Some weeks ago, I visited the apartment of Saúl García, one of the Hispanic workers in the Orleans Room. You might recognize him from the vegetarian section.
During the conversation I had with him that night, he shared with me his motives for leaving El Salvador, his native country, and coming to New Orleans. He said that in El Salvador, people were treated badly — including verbal abuse — and their pay was beyond unjust.
He came to New Orleans looking for a better living — but not just that, though. With the money that he earns from his job in the OR (and another job he has at a restaurant), he supports his family back in El Salvador, and his money goes into the house that they are building. When the house is finished, he said, he will move back to El Salvador to live with his family. On the side, he takes English classes and guitar classes.
He lives in a house with four tenants, and his living space consists of one room. It was here that he told me how great his experience in New Orleans was. He works for a temp agency, through which he got his job at the Orleans Room. After working in the cafeteria for two years, he said he felt welcome in this new setting.
Last Monday, April 5, Saúl said he came to work at 8 in the morning to find that he was fired — along with all the other temp workers in the cafeteria (who were all, like him, Latin Americans). He said a representative from the temp agency met with them to tell them to go back the way they came, for their contracts had expired.
It came as a surprise to everyone. But there was nothing they could do. Like unwelcome stray dogs, they felt shooed away — even if, like Saúl, they had been working here for years. They had to comply. What else could they do?
I wouldn’t be surprised if I found out that people receive this kind of treatment every day, in all sorts of work environments. I actually thought that we had gotten over this kind of thing; I, in my ignorance, thought that people were now treated as people. Yes, one could justify their terminations from various angles — after all, they were temporary workers. But I think a deeper issue is being evaded.
In other words, I think people shouldn’t be treated like dogs. I think one’s state of employment or wage should not determine whether one is treated with respect and dignity. Everybody deserves respect.
I spoke to Saúl over the phone Tuesday. Even though he was disillusioned, he said that in the end, “That’s life. And I just have to keep working.” Even after being shooed away, he keeps working for his family in El Salvador.
It is inspiring to see people who, like him, rise above injustice. But it is abominable that injustices exist in the first place.
Rolando Lopez can be reached at
