My Wonderful Mexican Friends

As I have already told you, I work in a restaurant. I don't know about other places in the country, but here in suburban Atlanta, Mexicans are the life blood of the kitchen in a restaurant. Some come and go; some are here to stay , and unfortunately... some are deported. Some are dishwashers... the ones that speak very little English, some are prep guys in the kitchen... we have recipes in Spanish... and some are cooks... that are pretty fluent with the English language. They are ABSOLUTELY the hardest working guys that I have ever met. One case in point. We have two dishwashers on a weekend night... one gets off around ten, and the other closes the store, finishing up the dishes and cleaning up. One night, I got off at midnight, went to my local Walmart to pick up a few groceries, and when I got out of my car, I saw the "early out" dishwasher pressure washing the parking lot at Walmart . He of course said 'HOLA" to me, I treat these guys with a lot of respect.. most of them work about 70 hours a week, for minimum wage, or a little over if they have been with us for a while. Some of them look like they are kids, but are all at least eighteen. I remember when I first started at my restaurant. One of the more brash girls peered through the dish pit window to tell the dishwasher to come and change the garbage cans. She said " I know you can speak English ! " She repeated for him to come change the cans.. he continued to ignore her.. she said once again... CHANGE THE GARBAGE CANS !! He looked through his little view spot from his position in the kitchen with dirty dishes piled all around him , and said (may I quote)... suck my *&#% !! I turned to her and replied.. "hey, you're right!! He CAN speak English." But I am a champion of these guys. They are hard workers, happy to be in America, and working harder than most of the Americans that I work with or see in other low paying jobs. One of my favorite guys is a host with us, seating people and busing tables. As I always chat them up, and inquire as to how they are doing.. He told me that he was in fact very tired that day.... To which I replied.. "Mi Dos" I thought that I had said "me too" but in fact , I said "me two" , which to him was saying the equivalent of " me forty seven ." He just laughed at me, and probably went straight to the back to make fun of me with the other Latinos. Their work ethic is admirable, the country that they come from is dirt poor. Yet they all need to come here in a responsible fashion, and take advantage of what America has to offer.... legally. A lot of my co-workers "poo-poo" these guys. But I always take time out of my shift to ask if they want or need a drink, try to learn some of their language ( which I have learned more of from them , than from my 8 years of Spanish in school). We have nick names for all of them, and listen to their music on their boom boxes that they have cranked up in the kitchen... I did not know that the accordion was still used at all, except in Polka music, but the Latinos seem to live and die by it. Some mornings when I come into work, I will hear a really slow, mellow song; and I will remark to one of the American cooks.. "Is that what they play in a Mexican Dentist office? " But these guys love me.. I respect them, try to have an interest in their day, and more than anything... try to be their friend (amiga). We are truly a melting pot society, and a mix of every race and religion that I can think of. But these guys are my friends, they are my co-workers, and they are part of my life.. which makes me once again realize how lucky and blessed that I am to not only live here, but to have all my papers in order. My biggest fear is who's going to be in the White House next!!