Pancho's Experience

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      First, let us meet Pancho, he is from a small town Southwest of Mexico. Pancho has a cousin in Los Angeles, CA. His cousin invited him to come to the United States to look for a better life. When Pancho arrived to his cousin’s home, he was very happy; he was thinking that life was going to be the same as it was in his town back in Mexico. He did not expect to see life at such a fast pace, which he was not used to. Pancho’s cousin’s name is Freddy, he lived alone and had to cook for himself or otherwise go to buy himself some food.
By the way, Pancho went to Los Angeles on a Friday evening with this cousin right after his shift at the factory ended. Freddy only had Saturday and Sunday to show Pancho around. Pancho did not speak English one bit. And so, this is where the fun part begins…Freddy was going to help his cousin to get a job, but Pancho had already started to do that on his own. Freddy told Pancho: “Look Pancho, I eat most of the time out, so I am going to give you a few tips so you can get by until you learn English.

      The most important thing is for you to learn to order your meals at a restaurant”. So, Freddy told Pacho “I am going to teach you a simple sentence” (This is spoken in Spanish of course).  Freddy tells his cousin in English: “When you seat in the restaurant the waitress is going to approach and ask you if you are ready to order. You need to pay attention at this part, because this is what you will say: “I want a cheeseburger and coffee”. Cousin Freddy was making sure that Pancho got his order; he also told him to no worry, that this is all he needed to know for now. Pancho practiced all evening Satuday and all day Sunday.

      The next time they went to a restaurant cousin Freddy made Pancho order, and so Pancho did. One day that Pancho was without cousin Freddy and he was hungry, he was going to have to order on his own. Pancho’s adventure started around noon that day, after his cousin was at work for half a day. Pancho went to a restaurant and order his cheeseburger and his coffee; he did just fine and got his meal. That night cousin Freddy asked Pancho if was able to go and eat and order his meal. Pancho explained how he had ordered, and made a funny comment on how he “Spoke English”. Freddy laughed along with Pacho about the situation.

      Pancho asked cousin Freddy about a job now. He asked if he gotten a job where he works, then Freddy said that there was no job openings at the moment. Freddy added that as soon there is an opening his boss will let him know. So don’t worry, be happy! So many days went by, many weeks, many months and Pancho was tired of ordering cheeseburgers and coffee and still no job. He asked cousin Freddy “Mano, ya me canse de cheeseburgers y café” and no job.

       Pancho wanted to go back to his town in Mexico. Freddy said “Hold your horses! Let me teach you another thing from the menu so you can order it, put attention!” So, cousin Freddy taught him to order ham and eggs with a glass of milk, he asked him if he thought it was easy enough. Pancho agreed and accepted to stay and try to have ham and eggs.  He practiced and practiced and then went to the restaurant to order. The waitress asked him what his order was and he responded ham and eggs, the waitress was surprised that his order had changed, but she went along and asked him: “How would you like your eggs?” “Would you like them scrambled, over easy or sunny side up?” Pancho looked at her with a very confused face and replied: “Mmm I will have a cheeseburger and coffee please”.

“I am not telling you it is going to be easy, I am telling you it is going to be worth it.”  Anonymous