲜，穿着套装或西裤，系着彩色的领带或套着亮色的毛衣，戴软呢帽，皮鞋擦得锃亮。
Yet there seem to be no shortage of facilities that cater to the elderly in the neighborhood. Civic centers dot the blocks, featuring parlors for baduk, an Asian board game, and classes in subjects from calisthenics to English. Mr. Lee, who comes to the McDonald's from Bayside, passes several senior centers en route. One is a Korean Community Service center in Flushing, which recently changed a room in the basement into a cafe with 25-cent coffee after its president, Kwang S. Kim, got word of the McDonald's standoff.
然而，这个社区似乎并不缺少满足老年人需求的设施。几个街区都有多家市民中心，提供包括围棋沙龙，以及从健美操到英语的各色课程。围棋是起源于亚 洲的棋类活动。李万永从贝塞来到这家麦当劳的路上就能经过好几家老年活动中心，其中一家是法拉盛的韩国社区服务中心。这个服务中心的总裁金光顺 （Kwang S. Kim，音译）听说了这家麦当劳的纠纷之后，把一间地下室改装成了咖啡馆，出售25美分一杯的咖啡。
No one has come.
可是没人来。
"I think I have to go to McDonald's and ask why they're there," Mr. Kim said.
金光顺说，"我想我得去麦当劳，问问他们为什么非得在那儿。"
Outside the McDonald's on Saturday, Sang Yong Park, 76, and his friend, Il Ho Park, 76, tried to explain what drew them there. They come every single day to gossip, chat about politics back home and in their adopted land, hauling themselves up from the banquettes with their canes to step outside for short cigarillo breaks. And they could not say why they keep coming back — after a short walk around the block to blow off steam — every time the officers remove them. They said they had each been ousted three times so far.
周六，在麦当劳门外，76岁的朴相永（Sang Yong Park，音译）和与他同岁的朴日浩（Il Ho Park，音译）试图说明到底是什么吸引他们到这里。他们每天来聊天，谈论他们的祖国以及入籍国的政治，为了抽一会烟，还要拄着拐杖费力地走出去。每次有 警察把他们撵走，他们还是会回来——在街区走走消了气之后——他们也说不出这是为什么。他们说，他们每人都被撵过三次。
The two men, however, knew what they would do next time. Sang Yong Park said he would not budge, but his friend said he would dutifully obey any police order, just as he always has. "I will just listen to them," he said. "But I will come back inside after they leave."
然而，这两个人知道自己下次会怎么做。朴相永说自己不会让步，但他的朋友说，自己会顺从警察的指令，他也一直都是这么做的。他说，"我会听他们 的，但是他们走后，我再回来。"
Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
翻译：王湛
http://cn.nytimes.com/usa/20140117/c17mcdonalds-follow/
Leaders Urge Customers to Boycott McDonald's
By SARAH MASLIN NIR and JIHA HAM January 17, 2014
法拉盛韩裔社区呼吁抵制麦当劳
SARAH MASLIN NIR, JIHA HAM 2014年01月17日
Word ping-ponged around the Korean enclaves of Queens, then onto the Internet, where it was picked up by Korean news media and sent in translation to the homeland. The situation inspired television news reports, an animated parody and on Thursday culminated in a summit on a Flushing street corner calling for a boycott: all because a McDonald's had appeared to disrespect several older Korean people who treat a neighborhood branch of the fast-food chain like their living room.
消息在皇后区的韩裔社区传来传去，之后又传到了互联网上，接着被韩国的新闻媒体翻译成韩语，传回了韩国。这件事上了电视新闻，还有人创作了一部动 画滑稽剧。周四，在法拉盛的一个街角，事件的发展达到了高潮，人们呼吁抵制麦当劳(McDonald's)。这一连串事件的起因是，麦当劳似乎对 数名韩裔老人表现了不敬——这些老人把麦当劳在这个社区的分店当成了自家的客厅。
"This really is difficult," Lisa McComb, a spokeswoman for McDonald's, wrote in an email.
麦当劳的一位发言人莉莎·麦康姆(Lisa McComb)在一封电子邮件中写道，"这真的很棘手。"
"The restaurant has welcomed these guests for a long time," she said, but the endless table sitting "has led to uncomfortable interactions with the McDonald's workers."
她说，"长期以来，这家餐厅一直欢迎这些客人。"然而他们无休无止地占着座位，"在他们和麦当劳工作人员之间，造成了令人不安的互动"。
韩裔美国人在皇后区一家麦当劳餐厅外抗议，称这家店不尊重韩国人。左起：金荣震（音）、克莉丝汀·库利甘、史蒂芬·金、沈美（音）。
Michael Appleton for The New York Times
韩裔美国人在皇后区一家麦当劳餐厅外抗议，称这家店不尊重韩国人。左起：金荣震（音）、克莉丝汀·库利甘、史蒂芬·金、沈美（音）。
On Thursday afternoon, several Korean community leaders hand-delivered a letter to a manager of the McDonald's franchise at the corner of Parsons and Northern Boulevards, outlining their outrage that, over the past several months, the management has called 911 to oust older men and women who sit for hours hovering over a single cup of coffee.
周四下午，韩裔社区的数名领导人物，亲手向这家位于帕森大道和北方大道交叉口的麦当劳餐厅的经理递交了一封信函，表达自己的愤怒。在过去几个月 里，一些长者只点一杯咖啡就在这家餐厅里坐上数小时，而餐厅的管理人员拨打911报警驱逐了这些老人。
"Senior citizens should not be treated as criminals," said Christine Colligan, a leader of the Korean Parents Association of New York, as she stood outside the restaurant, her voice rising. "They should be respected."
克莉丝汀·库利甘(Christine Colligan)站在这家餐厅门外说，"不应该把长者当成罪犯。"接着她抬高了调门，"他们应当受到尊重。"库利甘是纽约韩裔家长协会(Korean Parents Association of New York)的一名领导人物。
That morning, Ms. Colligan had contacted her sprawling network in the Korean community urging a "worldwide" boycott of the fast-food restaurant for the month of February. In a missive, she attacked what she saw as "stark racism" by McDonald's: "We will teach them a lesson," the letter said.
当天早上，库利甘在韩裔社区里广泛的人脉网里联系了很多人，呼吁在2月份对这家快餐店进行"世界性的"抵制。她在一份信函中攻击道，麦当劳的行为 在她看来是"赤裸裸的种族歧视"，信中说"我们会给他们一个教训"。
Whether the Koreans, many in their 70s and 80s, were right or wrong to spend their days at the restaurant, arriving as early as 5 a.m. and buying as little as a $1.09 cup of coffee during their daylong stays, seemed not to matter much to the small but vocal group protesting against McDonald's before an assortment of television cameras and photographers. What seemed to nettle the Korean community most was the perception that in asking police officers to remove the group, the business had been rude.
这些韩裔老人中有许多已经七八十岁了，他们清晨5点就会来到这家麦当劳，只买一杯1.09美元（约合6.6元人民币）的咖啡就在店里待一天。但对 于站在众多摄像师和摄影师面前人数不多但言辞激烈的抗议者来说，那些老人整天待在餐馆里是对是错，似乎并没有那么重要。最令韩裔群体愤怒的似乎是 餐厅报警驱赶这些老人，对他们表现了不敬。
"You call the police on your grandmother?" Ms. Colligan said.
库利甘说，"你会报警轰你奶奶吗？"
Officer Hee-Jin Park-Dance from the Community Affairs Bureau of the New York Police Department works out of Flushing. She said: "In Korea or any other Asian cultures, the elder is treated like gold. When you see an elder you get up, you give a seat right away. It's a sign of respect." In policing the area, she said, "you need to know your community."
纽约市警察局(New York Police Department)社区事务部(Community Affairs Bureau)在法拉盛工作的职员喜珍·朴-丹斯（Hee-Jin Park-Dance，音译）说，"在韩国或其他亚洲国家的文化中，长者都很受敬重。见到长者时，是要立即起身让座的，这是表达尊重的做法。"她说，警方 在这个地区工作时，"需要了解你的社区"。
Elected leaders were drawn into the imbroglio: A conference call was swiftly arranged between State Assemblyman Ron Kim, a Democrat, who represents Flushing and was the first Korean-American to have been elected to the Legislature, and the owner of the corner franchise, Jack Bert, according to Ms. McComb.
民选的政界人物也牵扯进了这团混战。麦康姆透露，纽约州议会民主党议员金兑锡(Ron Kim)与街角这座餐厅的老板杰克·伯特(Jack Bert)之间，很快就安排了一次电话会议。金兑锡代表法拉盛社区，是第一位当选纽约州议员的韩裔美国人。
More than discomfort is at stake: Staff members at the franchise said the ever-present older people caused the business to lose money. The patrons sat far longer than the 20 minutes requested on signs posted in the restaurant. Other customers asked for refunds, unhappy that there were no seats at which to eat a Happy Meal.
此事的影响并不仅仅是惹人不快。这家麦当劳店的员工表示，这些老人一直待着，已经给这家店造成了经济损失。店里的告示牌要求客人在20分钟内用完 一餐，但这些老人待的时间要长得多。一些客人来吃"开心乐园餐"(Happy Meal)时发现没有座位，因而很不开心地要求退款。
"I'm sure you can imagine any business would find this situation to be difficult when customers prevent other customers from enjoying the restaurant," Mr. Bert, the franchise's operator, said in an emailed statement.
这家餐厅的经营者伯特在一份电子邮件声明中表示，"我敢肯定你能想象到，如果一群顾客让其他顾客无法在餐厅里用餐的话，任何一家企业都会感觉这种 局面很棘手。"
Even among the community's champions of business, like Young Jin Kim, the chairman of the Korean American Business Council of New York, there was little sympathy. "Respecting elders is particularly serious and important," Mr. Kim said. That reverence can supersede business interests, he said.
但在韩裔社区中，即使是商界领袖也没有对此表达多少同情。比如，纽约韩裔美国人商业协会(Korean American Business Council of New York)会长金荣震（Young Jin Kim，音译）说，"尊重老人是尤其严肃和重要的事。"他还说，敬老比商业利益还重要。
Behind him, beyond the glass and golden arches, several older men sat watching inside the McDonald's, sipping coffee.
在他身后，几位长者坐在麦当劳店里，一边呷着咖啡，一边隔着玻璃窗和麦当劳的金色拱形商标向外张望。
Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
翻译：王童鹤
http://cn.nytimes.com/opinion/20140125/c25torres/
Op-Ed Contributor
Old McDonald's
By STACY TORRES January 25, 2014
观点
应当宽容在餐厅闲坐的老年人
斯泰茜·托里斯 2014年01月25日
THERE'S an old Italian saying, "A tavola non si invecchia," which means: At the table, you don't grow old. All of us, of whatever age, need to socialize in public places to feel connected and alive.
意大利人有句老话，"A tavola non si invecchia"，意思是：桌前坐，不会老。我们所有人，无论年纪大小，都需要在公共空间参与社交活动，以获得一种有来往和活着的感觉。
That sense of shared conviviality was notably absent recently when police officers removed loiterers, many of them elderly Korean-Americans, from a McDonald's restaurant in Queens. The slew of comments that followed a report of the dispute were unsympathetic to those who whiled away their hours there.
当警察开始驱赶皇后区一家麦当劳餐厅内闲坐着的人时，那种联谊分享的感觉显然已经荡然无存，那些人中相当一部分是韩裔美国老年人。这一纠纷的报道 引来的评论，对那些在餐厅里消磨时光的人，是缺乏同情心的。
One New York Times reader commented, "It is only in the inner city that McDonald's and Starbucks are the gathering places for the unwashed, elderly, incompetent and infirm. I suppose this is the price for being a city dweller. These people ruin everything!" Others offered proposals to "solve" the problem by making the seating uncomfortable or removing it altogether, suing the elderly customers or playing blaring rap music to drive them away.
一名《纽约时报》读者评论道，"只有老城区的麦当劳和星巴克才会成为这些外表不洁的、老迈无能、孱弱的人聚集的地方。我猜这大概是住在城里的代价 吧。什么都被这帮人毁了！"还有的提出了问题的"解决"方案，比如把座椅弄的不舒服些，或者干脆都去掉，把那些老年顾客告上法庭，或者大声播放说 唱音乐把他们赶跑。
Katherine Streeter
Older patrons may test the limits of public dawdling, but this phenomenon — call it loitering or community building — is essential for the survival of many people 65 and older. According to the last census, seniors constitute 12 percent of New York City's population. Many of them are single, sometimes far from family, and have lived in their localities for decades, their entire lives even. For the past four years, I have studied how neighborhood public places help older Manhattan residents avoid isolation and develop social ties that offer support, ranging from a sympathetic ear to a small emergency loan.
这些年长的顾客也许挑战了公共空间滞留的底限，但这种现象——不管你是称之为闲坐还是社区建设——对许多65岁以上老人的生存是必不可少的。从上 一次人口普查的数据看，纽约市人口中老年人占12%。他们当中很多是单身，有的距离家人很遥远，在那一带生活了几十年，有的甚至一辈子住在那里。 过去四年里，我研究了街区公共场所对老年曼哈顿居民的生活起到了怎样的帮助：让他们免受孤苦，发展出能给他们带来支持的社交关系。这种支持，有时 候是富于同情心的倾听，有时候是紧急时刻的一笔小额借贷。
Like the teenagers who linger over sticky tabletops at Burger King and McDonald's, these older people have reached a time when their lives do not revolve around work and family. In the absence of those, these public places can anchor routines and provide a sense of structure and belonging.
和那些流连在黏糊糊的汉堡王和麦当劳餐桌前的青少年一样，老年人的生活也已经到了不再围绕着工作和家庭运转的时候。没有了那些，公共场所就成了日 常生活的中心，提供了一种组织和归属感。
A Manhattan bakery I observed had served as a de facto senior center for decades. The owner allowed customers to linger; many stopped in more than once a day. The bakery hummed with conversation: It felt more like a social club than a business, with a cup of coffee being the modest price of admission.
我观察了曼哈顿一家烘焙店，几十年来那里实际上就是一座老年人中心。店主允许顾客滞留；很多人一天要在那里驻足多次。店内人声嘈杂，感觉不像一家 店，倒更像一个社交俱乐部，买下一杯咖啡相当于缴纳了一点点入场费。
Yet the elderly are often now hindered by the loss of neighborhood places that have closed because of gentrification and rising retail rents. When that West Side bakery was shuttered, its patrons were forced to regroup in other neighborhood locales, including a nearby McDonald's.
而如今老年人时常会受制于街坊场所的流失，一些地方因为城市改造和铺租上涨而关闭。那家西区的烘焙店关门后，主顾们被迫在其他街坊场所重新集聚， 包括附近的麦当劳。
For retirees on fixed incomes who may have difficulty walking more than a few blocks, McDonald's restaurants remain among the most democratic, freely accessible spaces. Much of the appeal lies in the fact that, as an elderly patron said to me, "you can sit all day and nobody bothers you." At the branch I observed, the tolerance for older New Yorkers also extended to the homeless, people who appeared mentally unstable and teenagers who congregated after school — even when they occasionally flung ice cubes at one another.
这些退休老人拿着固定的收入，又因为行走不便，只能在几个街区内活动，在他们看来，麦当劳餐厅依然是最平等、出入最自如的空间之一。一位年长的顾 客对我说，麦当劳的吸引力在于，"你在那里坐上一天也没人来烦你。"我观察的那家麦当劳不但容忍年迈的纽约人，连无家可归者、看上去精神不太稳定 的人和放学后聚会的青少年也一视同仁——尽管后者有时候会相互扔冰块。
An afternoon at McDonald's opens up a world of people-watching opportunities. One elderly regular I observed sat an entire day and greeted a changing cast of passers-by, acquaintances and friends — a welcome alternative to sitting alone in her apartment with worsening dementia.
在麦当劳待一个下午，你将有机会领略到众生百态。我观察到一位年长的常客坐了一整天，和路过的各色人物打招呼，他们都是熟人和朋友，比起独自一人 在公寓里坐等失智症恶化，这是个比较受欢迎的选择。
Ray Oldenburg, a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of West Florida, calls these gathering spots "third places," in contrast to the institutions of work and family that organize "first" and "second" places. He sees bookstores, cafes and fast food joints as necessary yet endangered meeting points that foster community, often among diverse people. The Yale sociologist Elijah Anderson likens public settings such as Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia to a "cosmopolitan canopy," where people act with civility and converse with others to whom they might never otherwise speak.
西佛罗里达大学(University of West Florida)荣休教授雷·奥登伯格(Ray Oldenburg)称这些聚会点为"第三场所"，和用于工作和家庭的"第一"和"第二"场所形成对应。在他看来，书店、咖啡馆和快餐店是培育社区所必需 但却日渐减少的聚会地点，这类社区的构成往往比较多样化。耶鲁大学(Yale)社会学家伊莱亚·安德森(Elijah Anderson)将费城瑞丁车站市场(Reading Terminal Market)这样的公共环境比作"都市天棚"，人们在这里寒暄客套，和一些素昧平生的人交谈。
The care-taking performed by such places extends to all kinds of groups. A professor of sociology at Princeton, Mitchell Duneier, has found a Chicago cafeteria that supports older working-class African-American men in this way. I have interviewed people who tell me they don't like senior centers because "they're depressing"; in these cafes, they can form emotional attachments with a wider mix of people.
这类场所的维系作用触及到了各类人群。普林斯顿大学(Princeton)社会学教授米切尔·邓尼耶(Mitchell Duneier)发现芝加哥一家餐厅就在以这种方式支持劳动阶层的老年非裔美国人。受访者告诉我，他们不喜欢老年人中心，因为"它们都很丧气"；在这些餐 厅里，他们可以和更多不一样的人建立起情感联系。
Centers offer vital services, but McDonald's offers an alternative that doesn't segregate people from intergenerational contact. "I hate old people," one 89-year-old man told me.
老年人中心的服务是必不可少的，但麦当劳是另一个选择，一个不会把人按照年龄辈分区隔开的选择。"我讨厌老年人，"一位89岁的人这样告诉我。
We should praise companies that allow loitering and devise public-private partnerships that benefit both older adults and business owners: I can imagine tax breaks for franchises that serve a high proportion of older adults and discounts to encourage patronage at off-peak hours. And we could replicate the "Café Plus" model of the Chicago nonprofit group Mather LifeWays in 30 American cities. These attractive coffee shops not only offer older customers who dislike traditional senior centers a 75-cent bottomless cup of coffee, but also welcome customers of all ages.
我们应该赞扬那些允许闲坐的公司，设计出公私合作的形式，让老年人和店家都能获益：我能想到的是给老年人顾客较多的特许经营企业减税，利用价格优 惠来鼓励顾客在非高峰期前来。我们可以复制芝加哥非营利组织Mather LifeWays在全美30座城市中使用的"Café Plus"模式。这些迷人的咖啡馆向不喜欢传统老年人中心的老年顾客供应75美分（约合人民币4.5元）的无限续杯咖啡，同时也欢迎其他任何年龄段的顾 客。
The Queens dispute has been settled, for now, by a compromise that allows the elderly Korean-American customers to linger, provided they vacate during the lunchtime rush. Battles over public space are as old as the city itself, but we have an opportunity to reimagine overlooked resources like McDonald's as new generations of older people find themselves needing places to hang out.
经过双方的让步，皇后区的纠纷已经暂时得到解决，只要那些韩裔美国老年顾客在午餐高峰期能腾出位置，就可以继续待在那里。公共空间的争夺自有城市 以来就从未停息，但现在是时候对麦当劳这类被忽视的资源进行重新构想了，日后会有新一代的老年人需要找一个地方呆着。
Stacy Torres is a doctoral candidate in sociology at New York University.
Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
斯泰茜·托里斯(Stacy Torres)是纽约大学社会学博士生。
翻译：经雷
http://cn.nytimes.com/letters/20140127/c27letter-mcdonalds/
Letter
Hanging Out at McDonald's
January 27, 2014
读者来信
麦当劳不该把长者拒之门外
2014年01月27日
To the Editor:
致编辑：
Re "Fighting a McDonald's in Queens for the Right to Sit. And Sit. And Sit" (news article, Jan. 15):
本文是对《"占领麦当劳"，纽约韩裔老人的持久战》一文的回应：
Man Hyung Lee and his friends are not fighting McDonald's. They are struggling against a standardized service tradition that routinely collects old people in a "center" where they can participate in "activities" and benefit from specific services. For many older adults, the centers are crucial life lines, but they can also feel isolating from the vibrant, active life of younger people.
李万永和他的朋友们并不是在对抗麦当劳，而是在挣扎着抗拒一种标准化的服务传统，这种传统习惯性地让老人们聚集到一个"中心"，让他们在里面参加 "活动"，再从特殊的服务中受益。对很多老年人来说，这样的中心是重要的生命线，然而在那些中心也会感到与年轻人充满生机活力的生活越发疏离。
It is no doubt stimulating and reassuring for retirees to observe other generations in motion. Instead of excluding them, McDonald's should set a new trend by reserving some tables for older customers. They can still set limits but more reasonable ones for those who have earned the right to linger.
让退休老人能看到不同年龄段的人在外面行动，无疑能激发他们的活力，也让他们安心。麦当劳不应该把长者拒之门外，而应该开创一个新趋势，为年长顾 客预留餐桌。麦当劳仍然可以设置时限，但时长应该更合理。毕竟顾客在店里逗留的权利是他们自己赚来的。
LIZ LEVINE
Philadelphia, Jan. 15, 2014
利兹·莱文(Liz Levine)
费城，2014年1月15日
Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
翻译：王童鹤
本文最初发表于2014年1月17日。
http://cn.nytimes.com/letters/20140130/cc30letters-mcdonalds/
2014年01月30日
政府应该明确麦当劳的社会责任
致编辑：
本文是对《应当宽容在餐厅闲坐的老年人》一文的回应。
纽约警察驱逐麦当劳餐厅闲坐的老年人，这一纠纷的背后潜藏的问题很多。除了社交空间、城市生活公共资源供给、老年人权利保障外，政府的法治态度和 策略也是值得反思的要点。
美国政府一向坚持法治，警察是法律的实施者，他们在执法中不会考虑特殊人群的陈情或解释。"权力分工"已然将其排除于"温情执法"之外。接到店家 报警，除了驱赶，似乎别无他法。 但是，面对那些虽有家可归但"无处可去"的老年人，政府不是理当提供更多、更廉价、方便和优质的社交资源和公共空间吗？
但政府的责任和兴趣好像不在于此。因为美国的政府能力有限，权力受制，老百姓也没有凡事指望政府的习惯，更别指望资本家了。慈善机构也是有心无 力。社会自助呢又成本太高，众口难调。 说到底，提供公共休闲空间和社交资源，本应是政府的责任。政府财力短促，那是政府自身的问题，不能因此推诿应尽的义务。
但在这起纠纷中，我们看到，政府绝不会因为自身责任没有完成而在执法时有丝毫犹疑。这就样，政府的"法治"与大众的期许背道而驰。政府当然会检讨 自己，通过愿景承诺许给民众各种虚幻的"将来时"——但这些都不足以弥补失职的弊害。 对于麦当劳、星巴克而言，它们固然不是公共空间，但因为其大众性质而事实上具备了某种"准公共性"。在现有公共设施严重匮乏的情况下，立法机构应当考虑以 特别规定的方式明确其社会责任。政府可以考虑给予其一定的财政补贴，以平衡利益。 即使单从商业策略角度而言，店家的人气是极重要的商业资源。但那些"较真"的店家却硬是"依法办事"，通过警察的强力驱赶老年人顾客。当然，我们不能排除 的确有些老年人长期占位影响了高峰期的进餐者，但依循商业惯例，只要是入店消费的顾客就有权利久坐。除了某些特殊行业，例如一些自助餐，可以限定 进餐时间外，一般的餐厅都没有权利规定消费者的座位时间。明白了这一点，相信商家也会与政府有限协商，共同寻找解决问题的良策。
廖奕，波士顿
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