Writer’s block is no fun for any author.
But one writer has such a severe mental blockage that he’s decided to step down from his job after three decades in the business.
For 30 years, Donald Lau has been the “Chief Fortune Writer” at Wonton Foods, a manufacturer that touts itself to be one of the world’s largest producers of fortune cookies.
But now, Lau is leaving his position following a long bout of writer’s block.
“I used to write 100 a year, but I’ve only written two or three a month over the past year,” Lau recently explained to Time.
Lau has been with the New York City-based company– which operates out of Brooklyn and Queens boroughs, since the 1980s but a new push to produce inspiring sayings that promote wellness and serenity has Lau coming up blank.
Instead, James Wong, a nephew of the company’s founder, will now handle the writing position. He’s already being trained by Lau.
Fortune cookie writing has been taken seriously at the company for years. According to Time, Wonton Foods has experimented with fortune-writing contests and they’ve even feautred some fortunes from online submissions.
The company also keeps track of diner reactions to the pint-sized printed messages.
“When they eat their fortune cookie, I want the customers to open the fortune, read it, maybe laugh, and leave the restaurant happy so that they come back again next week,” Lau said.
But Lau won’t be leaving the Chinese food business altogether. He will still serve as Wonton Food’s Chief Financial Officer.
According to Good Food, 4.5 million cookies are produced by Wonton Foods each day.